The TransfigurationMark 9:2-9 (ESV)2 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, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 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.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.The Transfiguration of Jesus is recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Matt., Mark, and Luke). This year we’re looking at Mark. The Transfiguration is one of very few episodes in the life of Christ that gets substantial confirmation across the different Gospels.Though it is fairly mysterious, here are some highlights: it seems that though Christ was surrounded by his closest friends... and experiencing something of the loneliness he will feel when he is eventually abandoned. However, there is something more desolate as we realize that a constant part of Jesus’ human experience was to feel lonelier in glory than any human could in their insignificance.An overview of this text: Jesus spending time away on a mountain, communion with God, the paradoxical nearness of far-ness of God that we continue re-evaluating in our own lives...The Transfiguration of Jesus indicates what is to come: a whole new creation, starting with Christ himself as the seed that is sown in the earth and then rises to become the beginning of that new world. -NT Wright (Simply Jesus).The reference to 'a veil' appears in a number of the readings in the cycle. Today, in Corinthians, Paul contrasts those from whom the light of the Gospel is ‘veiled' by 'the god of this world', with believers in whose hearts the Gospel has shone. “To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”.Wed. night we begin Lent at the Liturgy of the Ashes. This season provides a spiritual opportunity for re-orientation. In fact, Lent is perhaps best viewed as an extended opportunity to remove the veil that prevents us from seeing “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. That may be why the lectionary gives us the Transfiguration on the last Sunday before Lent begins.
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