Listen to him: the Transfiguration and the way down the mountain

This class opens a run of chapters from the Gospel of Mark, the shortest of the four Gospels and, on the view of most scholars, the first written. The book does not name its author. Early church tradition, preserved by Eusebius from Papias (a bishop in Asia Minor in the early second century), says that Mark was Peter's interpreter and wrote down accurately, though not in strict order, what Peter taught. This Mark is usually identified with John Mark of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12), who is called Peter's 'son' in 1 Peter 5:13. Some critical scholars doubt the link to Peter. Most date the book between about AD 65 and 70, around the Jewish revolt against Rome, though some argue for the 50s and others for just after the temple's destruction in 70. The traditional place is Rome, and the book suits Gentile readers: it translates Aramaic words, explains Jewish customs (7:3-4) and uses Latin terms in Greek dress.

Mark states his subject in the first verse: the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the first half Jesus acts with authority and the question is who he is. At Caesarea Philippi (8:27-30) Peter says that Jesus is the Christ, and the second half turns to what kind of Christ he is. Three times Jesus tells the Twelve that he must suffer, die and rise (8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34). Each time they misunderstand, and each time he follows with teaching on discipleship. Mark 9 holds the second cycle, and it opens with the Transfiguration, where the Father himself confirms what Peter confessed.

On how the Gospels relate, most scholars hold that Matthew and Luke used Mark; a minority holds that Matthew came first and Mark abbreviated it, which was the older church view. The Transfiguration appears in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1-13; Luke 9:28-36). Luke says Moses and Elijah spoke of Jesus' 'departure' (Greek exodos) at Jerusalem, and Matthew says his face shone like the sun. Mark's account is the plainest and stresses the disciples' fear and confusion.

Mark 9 is Gospel narrative, a genre of ancient biography with a theological purpose. Mark selects and arranges stories to show who Jesus is, and he often places one story inside or beside another so that each explains the other. Here the arrangement is clear. A glory scene on the mountain (9:2-8) is followed at once by failure and need in the valley (9:14-29), and then by teaching that glory comes by way of service. The reader is meant to hold the two together. The Transfiguration does not cancel the cross; it is placed between two announcements of it (8:31 and 9:31).

Two principles guide the reading.

• First, the account is full of Old Testament imagery, and its meaning is found by reading it as a first-century Jew would. Six days, a high mountain, a cloud and a voice recall Moses at Sinai (Exodus 24:15-18). Moses and Elijah, who both met God on the mountain, stand for the Law and the Prophets. The voice that says 'listen' recalls Moses' promise of a prophet to come (Deuteronomy 18:15).
• Second, the sayings in 9:33-50 were probably spoken at different times, and Mark has joined them by catchwords. 'In my name' links 9:37, 9:39 and 9:41, 'stumble' links 9:42-47, and 'fire' and 'salt' link 9:48-50. The reader should follow these links, but must not force the sayings into a single argument. Some are hard and Mark leaves them hard, particularly 'everyone will be salted with fire' in 9:49.

Verse 1

Jesus says some standing there will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God 'come with power'. Readers take this four main ways: as the Transfiguration, which follows in six days (a view of many early interpreters); as the resurrection, ascension and Pentecost; as the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70; or, in the view of Albert Schweitzer and some critical scholars, as a mistaken expectation of the end within a generation. This class takes it as a promise of a preview and confirmation, with the Transfiguration as the nearest fulfilment, while noting that the other readings have long standing.

Verses 2–4

Jesus takes Peter, James and John, the same three he will take into Gethsemane (14:33), up a high mountain. Mark does not name it; tradition says Tabor, some say Hermon. Jesus is 'transfigured' (metemorphothe, from which 'metamorphosis') and his garments become whiter than any launderer could make them. Elijah appears with Moses, talking with Jesus.

Verses 5–6

Peter calls Jesus 'Rabbi' and proposes three shelters (skenai), one for each. Mark says he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Peter seems to set Jesus beside Moses and Elijah, and the next verses correct that.

Verses 7–8

A cloud 'overshadows' them, as it did at Sinai and over the tent of meeting (Exodus 24:15-16; 40:34-35). The Father says, 'This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!' The words repeat the voice at the baptism (1:11) but are now spoken to the disciples. 'Listen to Him' echoes Deuteronomy 18:15, where Moses says God will raise up a prophet like himself and Israel must listen to him. Then the disciples see 'no one with them except Jesus'. The Law and the Prophets are not rejected; they fall silent before the Son.

