Kingdom Glory for You and Me: Daily Thoughts from Mark (Mark 9:1-8)

So what do we get for taking up our cross and following Jesus?  Besides death, possibly?  What will we miss if we deny Jesus? 

The kingdom!

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. (Mark 9:1-8, ESV) 

Jesus’ strange statement about some seeing the kingdom come in power before they die is answered in the experience of three disciples, Jesus’ inner circle, Peter, James and John, when they see him transfigured on the mountain.  What they see of Jesus is a taste of the powerful way in which his glory will be displayed in the kingdom.  Peter, James and John are also chosen later to accompany Jesus into a private part of the garden of Gethsemane to pray with him apart from the other disciples on the night he is arrested.  They are uniquely privileged. 

We don’t know what they were doing at the moment on the mountain but suddenly Jesus is “transfigured,” a term we use in our language to translate metamorphothe, from which we get our word metamorphosis.  It means to change form.  Jesus “changes form” in some sense, causing his clothes to radiate a brilliant white.  It appears that his inner divine glory shines out through his body, the only time during his earthly stay that his deity is so clearly expressed.

Elijah and Moses, the superlative representatives of God’s voice to His people, Moses through the Law and Elijah as a continuing prophetic voice like Moses, appear with Jesus talking about something (Luke tells us it was about Jesus’ imminent death, Luke 9:31).  Though they are dead and bodiless, God gives them an appearance for the sake of the disciples and the disciples are able somehow to recognize them.  This suggests that the way we are known in heaven and the kingdom will not be only by appearance but by some internal means.

Peter doesn’t know what to say but he says something anyway.  His proposal to make tents for each of them, Jesus, Moses and Elijah, probably reflects his sense of the tabernacle in the days of Moses where Moses and the high priest met with God.  It was his “abode” in a sense.  No one dignifies Peter’s response with an answer, but instead the Father speaks to the disciples and explains in no uncertain terms that Jesus is His Son, His beloved Son, and that Jesus must be listened to.  Then everything abruptly ends.

Peter later makes reference to this event in his letter (2 Peter 1:16-18).  It was an event that marked him for life.  Jesus did not let every disciple experience this.  We should not expect that we should all have the same experiences of God.  He treats us individually.  But we can all share in this experience because God deemed it worth being written about.  Without exception, however, each of us who follow Jesus will reign with him in his kingdom and experience the full glory that Peter, James and John tasted on the mountain.  Jesus is the mighty God and worthy of our worship and life in his kingdom is his promise and worthy of our faith.

I can’t wait.