It can seem like there is no obvious promise in Mark’s story of the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2-9). To be honest, what jumped out at me was the voice of the Father telling Jesus’ followers to listen to him (v7). Do we? Or do we listen to Jesus like I listen to my wife sometimes – I know she’s talking, but when she asks me a question about what she was saying, I was actually too preoccupied with other things to pay any attention at all…
Then I went back to my current foundational question: Where is Jesus’ promise or gift to us in the Transfiguration?
That led me to the Epistle (New Testament) reading for the day – 2 Corinthians 4:3-6. As I looked for God’s gift or promise, the final verse stuck out where Paul says that God ‘made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ’ (2 Cor 4:6).
When we start talking about God’s glory a couple of cans of worms are opened up: what exactly is ‘ the glory of God’ and where do we find it?
Without getting into these questions too much (this entry has the potential to be very, very long if I did), if we take this promise at its simplest, Paul is saying the place to find the light of God’s glory is not in heaven or within ourselves or even in creation. The place we find the light of the glory of God is in the face of Christ. God’s Spirit then places the light of this glory in our hearts when we are joined with Christ through faith. It’s not something we carry with us naturally; instead, when we look at the face of Christ in faith, God’s Spirit gives his glory to us as a gift.
Which raises the question: what is the ‘glory of God’? Moses wanted to see it on Mt Sinai but God wouldn’t let him (see Exodus 33:18-23). This led to Luther to develop what is referred to as his Theology of the Cross, something that can actually be pretty hard to understand. Basically, Luther echoed Paul’s words that we find God’s glory in the face & especially the cross of Christ. The way I understand it at the moment (and it’s one of those theological works-in-progess that go on in my head) is that when we look at Jesus we see God doing something that no-one else could ever do – a perfect act of sacrificial love for the whole world. No-one else has ever or will ever be able to love like Jesus loved by suffering & dying for us on the cross, and then rising to new life. This is the light of the glory of God – that he loves us enough to sacrifice everything for us to give us … everything! When this light penetrates our hearts through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, we find light in the middle of whatever darkness we might be experiencing because of the power of sin, death & the devil in the world. This light of God’s glory in Christ is stronger that the darkness & the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).
So much more could be said, but I’ll leave it at that & open it up to your comments. So we come back to my foundational question: what if we trusted Jesus’ promise to give light to our hearts through his death & resurrection for us? Especially in the dark times we face in life, what if we looked for & found the light of God’s glory in him?
As we begin the season of Lent on Wednesday, I’m asking people to look for the light of God’s glory in Christ’s face by picking up their Bibles and, as the voice of the Father says, listening to Jesus. The most simple way to do it is to join in the journey on this blog. I’m still hoping that those of you who read these thoughts will contribute to them by commenting. I believe that God speaks to us through the Bible but also through community, the body of his Son. Maybe something you can add will be the voice of Christ speaking to someone else. So let’s get a discussion going & start listening to Jesus together.
Next week: the baptism & temptation of Jesus (Mark 1:9-15).
Peace.
