In Mark 9:2-13 tells the story of the transfiguration of Jesus. The lesson is clear: Jesus is more than a prophet of God; he is God.
We’ve been studying Jesus for months now through this book. Now we come to a climax, a vision.
- C.S. Lewis gave a series of talks over the BBC at the height of WW2. Those talks were then compiled into a book called “Mere Christianity”. Here’s probably the most famous quote from the book: “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic– on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg– or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) "To transfigure," from the Gk., metamorphoun, carries the root meaning "to change." The verb occurs only four times in the Gk. Bible (9:2; Matt 17:2; Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 3:18) and in each instance denotes a radical transformation. Referring to the transfiguration in 2 Cor 3:18, Paul says that as a consequence of beholding the glory of the Lord we were transformed (Gk., metamorphoun) from glory into glory.
Three Prophets
Jesus gives his inner circle a glimpse of his divinity, mirroring Moses’ Mount Sinai experience in Exodus. Moses and Elijah then appear, proving the continuity of Jesus’ mission with the Law and Prophets.
Mark 9:2-4 (NLT) Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus.
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Mark's "six days" is most probably a chronological parallel with Moses' six-day sojourn on Mount Sinai (Exod 24:16), thus establishing the first of many points of contact with that seminal event in Israel's history.
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The vision is not of their doing, but is a divine revelation to them, modeled after the greatest revelation of God in the OT on Mount Sinai. True insight into the mysterious Son of Man is afforded not by human wisdom but by divine revelation.
- Exodus 33:21-23 (NLT) The LORD continued, “Look, stand near me on this rock. As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.”
- Why Moses and Elijah?
- First, Representative of the Law and Prophets. Consider last words of the OT:
- Malachi 4:4-6 (NLT) “Remember to obey the Law of Moses, my servant—all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all Israel. Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The appearance of Moses and Elijah in the transfiguration narrative likely recalls this passage and their prophetic roles as joint preparers of the final Prophet to come (so Deut 18:15, 18 [see also 4Q175, lines 5-8], Mal...
