Letters From Timothy

This reading is commonly referred to as the “Transfiguration of Jesus,” and in the past I wrote to you about the version of the story in the gospel of Matthew. But, I missed a few details in my first letter. Why is God cruising in on a cloud? Is there another reasons Moses and Elijah show up? What’s really going on? Is it a commercial for some divine bleach?

There’s another layer of symbolism underneath the symbolism I explored before. For example, Moses represents “law” and Elijah “prophesy” in the Old Testament. Their appearance on the mountain with Jesus symbolizes that he is the fulfillment of the “Law and the Prophets.” See how that works? But wait, it gets better. Remember the cloud that speaks with the voice of God? It isn’t the first time it shows up in the Bible. Specifically, it can be found in the Old Testament in Exodus 40:34-35, covering the meeting tent, not unlike the tents that the apostles wish to build for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah (probably because they were familiar with the named scripture). It is also seen in 1 Kings 8:10. Jesus’s whiter-than-white robe would obviously seem to symbolize his spiritual purity.

The convenience of these symbolism raises a number of interesting questions: did this event actually happen, or is it a fable, or parable, or work of literature meant to raise a point? Or, perhaps, did God pan it this way, because He’s so clever? I honestly don’t know, but I’m inclined to believe it’s a mix of the two answers. Either way, the point is clearly conveyed, and I see no reason not to accept the spiritual truths this reading contains.

One other interesting thing about this story is the last verse, Mark 9:10. The disciples are confused, apparently, about what it would mean to “rise from the dead.” This verse seems to lend credence to the theory that such an act was unheard of in ancient times, and therefore that Christianity was not merely a derivative of other past religions. Of course, someone coming back to life from the dead is not exactly heard of today, either, in that no one does it. The only reason it’s not such an unfamiliar idea is because it occured in Christian scripture. Certainly no one did it in Jesus’s time (except, presumably, Jesus and a select handful of people he raised), or before. People just don’t come back from the dead. So, when Jesus mentioned that he would do just that, his apostles probably assumed he was speaking in metaphors and symbols, like he does so very often in the scriptures.

The transfiguraiton of Jesus is certainly one of the most interesting and dazzling stories in the Bible, and I will almost certainly write about it again. Until then, consider it and study it yourself, and see what other symbolism you can find.

-Timothy