II Kings 2: 1–12 / Psalm 50: 1–6 / II Corinthians 4: 3–6 / Mark 9: 2–9
This is the homily prepared for St. John’s,
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker, for Sunday, February 14, 2021.
“THE CHOICE: TO GO FORWARD, OR TO LINGER?”
(Homily
text: Mark 9: 2-9)
In each year, as the Epiphany season comes to a
close, we get to hear the account of Jesus’ Transfiguration,1 as it
is recorded in each of the three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke (in that
order). This year, we are in Year B of our three-year cycle, so we are treated
to Mark’s account of this event.
There’s much that can be said about this event’s lingering
impact on the three disciples who witnessed, it, Peter, James and John, and
then, in succession, on each one of the original disciples as they came to know
about it. It’s also worth saying, I think, that this event also impacts us as
contemporary disciples of Jesus.
As I read the account, I’m struck by Peter’s idea
to construct three booths (some translations call them “dwellings”, while other
translations call them “tents”) for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. (I don’t believe
that the appearance of Moses and Elijah’s participation in this event is an
accident: They were there for specific reasons. But that is, for my purposes
here, a topic for another occasion.
Instead, let’s consider the possible implications
of Peter’s idea.
We can begin by asking the question, “Is Peter’s
desire to build three tents or dwellings a wish to prolong this wonderful
event, or to memorialize it in some way?” We might guess that surely Peter
knows that that, at some point, Jesus’ appearance, which displays the glory He
shares with the Father, will come to an end.
Perhaps we can’t know the exact reason for Peter’s
suggestion, other than the testimony of the Gospel writers, who tell us that he
was afraid, and that his suggestion came from that fear.
But I do think we can come to some sort of a
reasonable conclusion that his suggestion did imply creating some testimonial
to the event, or perhaps his intention was that the construction of three
dwellings would allow some way for the three who appeared in this miraculous
way to remain, at least for awhile.
If we’re correct in these assumptions, then the
question arises: “Do Peter and the other two witnesses to this event linger on
the mountaintop?” Two other possibilities also come to mind, I think: “Do the
three look back on this event to such an extent that they are unable to be
Jesus’ effective disciples as the events of Jesus’ earthly ministry and His
journey to Jerusalem unfolds?”. Or, one other possibility must be considered: “This
event equips and arms these three to such an extent that, in time, they come to
grasp the fulness of Jesus’ identity and God’s great, big plan for humankind in
sending Jesus to take up our humanity alongside us.”
This last point is, in my humble estimation, the
most reasonable conclusion.
If we look at the context of this event, we can see
evidence that Jesus is equipping these three disciples (and, by extension, the
others as well) for the journey and the work which lay ahead. The context of
the Transfiguration provides the clue to this conclusion. For that context, we
must step back into chapter eight of Mark’s account.
There, we read that Jesus has asked His disciples
about His identity. Recall with me their responses, in which they say that some
say that he is John the Baptist, while others say He is Elijah, or one of the
prophets. Then, He asks them point-blank: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter
responds, saying, “You are the Christ.” The Lord must have concluded that the
disciples were ready for the next lesson having to do with His true identity
and purpose for being among them, for He begins to tell them (for the first of
three times, by the way) that He will be going to Jerusalem, where He will
suffer and will be killed. Peter responds to this news by rebuking the Lord.
Jesus responds to Peter by saying, “Get behind me, Satan.” and then turns to
the crowd and tells them, “If anyone would come after me, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
After having seen Jesus speaking with Moses and
Elijah, appearing in glorious majesty, the four come down the mountain, where
Jesus’ ministry of healing and teaching continues. But the Lord tells the three
disciples that they are not to talk about what they have seen until after He is
raised from the dead. Mark tells us that they don’t get it, wondering what
being raised from the dead might mean.
It’s clear that the disciples, not just the three
who witnessed the Lord’s glorious Transfiguration, but all of them, are in the
Lord’s school, students who sometimes fail the quizzes and the major tests.
Then, at times, they get the answers right. We shouldn’t be too hard on this
original band of followers. After all, God is up to something wonderful, some
new in so many respects.
Their course of instruction is measured in small
lessons, some of them painfully learned.
But learn they did, all of them. After the
resurrection what God was up to in the sending of Jesus begins to make sense, a
sense of the sense that all other realities are of a secondary nature. This,
Jesus’ resurrection, and the lesson that God’s power extends even to the power
of death, indelibly impresses on these disciples’ hearts and minds the great,
powerful and eternal drama that had unfolded in the Christ event on that holy
mountain.
Imagine being Peter, James and John, telling the
other disciples about the events that took place on that mountaintop after
Jesus had risen from the dead, and had appeared to them all. Perhaps they said
something like, “We haven’t been able to tell you all about this until now, but
we saw the Lord, in all His glorious majesty, appearing to us along with Moses
and Elijah. It was there that we had our first real glimpse of who the Lord
really is.” It must’ve been quite a conversation.
We began this homily posing to ourselves three
possibilities for Peter’s suggestion that three dwellings be built for the
Lord, for Moses and for Elijah. We said back then that one possibility was for
the three witnesses to the Transfiguration to want to stay there in the past of
this event. Another possibility, we suggested, was for them to try to live in
the past of this event to such an extent that they are unable to be effective
followers of Jesus. And the third possibility we suggested was that this event
equipped and armed them for the work which lay ahead.
The choice these three faced, and their choice to
allow the Transfiguration to better equip them for ministry, is the choice we,
too, must make. After all, we could choose to dwell on some wonderful spiritual
experience we’ve had in the past. We might want to memorialize that
transforming event in some way, and to some degree or another, that’s probably
a good thing to want to do. But the truth of the matter is that we must allow
those encounters we have with God to transform us, to equip us for the things
that God has in mind for each one of us to do, those things that lie in the
future.
AMEN.
[1] The Transfiguration also has its own separate feast day, August 6th.
