“The kingdom in full force”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, April 1, 2022
Mark 9:2-13 (Forward, p. 62) CEV p. 1038
So, what is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven really like? Today’s passage gives us a glimpse of what we will later know in all its fullness. Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase version, The Message, puts it this way. “[Jesus] then drove it home by saying, ‘This isn’t pie in the sky by and by. Some of you who are standing here are going to see it happen, see the kingdom of God arrive in full force’. Six days later, three of them did see it” (verses 1-2).
What, then, does this passage tell us? It tells us firstly, that the appearance of Jesus was changed, transformed, Peterson says, ‘from the inside out’, right before their very eyes. It wasn’t that something outside of Himself transformed Him; it was part of His very being. The Greek word for ‘transformed’ has the same root as ‘metamorphosis’, what a caterpillar does within its cocoon. Jesus had become, albeit only temporarily, what He had always been, what He was like according to His divine and eternal nature, what He was like when in the presence of His Father before He deigned Himself to take on human flesh and become one of us.
Furthermore, His clothes too were changed; they became dazzling white,, whiter than any bleach could make them. This sight was truly riveting, truly more than the eyes could easily take in. No wonder the disciples could not fully or immediately ‘take it in’, such was their wonder & their astonishment. This was God/ Jesus in all His glory, but just a small taste of it. Well then, do the Scriptures say that we cannot see God and live.
But that was not all, not in the least. Jesus, here in all His glory, had company, Elijah and Moses, the two greats of the old dispensation. It was as if time had stood still, and indeed it had, for this was nothing less than a taste of eternity, where death and aging no longer have any effect. And here were these two ‘greats’ conversing with Jesus and affirming Him in His important work, so it is quite clear that they were fully cognisant, fully aware, of what Jesus was ‘up to’ here on earth. That then, gives us a sense of how our loved ones, the faithful ones who have preceded us, are aware of and view our present earthly existence.
After the two Old Testament personages had left, the three disciples were then enveloped by a cloud, reminiscent of the Shekinah cloud that had overshadowed the Tent of Meeting in the desert and the Temple of Solomon, the cloud of God’s own presence. And, if that was not all, from deep inside that cloud they heard a voice, affirming Jesus and His mission. Quoting Peterson again, “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him.”
So this kingdom of heaven is a place of great splendid, wonder and glory, a place where we will view and know Jesus as He fully is. Not only that, it is a place where death and aging are transcended, the ‘eternal now’ as one theologian put it, and where past and present, and all those that once occupied time and space are now fully here. And it is a place where God’s will is truly known, and truly done. As the Our Father, the Lord’s Prayer, says, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” And what is more: none of this is mere pie in the sky, as Peterson puts it. All of this awaits us who love and follow Jesus. And so, in light of all this, and anticipation of it, we live our present lives to His glory and praise. Amen.
Forward notes: “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” (verses 2-3).
“I have the great pleasure of serving God and the Episcopal Church as a lay youth minister. During an activity a few years ago, I invited young people to contemplate the story of Jesus’s transfiguration by demonstrating what is known as a chemical clock reaction. Essentially, you take clear liquids of various substances in different proportions and mix them together in a particular order. After the final mixing, the liquid is still clear. However, after some time, usually a few moments, the clear liquid changes into a colored liquid. The effect can appear instantaneous like magic. It seems miraculous each time I see it happen.
“I wonder what God is pouring into me during this Lent. In what ways is God mixing me up and preparing me for Easter and for change? And in the days ahead, how will my life be miraculously transfigured?”
Moving Forward: “Consider trying a simple chemical clock reaction. (You can find instructions online or in a science book from a library.) How is God calling you to change and respond?”