A Preview of Easter Glory

After Peter confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, he got rebuked for objecting to the way Jesus was going to exercise His Messiahship: through suffering and death. Not only that, Peter also heard the Lord declare that even His disciples will have to undergo the same humiliation and pain before experiencing His glory. Six days after this — or on the seventh day after the declaration of the cost of discipleship — Jesus gives Peter a taste of the glory that comes after Good Friday.

Relevant Articles

• Links to the Gospel
  • Listen to Him! (Mark 9:2-10)
  • Ang Pagbabagong Anyo ni Hesus (Linggo II, Cuaresma B)
• Sunday Thoughts: A Preview of Easter Glory

Guide for Reading

After making your sentence flow of Mark 9:2-10, note the following:

1. time and place
2. characters with speaking lines
3. characters who are subjects of verbs

Study the main flow of the story

1. The event occurs “after six days”; six days from what?
2. Jesus brings three people to a particular place: who are these people? where is that
   particular place?
3. What happens to Jesus when they arrive? Is there any indication in the text that what
   happened to Jesus was unearthly?
4. Who appeared with Jesus; what were they doing?
5. What did Peter say? Why do you think it should be Peter and not someone else? What
   do you think was the purpose of Peter in saying what he said? How were the others with him?
   How did they react to the vision?
6. What happens after Peter speaks? Did anyone respond to his words?
7. Was it an ordinary mist that covered the mountain?
8. Was Jesus still conversing with the guests after the Voice was heard?
9. What did Jesus tell the disciples while they were going down the mountain? How does his
   words compare with those he says to demons whom he was exorcising?
10. Did the disciples understand the whole message? Which part did they not understand?

Study particular expressions

1. Rephrase “after six days”: would the story make sense if Mark had written “On the seventh
   day”? How so?
2. Peter speaks of building a “booth”. When you hear that word, what Jewish feast does it remind you? What is the meaning of that feast?
3. Who are Moses and Elijah? What is their significance for the history of salvation? for the last day?
4. What was the message of the Voice? Does Mark mention that Voice in another place? Is there a difference in the message of the Voice?

Comparing the Readings

The liturgy of the Second Sunday of Lent combines the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac and that of the Transfiguration in Mark. While there isn’t a direct relationship between the stories, the liturgy does make us focus on the Transfiguration as a preview of Christ’s easter glory but as coming after His death on the cross. Abraham was prevented from completing his intended sacrifice and was given a substitute instead. God however would complete His sacrifice of His Son on the same mountain — as some traditions tell us — where many centuries before Abraham bound up his own son. The Transfiguration is related to the suffering and death of Jesus. Peter, in an earlier passage, expressed his objection to Jesus’ reference to rejection, suffering and death. It is for him and those like him that Jesus was transfigured.

The second reading from Paul’s letter focuses on the death and resurrection of Jesus. By his death, we know that we are loved; by his resurrection and sitting at the right hand of God, we know that love to be indestructible. The responsorial psalm (Psalm 116) invites us to see ourselves in Isaac, bound up and then right at the moment when he was to be given the killing blow, was freed from his bonds: “I am your servant, the son of your handmaid, you have loosened my bonds.” Or one can also read it as one in trial like Abraham, with the command to sacrifice one’s only beloved son as a bond from which one prays to be released.

Suggestion for the Lesson

A. The account of the Transfiguration gives the disciples a preview of Easter. This foretaste of Easter was experienced by the disciples after they climbed a very high mountain, six days after Jesus told them the cost of following him. From these considerations, one can

1. Talk about the Lenten exercises of self-abnegation and its relationship to the Resurrected Life to which all Christians have been baptized to participate in.

2. Talk about the Transfiguration as addressed to those who like Peter cannot imagine why the Christian life must include suffering and even death.

B. Peter was so excited by the vision of Jesus with Moses and Elijah that he wished to stay there. Peter is like those who have attended a recollection or retreat where one has a strong experience of the Lord. But the “feeling” isn’t that important. What is important is that one should listen to the Lord. The Voice in the Cloud puts everything to perspective: “Listen to Him!” One can also

1. Stress the idea of obedience to Jesus and his role as the Interior Teacher

2. Underline the connection of “booth” to Israel’s wandering in the desert and stress the idea of the Christian journey that proceeds under the guidance of Jesus, the New Moses. Lent, after all, is a journey to Easter.