The Transfiguration of Jesus Mk 9:2-13 Mark Series

GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES

 

The bible: Gospel of Mark Icon.

The Transfiguration of Jesus Mk 9:2-13 Mark Series 

During the remainder of 2018, each week, I will write a weekly post about the Gospel of Mark, as I review and explore each of the 16 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of Mark. I hope you will join me on this journey as we travel through the liturgical season.  In today's post we explore chapter 9:2-13 which is called The Transfiguration of Jesus.

TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS

This episode happens six days after Jesus taught his way as a way of the cross. Six, one less than seven, a symbol of completeness, suggests the incompleteness of the revelation to His disciples.  He spoke of His way as a way of disgrace and rejection.

Now on a mountain part Jesus share with His three closet disciples the glory and acceptance which He has from God.  For a second time, Jesus is show as He really is, the Son of God.  The four times when Jesus is identified as Son of God, here and at the Jordan river by god, and later by himself in His passion and finally by a Roman centurion after His death, are like the four great ''pillars' of Mark's Gospel.

Elijah, the prophet, nine centuries before Christ, and Moses, the Old Testament liberator of Israel twelve centuries before Christ, appear beside Him.  Both were prophets who suffered, and there was Jewish belief that at death both Elijah (2 Kings:11-12) and Moses (Deut 34:5-6) were taken bodily into heaven.

Peter sees Jesus, Moses and Elijah as equals.  He has not yet discovered the superior destiny of Jesus.  The could, or Jewish ' Shekinah' signifying divine presence and communication, envelops them.  They hear the voice of God, not spoken only to Jesus as it was at the Jordan river but also to the three disciples.

Suddenly, Jesus stands alone with them at his ordinary self.  Coming down the mountain, He tells them to keep hidden what they saw until His rising from death, when this revelation will become clear to all His disciples.

The Pharisees taught that Elijah would return before God restored divine glory to Israel and transformed human lives (Mt 4:5).  Jesus says that Elijah has come already in John the Baptiser who was treated so badly, a reminder of what will be done to the Messiah Himself.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS.

In our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on this passage as follows:

·                     Name the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus in this  

           passage of scripture?

·                     Imagine that you are one of the disciples. What do you see and hear and feel?   
          What can I learn from this?

·                     Imagine being one of the 3 disciples- what would you have felt?  

·                     What is reading the Gospel passage with the eyes and ears of disciple mean
          to me?

·                     How does Jesus show Himself as the transfigured Christ to me?

·                     What are the areas in my life I need to be transformed to be a true disciple?

·                     Am I willing to be a true disciple of Jesus in the light of this teaching and face
          loss, social rejection for the sake of the Gospel? 

·                     How will I kill/transform these areas in my life? What will I say/do? 

·                     In the light of this passage, how will you respond to Jesus as a true disciple?

·                     How do you suffer in your life? Examine a time in your life when you suffered
          for Jesus? What impact did it have on yourself/others and how did you ''gain
          your life'' from it?

·                     What way has this passage spoken to you personally?

·                     If you were to meet a fellow parishioner who was interested in reading gospel

           of Mark, what would you say to him/her about this passage?

·                     If a fellow parishioner had read this passage, what might he/she say about this
           passage?

·                     In the light of this Gospel passage what positive change will you adopt in your
           life and in your spiritual life.  How will you implement these changes?