A Message from the Father
Mark 9.2-13
Introduction
“Follow the yellow brick road;” one of the most famous lines in the history of American cinema. But did you know that The Wizard of Oz was based on a book by L. Frank Baum and was a political satire? The characters in the story represent differing segments of society: the Scarecrow represents the farmers (no brain), the Tin Man, factory workers (no heart). The Cowardly Lion represents political leadership, the wicked witches of the east and west, the east and west coast establishments. And the protagonist is middle America Dorothy from Kansas.
While the movie has stood the test of time, many argue that the film actually got it wrong. You see when the book was written one of the political debates going on in America was whether to continue using the gold standard as the basis for the U.S. dollar, or switch to silver. This is where the theme “follow the yellow brick road” originates. The yellow brick road (representing gold) led to the wizard, who turned out to be a fake. And this is where the movie missed the mark. They gave Dorothy red slippers (presumably to make them pop on the screen), but in the book her slippers were silver. Her hope was in silver.
Like The Wizard of Oz, our text this morning reveals there’s more going on in the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth than what was perceived by human eyes. This text has historically been called the transfiguration and is included in all three synoptic gospels. As we move through the pericope I want to give you the goal at the start. You know some texts have as their primary thrust (not exclusive) a call to behave. Think of the 10 Commandments. We certainly learn a lot about God and the gospel from the 10 Commandments, but we have to concede that when Moses wrote you shall not murder, at the very least, he meant don’t murder.
Other texts have as their primary thrust a call to believe. Think of John 3.16. There’s no doubt that the chief application is to believe in Jesus Christ. A third emphasis is what we see in our text this morning and that is a call to behold. The transfiguration is a unique redemptive moment and when we meditate on the glory of Christ it should cause us to behold him. There are theological lessons in this pericope (a call to believe) and even moral imperatives (a call to behave), but if this text doesn’t lead us to behold the Lord Jesus Christ, we’re doing it wrong!
The Transfiguration
We resume where Pastor Kevin left off in Mark 9.2. Mark is tipping his hand that there is redemptive significance to what’s about to happen. He tells us that after 6 days Jesus led them up a high mountain. When you read 6 days you should think creation. When you read mountain you remember that it was on a mountain that YHWH called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and provided a substitute. It was on a mountain that YHWH gave Moses the 10 Commandments and his face reflected the glory of God. It was on a mountain that through Elijah YHWH shamed the prophets of Baal. What Mark’s about to show you is even better!
Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him up this high mountain. Like their fathers in the faith before them, they will have a mountain top experience. And we’re reminded of two principles here. First, in terms of leadership, we see a hierarchy even in a group of equals. Peter is just as much an apostle as Thaddeus; they’re given the same authority and commission from Christ. And yet, these three are clearly the vocal leaders of the 12. Second, we get another glimpse of the humanity of Christ. Like us, even God incarnate had close friends.
When they are on the mountain on the 6th day Mark says that Jesus was transfigured before them. Because the word transfigured has become synonymous with this event it can be easy to lose the meaning. In Greek Mark wrote that Jesus μετεμορφώθη, from which the English metamorphosis is derivative. It means, “to take on a different physical form or appearance.”
How did he change in appearance? His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them (vs 3). The ESV translates this phrase like not a single person on earth could bleach clothes as white as Christ had. The original language is a little more particular. The word translated no one is γναφεὺς, an expert launderer, someone who cleans and bleaches for a living. No bleach expert on earth could make his clothes this white.
There’s a chapter in Melville’s Moby Dick entitled, “The Whiteness of the Whale.” Melville explores how the color white (the pure mixture of all colors) is used in religion, history, and nature. He describes it using terms like elusive, ghastly, and transcendent horror, along with sweet, honorable, and pure. The whale is a symbol of all of these things. Thus the whale embodied the fullness of the perfection of God.
This is exactly what is happening with Jesus Christ. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Heb 1.3a). John, an eyewitness, would later write, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1.14). Unlike Moses who reflected the glory of God on the mountain, Christ is radiating the glory of God on the mountain.
Speaking of Moses, it’s not just Jesus and the disciples who are there, but Moses and Elijah too. How fascinating! Here we see probably the 2 most famous prophets in the history of Israel – the personification of the Law and the Prophets. God in his sovereign benevolence allows Moses and Elijah to see Jesus in his glory. This is the only time before his ascension that Jesus is glorified and God brings Moses and Elijah to see the fulfillment of their hope. Elijah who heard the word of God on the mountain now sees the Word of God in his glory. Moses who wrote of YHWH creating the light and whose face shone on the mountain when he brought the 10 Commandments now sees God incarnate glorified. Moses who was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because of his sin now sees the true Promised Land in the flesh.
