Gospel of Mark: Transfiguration

Transfiguration

Text: 9:2-13

Comments: A. Context. We see this as a follow up to the first foretelling of Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus got two responses: First, Peter rebuked Jesus. Second, there is no other response whatsoever. To give them a better understanding of the resurrection glory He takes 3 of His closer disciples to a mountain.

The mountain experience is overwhelming for them, and Jesus “charges them to tell no one until the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (v. 9). This triggers a conversation and He leaves it with a cliff hanger (v. 10-13).

B. Jesus and 3 others. Jesus selects James, John, and Peter as His “mighty men.” He spends more time with them and they see His glory of transfiguration. This is a pinnacle of Biblical leadership model. David had 3 mighty men: Josheb-Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, Eleazar son of Dodo, and Shammah son of Agee the Hararite (2 Samuel 23:8-12).

If we go even further in history, we should remember Moses and his three supporters: Aaron (his brother), Hur (community leader), and Joshua a son of Nun (military leader), helping Moses to pray and win the first battle of Israel after crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 17:8-16). Also, we should remember Noah and three of his sons: Shem, Ham, Japheth (Genesis 6:9). Or Daniel with three of his friends: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 1:6-7). In the royal court we can see the following model: monarch, prime-minister (dealing mostly with the internal affairs), minister of foreign affairs, and chief military commander.

Ultimately this paradigm comes from the order of creation, however in reversed order. In human world/terms we have a leader and three supporters. In creation order we have Trinity who invites Adam into fellowship of God's counsel. So, if we begin from the Creation account we need to notice other stories of the Bible where a human was given this privilege: Abraham and three visitors (Genesis 18), Isaiah who see the LORD Sabaoth (Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 53:1).

C. Seven persons. We know that Jesus was met by Moses and Elijah. So. So far we have 6 personalities: Jesus, 3 disciples, Moses, and Elijah. Then the Father speaks, making seven persons total. This completeness is important. Because prior to that Peter said something really strange – he did not know what to say, and have decided to say something. Proverbs 17:28 says: even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise. Peter should've take a class on the Books of Wisdom... What's so strange about his words? The problem is that he equalized Jesus, whom he just confessed to be the Messiah, with Moses and Elijah. These later guys are great BUT (!) Christ is greater, far superior. Author of the Letter to Hebrews, comparing Jesus and Moses put it this way: For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses – as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor then the house itself (Hebrews 3:3).

That's why the voice of the Father is SO important – He rearranges everything to it's proper place: this is My beloved Son, listen to Him (Mark 9:7). Moses, Elijah, David, all the other writers of the Holy Scripture have no glory of their own. They are as important as long as they point to Jesus as Messiah.

D. Why Moses and Elijah? Why these two? Why not Abraham or David? I think there are at least two reasons for it. Moses and Elijah represent two very distinctive periods in Israel history enveloping (more or less) all of its span. Moses is the one who brought them from patriarchal period to the LAND. Elijah ministered in the period of divided kingdoms preparing Israel for the first (Assyrian) exile.

Second, both Moses and Elijah have “weird” death stories. We are told that Moses died, but no one knows where his grave is. Who dug the grave? OK, maybe Moses, but who put the dirt back into the grave?? With Elijah it's not simpler – if Jesus is the first being raised from the dead, where did the prophet go to await for the resurrection of Jesus? We have many questions... AS a result we end up with two mysterious people who passed through death in some different way – so, they are the perfect representatives to talk to Jesus about death and resurrection.

E. Bright glory of Jesus – a foretaste of the glory of resurrection. As I said in the very beginning, the mountain experience of the apostles and Jesus' request not to share it with anybody until resurrection triggered a thought process in the right direction – what this rising from the dead means? (9:10). What Jesus did is gave them a foretaste of His resurrected glory. When we compare this passage with what we see in the Book of Acts 9:3-6 and Revelation 1:9-19, the purpose of Jesus becomes clear.

Therefore, we can identify a few elements of heavenly glory: bright glorious apparel and profound conversations with the spiritual giants of all, and most importantly – fellowship with the beloved Son of God, our Lord and Savior! 

HEBREWS: CHRIST is the FINAL REVELATION

Christ is the final revelation

Text: 1:1-3a – God who speaks

The passage has two main “parts”: (1) Scripture; (2) introduction of the Son to the discourse. 

First, let’s talk about Scripture. More than ones we will see a “coin of…” Example chapter 11 – coin of faith – here we have a coin of God’s speech – if He speaks, then no wonder that He listens.

Spoke in the prophets. Two aspects:

(1) speaking as delivering a message

(2) we have Prophetic writings. This means that the Word is not going to change, we can fully rely on it. We’ll talk about this later.  

Same God has spoken to us by His Son. Jesus’ incarnation is vital to the story of salvation – for the Cross reason, but also for the reason of God’s speech to be delivered. John puts is most beautifully – the Word became flesh (1:14a – see more later 1:14b).     

Scripture has three main qualities:

Holy – separate, unlike other writings, God’s word  

Written – therefore, can’t be changed, meaning that God limited Himself to the Word left to us. Proverbs 25:2.  

