The Transfiguration by Carl Heinrich Bloch
And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
Mark 9: 1-10
Sometimes it’s the little things for me. This is a huge moment in human history, the transfiguration of Christ, so huge that we often stick it into a little box in our minds marked, “Religion: Do Not Touch.”
So reading though it this week, the thing that grabbed me was the last verse, where the disciples were trying to figure out what “rising from the dead” meant.
They were resisting Jesus’ predictions of his death. It’s natural that, having blocked out that message, they were unable to think thru to the next thing, the resurrection. But this drags us back to the fact that these guys were NOT religious statues, but eye witnesses of the greatest moments in history. Of course they didn’t know what rising from the dead meant!
It is fragments of authenticity like this verse, that are the deciding factors in court cases. They pull the jury to a realization that they are hearing a true message.
We see the transfiguration in grandiose terms, and we should. But the things that testify to the truthfulness of the message are the fragments of human weakness, like the cluelessness of Peter, James and John.
…discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
Well, its Sunday morning, and we at the Dust household are off to church, pondering what rising from the dead meant. ~ TD