Mark 8:27- 9:8
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea
Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’
And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others,
one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter
answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell
anyone about him.
Then he began to
teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by
the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three
days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and
began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter
and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine
things but on human things.’
He called the crowd
with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let
them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want
to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and
for the sake of the gospel,* will save it. For what will it profit them to gain
the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return
for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words* in this adulterous
and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he
comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’ And he said to them,
‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until
they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’
Six days later, Jesus
took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart,
by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became
dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared
to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to
Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one
for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for
they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there
came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they
looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus
A few weeks
ago, we heard the author of Mark’s gospel report two very different miracle
stories which happened moments apart in the midst of excitement and chaos. As
Jesus is traveling through a community, Jaruis, a leader of the Jewish center
there, calls out to Jesus and begs him for help. Jarius’ daughter is very sick,
at the point of death and Jesus is her last hope. Jesus agrees to go and see
the young girl. On the way a very large
crowd starts to gather around Jesus, seeking healing, help, understanding or
even just a glimpse of him. One woman in the crowd, identified only as a person
who was sick for 12 years and had lost everything trying to restore her health,
reaches out, touches Jesus clothing and is healed. Immediately after this, Jesus is aware that
God’s power had acted in the crowd.
Jesus stops and asks “who touched me”.
The woman identifies herself and Jesus sends her back to her life with
the joyful words “go in peace, your faith has made you well”. This is a very
public miracle, seen by thousands and talked about in all different communities
around the area. Immediately after this,
Jarius receives awful news, word comes that his daughter had died. Like everyone else, Jarius knew that people
of great faith and power could heal the sick but no one could raise the dead.
Knowing this, he tells Jesus not to bother coming anymore, nothing could be
done. Jesus insists on going to see the
girl anyway. This time, he dismisses the crowds and only takes a handful of
followers with him. What he was going to
do at Jarius’ home is not going to be so public. When Jesus arrives there, the home is filled
with mourners, distraught and angry people asking why such a young girl, the
child of such a good man had to die. Jesus insists that the girl is not dead, just
sleeping. Jesus brings a few people with him to see the girl and with the
command “little girl, get up”, her life is restored. Jesus again insists that
the handful of witnesses say nothing about it, sticking to the sort of
ridiculous claim that the little girl was simply sleeping and Jesus woke her
up.
There is a
good reason why healing the woman is a very public work while restoring Jarius’
daughter to life is done in secret. Jesus knew that God’s power and love for all
people would ultimately be revealed in suffering, through his death and
resurrection, not by signs of power and miracles. Those works of power would get people’s
attention, would alleviate suffering, reveal God’s power to act in the world
and empower people to go and do the same but those things would not be God’s
ultimate revelation. This is something
we need to understand in order for today’s reading to make sense and fit into
Mark’s Gospel. Today we start with a
milestone in Mark’s Gospel, the arrival at the villages of Ceasri Phillipi.
This was the edge of the known Jewish
world at the time. After Ceaseri
Phillipi, Jesus would have reached everyone. On the way, Jesus talks with the disciples,
the people who followed him and had seen him heal, teach with great authority,
cast out demons and express God’s love for all people. Jesus asks them 2
questions. 1: who do people say that I
am and 2: who do you say that I am. Peter, knowing what he has seen and
experienced, answered the second
question ‘You are the Messiah, the promised and long expected savior’. Jesus does not really recognize the response,
he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Again, Jesus would not be revealed as the
Messiah because Peter thought so, he would be revealed as the Messiah through
his death and resurrection.
After this
great declaration of faith, Jesus assumes his followers are ready to hear the
next thing, so he tells them that the Son of Man, this promised person who
would restore the world, is going to be rejected, suffer, be killed and rise
again. That is how God’s power and love will be revealed. Jesus is actually
wrong here, the disciples were not ready to hear these things. Peter pulls Jesus aside and yells at him,
Peter’s savior is not going to endure these things, not if he can help it. Jesus responds by calling Peter “Satan” and
telling him to get out of the way. Here
Jesus is not calling Peter the devil complete with fire, horns and
pitchfork. The Hebrew word, H’satan
literally means “obstacle” or “adversary” and that is exactly what Peter is
being. He is so caught up with worldly things, with the ideas of the Messiah as
Hero and King, he cannot accept a suffering savior, its just too much to deal
with. Jesus goes on to explain the power
of God vs the power of this world, the difference between being obsessed with
worldly things or Godly things: “If any want to become my followers, let them
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to
save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and
for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
After this, the conversation stops and Jesus gives his disciples time to
absorb, understand and process.
Six days
later, we come to the Transfiguration.
Transfiguration itself is a compound word from latin: trans meaning to
change and figura meaning form or
appearance. This is the moment where a
handful of his followers witness a glimpse of Jesus glory. At this time, he is
surrounded by Moses who represents the law and Elijah who represents the
prophets. Jesus role as the fulfillment
of God’s plan for the world and promises to the people is visually confirmed. This
event is so secret and so powerful, only three of Jesus 12 disciples are
invited to witness it. Like the raising of Jarius’ daughter from the dead, the
transfiguration will also be kept very quiet. It will only be understood in
light of Jesus death and resurrection, where Jesus true glory will be revealed.
In one of the few changes that Martin
Luther made to the church year, he moved the transfiguration to the last Sunday
of Epiphany so that it would be the last reading before Lent. As people of faith, we are invited to
remember who was born on Christmas, that
it is God with us who faces temptation in the wilderness, the transfigured who
is subject to these trials, the one who could rule the world who is killed by
it, the one who could easily escape the cross who dies on it,
So far, this
has been a lot of explaining and analysis,
so I would like to finish with some words about what this means for us and how we reveal God to the world. There are a lot of church communities that
teach something along the lines of “if
you are faithful, if you give lots of money and live a Christian life, you will
be rewarded with wealth, success and all good things” Here, the depressing and frightening opposite
of that is true as well, if something bad happens, that means you are being
punished for your sins, that you were not faithful enough and that God has
turned on you. That is exactly how Peter
appears to feel. Obviously, the Messiah
will be immune to suffering of any kind and surely the true son of Man will be
glorified and celebrated. Here, faith becomes little more than a magical way to
get all of the worldly stuff we want and make ourselves feel special.
This is not
what Jesus teaches and this is not the work of the God Jesus reveals to us.
With Jesus insistence on things like raising the dead and the transfiguration
being kept quiet and with his insistence on God’s Glory being revealed by the
cross, by his own death and resurrection. Jesus bring us into relationship with
a God who is present with us in the suffering of this world. Jesus never offers us a get out of suffering
free card, Instead we are offered a note promising to be with us through all
things and another one promising a place for us when the joy and suffering of
this world is over. We are invited to experience the joy of knowing our sins
are forgiven and realize that beats a new car, the comfort of knowing God loves
all people and that beats wondering about being saved, the peace that comes
from knowing God is with us always and that beats being popular. As we enter the time of Lent together, we are
called to take time to absorb, understand, process and be changed by these
things.
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