March 02, 2007

mark 9:1-13

9:1 - Then he added, "Believe me, there are some of you standing here who will know nothing of death until you have seen the kingdom of God coming in its power!"


9:2-5 - Six days later, Jesus took Peter and James and John with him and led them high up on a hill-side where they were entirely alone. His whole appearance changed before their eyes, while his clothes became white, dazzling white - whiter than any earthly bleaching could make them. Elijah and Moses appeared to the disciples and stood there in conversation with Jesus. Peter burst out to Jesus, "Master, it is wonderful for us to be here! Shall we put up three shelters - one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah?"

9:6-7 - He really did not know what to say, for they were very frightened. Then came a cloud which overshadowed them and a voice spoke out of the cloud, "This is my dearly-loved Son. Listen to him!"

9:8-11 - Then, quite suddenly they looked all round them and saw nobody at all with them but Jesus. And as they came down the hill-side, he warned them not to tell anybody what they had seen till "the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead". They treasured this remark and tried to puzzle out among themselves what "Rising from the dead" could mean. Then they asked him this question, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come before Christ?"

9:12-13 - "It is quite true," he told them, "that Elijah does come first, and begins the restitution of all things. But what does the scripture say about the Son of Man? This: that he must go through much suffering and be treated with contempt! I tell you that not only has Elijah come already but they have done to him exactly what they wanted - just as the scripture says of him."


1 comment:

Larry Clayton said...

The Transfiguration is central to my understanding of Jesus' identity and psychology:

Luke gives a more complete description and implies that the three transcent men were discussing the exodus that Jesus was to accomplish.

Jesus had been reflecting on these matters his whole life: what was his mission, how was he to express his gifts? Luke 4 explains that to a large degree, but in the interim Jesus had seen that what happened in Nazareth was a paradigm of the course of his life. He knew that sooner or later he would be ended (physically). With the Transfiguration he perceived that it was an Exodus, with all the overtones of the one in the book of Exodus.