Last Sunday after Epiphany, February 11, 2024: 2 Kings 2:1-12; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9; Psalm 50:1-6
We end up here every year at the end of Epiphany: up on the mountaintop, with some of the disciples seeing Jesus in glory. The accounts in the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke are largely similar: the disciples are always Peter, James and John. While jesus is praying, his clothes become dazzling white. The disciples see Jesus with Moses and Elijah. Peter always suggests they make dwellings for Jesus, Moses and Elijah; a cloud covers the sky and they hear God’s voice saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”. Then the cloud disappears, and they are alone with Jesus on the mountain. The disciples are terrified. There are more words in Matthew and Luke than in Mark, but it’s the same story. And whether Jesus orders their silence (in Mark and Matthew) or they just don’t tell, it is not talked about afterwards.
What are we to make of this? One way to think about it is that it makes sense that the last Sunday of Epiphany, a season that focuses on Jesus revealing himself, we get a story of his most dramatic revelation, one that links him with Moses and Elijah, who would have been for his disciples important prophets.
This probably meant something different for Jesus than for his disciples. Jesus often went up on mountains to pray, generally either alone or with a few of his followers. For Jesus, we can imagine that this is an experience that confirms his ministry and his path forward: he knows he is going in the right direction.
For his disciples, I imagine it would have been both energizing and terrifying. To see Jesus, their rabbi, with Moses and Elijah would have confirmed to them that they had chosen the right leader. The three dwellings that Peter proposes would have been a permanent representation of Jesus’ place among the great prophets of the Hebrew scriptures. If it was affirming to see Jesus with Moses and Elijah, it was terrifying to hear God’s voice. Matthew tells us (17:6) that “they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear”.
Thinking about this story, it seems to me that we are with the disciples. We know from the message that we have from Jesus that this is a good place to be: following Jesus is good for us and for the world. But it is also terrifying. More than anything, the response of the disciples to the Transfiguration is a reminder that this is not necessarily an easy path. Jesus changes our lives, and that is never easy.
Our reading from the Hebrew scriptures reminds us that the difficulty of following God and serving the Lord has never been easy. Elijah tries to convince Elisha not to come with him. Elisha insists: his final wish from Elijah is to inherit a double share of Elijah’s spirit. Elijah warns it is a hard thing, which Elisha will receive if he sees him as he is taken from him.
Most of the people of Israel were not Elijah or Elisha. Most of those who followed Jesus did not leave everything behind. We draw attention to saints because most of us are not saints. It’s too hard. But it always helps to look, and to think about how we can, even in limited ways, be good disciples.