Verses 9–13

Coming down, Jesus orders silence until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. The three discuss what 'rising from the dead' could mean, a sign that a resurrection of the Messiah was not in their expectation. They ask why the scribes say Elijah must come first (Malachi 4:5-6). Jesus answers that Elijah has come and was treated as people pleased, and that Scripture says the Son of Man must suffer much. Matthew spells out that he meant John the Baptist (Matthew 17:13; compare Mark 1:6 with 2 Kings 1:8).

Verses 14–29

In the valley a father has brought his son, who has a spirit that makes him mute, throws him down and convulses him. The disciples could not drive it out. Jesus laments an 'unbelieving generation' and asks for the boy. The father says, 'if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us'. Jesus repeats the phrase back, 'If you can?', and says all things are possible for the one who believes. The father's answer is among the most honest in the Gospels: 'I do believe; help my unbelief!' Jesus commands the spirit out, the boy seems dead, and Jesus takes him by the hand and raises him. The verbs for 'raise' and 'rise' are those used of the resurrection, and Mark may intend a quiet foreshadowing. To the disciples' private question Jesus says this kind comes out only by prayer; some later manuscripts add 'and fasting'.

Verses 30–32

Passing through Galilee, Jesus again says the Son of Man will be delivered, killed, and rise after three days. They did not understand and were afraid to ask.

Verses 33–37

In Capernaum Jesus asks what they argued about on the road. They are silent, for they had argued about who was greatest. He sits, as a teacher does, and says whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. He sets a child in the middle and embraces it. A child had no standing, so welcoming such a one in his name is welcoming him and the one who sent him.

Verses 38–41

John reports that they stopped a man casting out demons in Jesus' name because he did not follow them. Jesus says not to stop him, for whoever is not against us is for us, and even a cup of water given because they belong to Christ will not lose its reward.

Verses 42–50

The warnings grow severe: a millstone and the sea are better than causing a little one who believes to stumble. If a hand, foot or eye causes stumbling, it is better to enter life maimed than to go whole into Gehenna, 'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched' (Isaiah 66:24). Gehenna is named for the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, once a place of child sacrifice (Jeremiah 7:31-32) and used in Jesus' day as a picture of final judgment. The earliest manuscripts omit the refrain in verses 44 and 46. The sayings about salt are obscure, but the closing command to be at peace returns to the argument on the road.

The Transfiguration is one of the places where the Bible's teaching on the identity of Jesus becomes direct. The Father names him his beloved Son, and the scene shows what that means: he stands above Moses and Elijah, shares the glory of God, and alone is to be heard. The Father's voice, the Son transfigured and the cloud of God's presence give the doctrines of the Trinity and the deity of Christ a visible shape. Peter later recalled the event as an eyewitness of Christ's majesty on the holy mountain (2 Peter 1:16-18).

The chapter also joins glory and suffering. The disciples want the glory without the cross, as their argument about greatness shows. Mark's answer, repeated through chapters 8 to 10, is that the Son of Man enters glory by way of death and that those who follow share a cross before a crown. This is the Bible's pattern from the Servant of Isaiah 52-53 to Philippians 2:5-11.

On faith, the father's cry shows that faith in Mark is not the absence of doubt but a turning to Jesus in need. On judgment, the words about Gehenna are among the most serious in the Gospels. Church tradition has mostly read them as describing final and lasting punishment. Some evangelicals, John Stott among them, have tentatively proposed that the wicked are finally destroyed, and others hold that God's mercy will reconcile all. The class records these views and notes that Mark's own point here is the seriousness of causing a little one to stumble.

Mark 9 presents Christ directly. The Father calls him his beloved Son, Moses and Elijah attend him, and the disciples are told to listen to him. Jesus is the prophet like Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18:15, a promise Peter applies to him in Acts 3:22 and Stephen in Acts 7:37. This is fulfilment. The Law and the Prophets, represented by two men who met God on Sinai and Horeb, give way to the one to whom they pointed. Jesus is also the Lord whom Malachi's messenger was to precede (Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6): the forerunner has come in John, and the one he prepared for is here.

The chapter also shows what sort of Messiah he is. The glory of the mountain and the death he foretells belong together. Jesus speaks of the Son of Man's suffering as something written (9:12), taking up the pattern of the Servant in Isaiah 53. His authority over the unclean spirit, and his raising the boy by the hand, show the power that will raise him on the third day.

Three disciples see the Son of Man in glory here, as promised in 8:38 and 9:1, and in 14:33 the same three see him in agony. The glory and the cross belong to one person. After the resurrection the disciples would read the whole Old Testament, Moses and the Prophets included, as being about him (Luke 24:25-27).