Inerrant – has no mistakes, not only in its content, but in its formation, we confess closed canon.   

Liturgical usage of the phrase: Evening Prayer, LSB p. 247, which – after a reflection – concludes the readings of the Scripture from both the Old and New Testament.   

Challenge of the Red-Letter Bibles. In the context of Heb. 1:1-3a, what is the problem with?

(2) Then the author introduces Son as a person. He comes up with 5 “basic” features that wi;; be important for the rest of the “letter.”

 

God appointed Him as the heir of all things – Nicene creed, whose kingdom will have no end  

 

Through whom the world was created – Proverbs 8:22-31; Nicene creed, by whom all things were made.

Radiance of God’s glory – John 1:14b 

Exact imprint of His nature – Philippians 2:6-11  

Son upholds the universe by the word of His power – we are coming back to the speech/word of God, John 1:1-3. It is the Word that sustains the universe, therefore being unthankful to the Word is being unthankful to the Creator (a thought to ponder when we discuss weekly Eucharist [Thanksgiving] or the Lord’s Supper). 

ROMANS: GREETINGS

 GREETINGS

Passage: Rom. 1:1-7

Structure:

A. 1:1, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle

  B. 1:2-4, Son of God… Jesus Christ

A’. 1:5-6, Through whom we received grace and apostleship

  B’, 1:7, grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Important terms:

Paul – we know that his “birthname” was Saul (Acts 7:58), like the first king of Israel. Yet, at some point, he adopted the name/title Paul (Acts 13:1 to 13:13). Paul means “a little one.”    

Servant – the better translation is “slave.” Lit. “owned body and soul.” The term is used often for the dedicated personalities serving God (Moses – Josh. 1:2; Samuel – 1 Sam. 3:9-10; David – 2 Sam. 3:18; 7:5,8).    

Called – two important things to note: (1) Paul is called, not “became.” It is Jesus Christ who calls to the ministry or in apostleship. (2) The word “called” is related to the word “church” – those who are called out.    

Name is proclaimed among the nation for salvation (cp. 4:12). Jesus is the name that God presents Himself to the world (John 17: 6,11-12).

Grace is a gift (3:24), used in Romans 24 times.  

Peace – a part of a regular Jewish greeting – Peace be with you, Shalom aleichem. Paul successfully combines the grace from God that results in peace among the people.  

Commentary:

Gospel was promised beforehand by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. This means that the OT is a great witness for the Gospel. It is an important skill to able explain life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   

Gospel was declared to be [the person of] the Son of God. Therefore, according to Paul the Gospel is not a set of propositions or theological statements, but the person of Jesus Christ. The main prove of the Gospel is His resurrection from the dead – victory over death that Adam brought into the world (5:12-14).    

In his discussion of the Son of God Paul sets juxtaposition of son of David and all nations. David was a king of Israel. Yet, it is through him God made a covenant promising that the God’s anointed will sit on the throne forever (2 Sam. 7). This Messianic King will be a blessing to all of the nations for the promise goes back to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3).

Book of Concord:

1:3 – FC, SD VIII:37, in discussion of distinctive features of the person and the nature of Christ.

1:4 – FC, SD VIII:85, quoting Luther’s Treatise on the Last Words of David (LW 15:293-294), authors of the Formula of Concord reiterate the importance of identification of the human nature of Christ (not losing from sight His divine nature from the eternity). 

3 Tops in the Gospel of Mark

There are a few ways to outline the Gospel of Mark (or any Gospel for that matter). Getting ready for the Transfiguration Sunday I stumbled across an interesting observation: Jesus is proclaimed (or acknowledged) as the Son of God in 3 instances - Baptism, Transfiguration, and Crucifixion. 

A voice from heaven identifies Jesus as the Beloved Son of God with whom the Father is well-pleased (Mk. 1:11). 

Again (similar to that), a voice from the cloud in the presence of Peter and James and John said [to them]: "This is my beloved Son, listen to Him" (Mk. 9:7). It was a response to Peter's idea to build three shrines of equal status for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. I am sure that Peter thought that he - proposing the equal status for Jesus - was lifting Him up. Yet, the Father had to intervene and correct him. 

Then non the less than centurion confesses Jesus as the Son of God (Mk. 15:39). The death narrative picks up many elements from the Baptismal account - the Spirit and heavenly boundaries being torn (Mk. 1:10 and Mk. 15:38). Yet, now it is a gentile - first and the only human in Mark - confesses Jesus as the Son of God. Noting that in the Gospel Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ (Mk 8:29), I can guess that Mark "saves" it for the centurion. If this line of thought is correct, then it is even more interesting to see the realization of the Kingdom preached by Jesus right after His Baptism (Mk. 1:14-15). For the observant reader should've pondered with a question - what is the Kingdom pf God? or who can be a citizen (so to speak) of this kingdom? Having the centurion confess Jesus as the Son of God, Mark answers this question in the world-wide manner - it is for everyone, even for the centurion of Roman occupation army.