The Glory of Christ in the Everday
Gospel of Mark • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Highs and lows
A little game we would play with our kids at the dinner table
Turn to your neighbor and share a high / low of the past week
The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)
The Conversation with Moses and Elijah (9:4-6)
The Affirmation from the Father (9:7-9)
The transfiguration
The Gospel according to Mark Excursus: How Should the Transfiguration Be Understood?
The transfiguration of Jesus is a singular event in ancient literature. It has no analogy in the Bible, or in the extrabiblical literature from the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, rabbinic literature, Qumran, Nag Hammadi, or in Hellenistic literature as a whole. In light of this uniqueness, how should it be understood?
The story of he uniqueness of Christ in the common story of man
Mark 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.
The Gospel according to Mark Removing the Veil: The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2–8)
In the Gospels mountains figure prominently in Jesus’ ministry: on mountains he prays (6:46; Luke 6:12; John 6:15), preaches (3:13; Matt 5:1), performs miracles (Matt 15:29; John 6:3), is tempted (Matt 4:8), calls his disciples (3:13; Luke 6:12), sends them into mission (Matt 28:16), and accomplishes his passion (11:1; 14:32; 15:22)
“radiant” = sparkle, twinkle
Jesus is a greater glory
Jesus is a greater glory
Glory tends to be a “churchy” word
I’d like to give it new meaning
ILLUST - semantic satiation - when a word is repeated so many times that it begins to sound weird
Leon Jakobovits James (a psychology professor at the University of Hawaii), who first coined the term, suggests the reason for the phenomenon of semantic satiation is due to a sort of brain fatigue
“He says, “when a brain cell fires, it takes more energy to fire the second time, and still more the third time, and finally the fourth time, it won’t even respond unless you wait a few seconds.” He adds that the more times you repeat a word, the more energy it takes.” (https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/semantic-satiation-why-does-a-word-sound-weird-when-repeated-multiple-times.html)
Say it with me, GLORY, GLORY, GLORY
“Glory” = doxa = kavod = weighty
*What is “weighty” in your life? What carries more weight on the scales of your time, energy, emotion?
Jesus and Moses
Jesus takes three disciples up the mountain (Mark 9:2).
Moses goes with three named persons plus seventy of the elders up the mountain (Ex. 24:1, 9).
Jesus is transfigured and his clothes become radiantly white (Mark 9:2–3).
Moses’ skin shines when he descends from the mountain after talking with God (Ex. 34:29).
God appears in veiled form in an overshadowing cloud (Mark 9:7).
God appears in veiled form in an overshadowing cloud (Ex. 24:15–16, 18).
A voice speaks from the cloud (Mark 9:7).
A voice speaks from the cloud (Ex. 24:16).
The people are astonished when they see Jesus after he descends from the mountain (Mark 9:15).
The people are afraid to come near Moses after he descends from the mountain (Ex. 34:30).
— (NIVAC)
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
As Mark points out, the Father affirmed Jesus’ role and mission and commanded them to listen to His Son.
33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Moses reflects God’s glory
Jesus RADIATES God’s glory
Private exultation before public humiliation
Mark The Transfiguration (9:2–8)
The Transfiguration, therefore, serves to confirm that the suffering Jesus will endure is not incompatible with his glory. The scene functions like a hologram. For a brief moment, the disciples glimpse the truth as divine glory shines through the veil of suffering.
4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
Jesus is the way to glory (Luke 9:31)
Jesus is the way to glory (Luke 9:31)
31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
- Moses speaks Jesus about his departure = “Exodus”
While Moses led the people of Israel out of physical bondage from their Egyptian slavemasters
Jesus, through his death and resurrection, led you and I out of spiritual bondage from our slavemaster of sin
Only Jesus can do it!
I wonder what Moses and Jesus talked about in relation to Jesus’ departure?
Did Moses talk with Jesus about how he now understands what his (Moses’) role had been and what Jesus had now come to do?
