Mark 9:2

TRANSFIGURED!

‘He was transfigured before them.’

Mark 9:2

We will gaze for a brief while upon the luminous and glorious aspect of Christ’s body in the moment of His Transfiguration.

I. The unveiling of Christ’s Divinity.—We will see first of all the revelation, the unveiling of His Divinity. The flesh of our Blessed Lord was as a veil drawn over His Divine nature. It half concealed and half revealed what lay beneath, but it is difficult to read the Gospels and not to become aware that ever and again the Divinity flashed forth from beneath the bonds which held it.

II. The foreshadowing of resurrection.—It is also the foreshadowing of our resurrection. The Christian Church teaches Jesus Christ, being dead, came to life. It teaches also that, being buried, He rose from the grave; and it leads us to hope that as we shall live after our death, so shall our poor bodies be raised by His power into the likeness of His body. The Scripture speaks of two bodies, or more strictly two aspects of the same body. There is the body of our humiliation, and there is the body of Christ’s glory, the same body only etherealised, transfigured, and glorified. Does anybody ask what will be the likeness of our body at its resurrection? Look at the text: ‘He was transfigured before them.’

III. The essential majesty of sorrow.—Lastly, the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ reveals the essential majesty of sorrow. It might have been thought that, if the representative of the law and the representative of prophecy were summoned from the dead to meet the Lord, there were many topics upon which they and He might have conversed together. What a conversation might that have been, like none that ever took place upon earth! But it is told that they spake of His decease, His exodus, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. The Transfiguration has been called the dividing line in the life of Jesus Christ. From that mountain He descended with painful steps into the valley of the dark shadow. But was He not more royal upon Calvary than upon Hermon?

—Bishop Welldon.

Illustrations

(1) ‘There are incidents in the Divine story which cannot be satisfactorily explained except by supposing that it was the Divinity bursting forth which compelled the immediate result. It was so in the instant obedience which the first followers of our Lord rendered to His summons, “Follow Me.” It was so in the amazement with which the disciples beheld Him as He was going up to Jerusalem to suffer, and it was so in the garden of Gethsemane when, at the words “I am He,” the enemies, the soldiers who had been sent to arrest Him, went backwards and fell to the ground.’

(2) ‘The great painter who depicted the scene of the Transfiguration has conceived our Lord as being caught upwards from the mountain as it were heavenwards, and drawing to Himself the law-giver and the prophet who appeared with Him in glory. Such, perchance, will be our bodies at the resurrection. “There is a natural body,” says St. Paul, “and there is a spiritual body.” “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” ’

(3) ‘He Who suffered for us men and for our salvation, He alone is potent to assuage all the anguishes of this mortal life. Jesus, it is said in the story of the Transfiguration, was left alone. He is alone still. There are many teachers in the world, but there is only one Saviour. It is to Him, and to Him alone, that the world must look for all that makes life worth living. It is in turning to Him, in leaning upon His Divine support, so, and so only, that we are made strong to overcome in the evil day.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE HEAVENLY VISION

I. Days of prayer and days of vision.—The Transfiguration took place as our Lord was praying (Luke 9:29). The Lord Jesus Christ was the most prayerful Man that ever lived. He had special places for prayer: the Temple, the synagogue, a mountain, the garden of Gethsemane (John 18:2). Several times in Mark we are told He went away for communion with God. He is the great Teacher of prayer; He is Master of the art of prayer. Certainly days of prayer are days of vision. If you want to see heavenly visions, you will see them best on your knees.

II. Transfigured in the night.—It is worth while remarking, too, that the Transfiguration was in the night. The topic of conversation was the Cross (Luke 9:31). The entire conception of Christ in the Bible is sacrificial. He is the Lamb of sacrifice—the sin offering. This is the central truth of both Testaments.

III. A foregleam.—The Transfiguration was a foregleam of what the appearance of Christ will be when He comes again. Archbishop Anselm beautifully said: ‘If the contemplation of Christ’s glorified Manhood so filled the Apostle with joy, that he was unwilling to be sundered from it, how shall it fare with them who attain to the contemplation of His glorious Godhead?’

IV. After the vision.—At last the vision faded, the heavenly visitors returned home, and Jesus only was left. He abides for ever. On the next day as they went on their journey down the hill Jesus went with them. And if we believe in Him He will go with us every day.

—Rev. F. Harper.

Illustration

‘Lord, it is good for us to be

Entranced, enwrapped, alone with Thee,

Watching the glistening raiment glow

Whiter than Hermon’s whitest snow,

The human lineaments that shine

Irradiant with a light Divine;

Till we, too, change from grace to grace,

Gazing on that transfigured Face.’

(THIRD OUTLINE)

THE WAY TO THE MOUNT

How shall we get on to the mount? how obtain these glorious views of Christ? Be guided by the circumstances before us. It comes—

I. By abiding with Christ.

II. By free communion with Christ.

III. By increasing devotion to Christ.

The excellence of a great picture, or book, or character does not always appear at first. So we must have some good knowledge of Christ, some acquaintance with Him. Let there be an earnest study of the Gospel. Be not impatient. See how freely these three talked with Christ. There must not only be thought about Christ, but free talk with Him.