Mark 9:2-4
The
term ‘bleach blond’ hair was not used in a kind manner when I was younger. It
was contrasted with ‘natural blond,’ and what could be better than natural. But
remember that Ebola is natural. Small pox is natural. Tsunamis are natural.
But
the term ‘bleach blond’ didn’t start as a put down. It started as a descriptive
term. It spoke to the whiteness of a person’s hair. It spoke to the effects of
bleach on hair, its power to remove color. For thousands of years people have
struggled to get stains out of clothing. This was not the result of marketing
in the 20th Century. When you purchase clothes, you want to keep
them clean.
Jesus
takes His inner circle of three disciples aside for something special. These three
are going to get to see a glimpse of God’s Kingdom here on earth. They are
going to have the curtain pulled back, the one that separates this earthly
realm from God’s heavenly realm.
And
when they get there something happens. Jesus’ appearance changes. It goes from
ordinary to white-hot light. The author describes it in human terms. It was
whiter than anyone could bleach it. Imagine a 1,000 watt light bulb blazing in
your face. It would be painful to look at directly. You take quick, sideways glances
to try to look.
But
Jesus is now not alone. There are two other figures identified as Moses and
Elijah, the two greatest prophets of the Old Testament. These two represented
the whole of God’s revelatory history. Moses received the Law and Elijah was
the first great prophet, telling it like it is. In Elijah all the other later
prophets find their genesis.
I
am not sure how those who watched knew it was Moses and Elijah. There were no
Instagram photos of these two that could be quickly matched with facial
recognition software. I imagine that Jesus told them who the two were after the
fact. Or perhaps their identity was revealed to them directly. We just don’t
know. But here they were talking with Jesus.
One
of the things that this points out to me is this. Not much separates us from
this heavenly realm. Here Jesus is standing on physical earth and heaven is
right here showing itself. This is what theologians call the imminence of God.
He is right here present with us. The God we serve is not far away on some
distant ethereal throne watching as an observer the things that happen here in
this realm. He is right here. Good to know when we feel alone. Feelings can
mislead us. We are never alone when we trust Him.
There
is more to life than meets the eye. Jesus had been walking with them for a
couple of years and they had never seen this side of Him. They were wondering
what rising from the dead might mean, and Jesus takes them aside and shows them
a glimpse of the power and majesty of God that was present in Him. They see
what we have yet to see.
I
think they needed this glimpse in order to make it through the coming events of
his suffering, crucifixion and death. Even though it didn’t ‘stick’ when the
events came, they all abandoned Jesus at the crucial moment, they could look
back and recall this event and gain new insight they had missed before.
Are
there any events from which you later gained insight?