Was he thanking Jesus that, though Moses had sinned, Jesus had still gotten him into the Promised Land.
- In case you were worried the Moses would never make it to the Promised Land, see that Jesus got him there
- In case you’re worried you may never make it to the Promised Land of heaven , see! Jesus will get you there!!
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.
Mark (The Transfiguration (9:2–8))
His desire to build shelters (booths, tents, or tabernacles) is also a perplexing feature. The reader needs some explanation for them as we have for the Jewish customs in 7:3–4, and one can only guess what Peter intended.
Are the shelters meant to recall the Exodus and an elusive reference to the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:39–43)?
Are they intended to recall the ancient battle cry, “Every man to his tent, O Israel!” in anticipation of a military uprising (2 Sam. 20:1; 1 Kings 12:16; 2 Chron. 10:16)?
Does Peter want to set up the messianic headquarters here on the mountain?
Maybe he only wants to prolong the blessed moment and offers the three figures hospitality since tents were regarded as the habitations of divine beings (Ex. 25:1–9; Acts 7:43; Rev. 21:3).
Does he mistakenly believe “that the eschatological rest in which God and his heavenly retinue would dwell upon earth had already begun”?11
Jesus in glory reminds us of our future glory
Jesus in glory reminds us of our future glory
the revealed glory of Christ points to our glory to be revealed
- Can you imagine it - no.
- While we cannot imagine it, Peter saw it.
- it was so great Peter wanted to stay
ILLUST - imagine a time when you found yourself in a situation that you never wanted to leave. (Beach?)
“I could stay right here forever.”
Now imagine something better than that. Can’t? That’s the whole point.
How often does the “end” inform your “now?”
ILLUST - the last workday before vacation - who cares how many things go wrong?
The revelation of Christ’s glory at his transfiguration validates the potential of our glory and the resurrection solidifies it’s reality.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
I’m going to cheat a bit here. As we’ve seen how this story was understood and how it affected Peter in his walk with Jesus, I want us to remember there were nine other disciples at the foot of the mountain who were not part of this transfiguration experience .
What were they thinking when Jesus took those three up on the mountain? What did they think when those all came down showing that obviously something had happened but not talking about what it was?
The mountaintop experiences are great but they are not the everyday
More than all this, let’s take a look to see what was happening at the bottom of this mountain.
Mark 9:14 (ESV)
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.
What were they arguing about?
Mark 9:16–18 (ESV)
16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”
Peter James and John were with Jesus and all of his glory, the other nine were wrestling with demons down below. Can you relate?
While Christ is at work in glory, the demonic forces are at work below
Others seem to have their life all together and you feel like demonic forces keep throwing you down.
You know there is glory ‘up there’ but there is suffering down here.
If I were Peter, James, or John, the moment my foot hit level ground and I saw the battle with demons, I would have said, “Nope” and walked back up the mountain!
But not Jesus. He came down the mountain. He walked down from glory and into the mess.
When confronted with the mess, what does he say?
Bring him to me.
We look to Christ in glory while walking with Jesus everyday
We look to Christ in glory while walking with Jesus everyday
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.
Cloud = presence of God
Coming down from the mountain the disciples still did not fully understand what would happen next.
While Jesus has returned to glory following the resurrection, we still walk with him through the Holy Spirit.
I believe help my unbelief
They can coexist
The Gospel according to Mark Removing the Veil: The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2–8)
The disciples—then as now—are not expected to go it alone in this hard and joyous thing of discipleship. Precisely where they hear the gospel, where they see both its glory and their own inadequacy, there Jesus is with them. The one who calls disciples to follow him does not abandon them for glory, but turns from glory to accompany them “on the way” to Jerusalem and the cross.
Come, and thank God for the glory of Christ.
If you are at the foot of the mountain, hear Christ say, “bring him to me. Bring her to me.”
Believe! and ask Christ to help your unbelief.
Bring your problems to the One for whom all things are possible.