If this is a bit overwhelming for you imagine how Peter, James, and John felt. They’re terrified. The KJV says they were “sore afraid.” Peter, in true Peter fashion, asks Jesus if they should build three tents for him, Moses, and Elijah. Even if Peter is speaking out of fear, we ought not be too hard on him. The word he uses for tents is the word in LXX for the tabernacle. It’s the word John uses when he says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Clearly Peter understood that, as Haggai predicted and Jesus explicitly stated, something greater than the Temple was before him. His mistake was in thinking that the kingdom of Christ was bound by location and that Moses and Elijah are of equal status to the final prophet.
But God would correct him. Like Sinai a cloud overshadows the mountain and for the 2nd time in Mark’s Gospel we hear the voice of the Father. At the beginning of Mark when Christ was baptized a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased (Mark 1.11).” Now the Father says, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” Here we find an explicit moral imperative. It’s reminiscent of the wedding at Cana where Christ turned the water to wine and Mary told the servers, do whatever he tells you.
There can be no better Father’s Day message than the word from the Father in this passage. This is some deep Christology. His words echo a prophecy spoken by Moses hundreds of years earlier. In Deuteronomy 18.15 he wrote, YHWH your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. The Father says, this is my beloved Son; listen to him. As Jesus stands with the two greatest prophets in Israel’s history, God declares that he is the final prophet, the one they’ve been waiting for.
After the Father speaks Mark says suddenly there was no one there but Jesus. What a healthy reminder for us as we live in this ruggedly individualistic culture where everyone thinks they are self-made. The disciples are reminded when the dust settles that Jesus Christ is all they have. But that’s good news because Jesus Christ is all they need. I don’t know where your anxiety level is this morning in terms of health, finances, etc. But know that when the dust settles, may you no longer see anyone with you but Jesus only.
As they’re coming down the mountain Jesus again commands them to tell no one what they’ve seen until he’s risen from the dead. They still don’t understand what he’s talking about. Remember the Jews believed in a general resurrection on the last day. They had no category for a singular resurrection breaking forward in time. Yet they’re also biblical enough to see eschatological fulfillment. They ask him if this was the fulfillment of Elijah coming. They’re referring to Malachi who wrote:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction (Mal 4:5–6).
Jesus here tells them that Elijah has already come in John the Baptizer. In Matthew 11.14 Jesus explicitly says that John is the fulfillment of Elijah. But even in answering their question Jesus’ focus is on the gospel. Look at verse 12: And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? Here we see what the transfiguration is all about – the gospel.
The pericope preceding the transfiguration is Jesus 1st explicit declaration of the gospel in Mark (Pastor Kevin preached it last week). And now in the paragraph following the transfiguration Jesus explicitly announces his suffering and resurrection again. The miraculous event is sandwiched by exposition of the gospel. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in our place to bear the wrath of God, atone for our sin, and defeat death is what the transfiguration is all about. You see Jesus was giving them a glimpse of the glory that will follow suffering, but he won’t have the glory without the suffering.
We see it in the way that Mark structures the book with the voice of the Father. Mark opens the book with the Father’s declaration at Jesus’ baptism. Here in the middle of the book the Father speaks again at the transfiguration. And when we get to the end of the book when Christ dies on the cross the Father is silent. On the cross Jesus cried out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me (Mark 15.34)? The one called beloved at his baptism and transfiguration is forsaken on the cross. Jesus endured the silence of the Father so that we might be called beloved.
“How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory”
And so there is a call to believe. Believe in the beloved Son of God who lived, died, and resurrected in your place. We also see a call to behave as well. The Father commands us to do all that Jesus says. But most importantly, we must behold Jesus. He is glorified because he suffered. “Word of the Father now in flesh appearing. O come let us adore him.”
Even Better Than The Transfiguration
We’ve mentioned before that the Gospel of Mark is Peter’s memoir given to Mark. There’s no doubt the transfiguration left an indelible mark on Peter, he mentions it again in his 2nd epistle:
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1.16-21).
Peter, who was at the transfiguration, says that the Scripture is more fully confirmed than that experience. The Bible is better than being at the transfiguration. Do you want to see a vision of Jesus Christ in his glory? Read the Bible. When the Father said, “listen to my son,” what did he mean? He meant obey the Scripture.
Conclusion
When we pull back the curtain on the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth it turns out, unlike the wizard of Oz, he is not a fake. Jesus is the glorious 2nd person of the Holy Trinity! And you know what? Even though The Wizard of Oz movie missed the point of political satire, I think it’s a better story in the end. Because it’s not silver or gold that is our salvation in the end. It is nothing but the blood of Jesus. It is the good news of his death and resurrection that will bring us home to the new creation. And the transfiguration is a preview of that – a foretaste of glory divine. It is when we see the transfiguration of Jesus Christ we can’t help but confess, “there’s no place like home.”