Mysterious Foreshadowing

Jesus was transfigured before them - Mark 9:2

Transfiguration of Our Lord

The gospel reading today is a lot like a joke with no punch line. Everything is set up in threes. Three dwellings. Mark describes Jesus' transfiguration in three different ways: a transfiguration, dazzling white clothes, whiter than anyone could have ever bleached them. But then the punch line ends up like last week's gospel, when Jesus told the leper not to tell anyone about what had happened.

Except this time, Jesus commands the disciples to tell no one until after the Son of Man is raised from the dead.So here we are, thousands of years after the resurrection of Christ, still telling a story that the disciples had to keep to themselves. It is like the stories many of us carry around about a loved one that we cannot tell until after that person had died. The difference is that some of our stories are probably embarrassing or shameful in some way. We want to protect the person by not telling the stories.

But who needs protecting in this story? Why is Jesus concerned that the disciples not tell about their dazzling mountaintop experience? The most likely answer is that the transfiguration was the kind of event that would only make sense in light of other events. Like a move with mysterious foreshadowing. Only later, when the viewer knows the whole story, do some of the early scenes make sense.

That is why some movies are great to watch more than once. It is also why this story is worth telling every year, the Sunday before Lent. It is foreshadowing, and we tell it because the end of the Lenten journey will help us make sense of this beginning. Jesus Christ after his death, is raised radiant and full of light, and is our light as the Son of God. Even before the long walk of Lent we get this early and awesome "Alleluia"!