2 Kings 2:1-12

This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, so we need to know who the players are. Elijah doesn't get his own book and doesn't get a whole lot of play for Christians. He's featured in more of the Jewish holy days. But we get a peek at him here as he is passing on the role of prophet, messiah, whatever title you want to use. It takes most of the passage just to get it going, why do they get sent to three places? Well, it's the path taken by Joshua when he came to this land then to the battle at Jericho. At the last stop he parts the Jordan like Moses did with the Red Sea. But instead of going back to Egypt, Elijah's path is to heaven.

Elisha, the successor, asks for the powers of the prophet and is granted it if he can see what Elijah is about to do. Elijah shows his ability to navigate the spirit world, and Elisha sees it, taking a step toward greater spiritual knowledge. Of course this works, or we wouldn't be hearing the story would we? We also see tension in the transition, so we know Elisha will still have to work to gain respect. Note also they are ushered by a community of prophets. In the end they are individuals, but their journey was with the community. There is authority being passed here, but it is done through mentorship. In the verse that follows, Elisha picks up the mantle fallen from Elijah and uses it to part the Jordan on his return, witnessed by the 50 prophets.

Elijah is never heard from again, but this begins the legend that a man went to heaven without dying. When John the Baptist shows up, they ask him if he is Elijah. Jesus gets asked if he is Elijah. Jesus says he's not, but as we'll see in today's Mark passage, Elijah will "pass the mantle" to Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Wait a minute, what's this "God of this world"? Isn't there just one God? Well, clearly yes, if you read certain verses. Yes, if you listen to living preachers today. Not so clear when you have to translate ancient languages and ancient mythology. Without getting into the linguistic gymnastics, Paul is referring to Satan. There is the one true God and then there is a ruler over this material world. And, there I go, already into the messy language. It's the problem with having a God that is all powerful, created everything and controls everything. It gets difficult to explain evil.

In a few short verses, we get a major theme of who Christ is, according to Paul. In the context of this letter, he is defending who a real apostle is, and how you might recognize one. Here, he is telling you how to recognize the good news, the gospel. You give yourself up as a slave to Christ. Don't get too hooked on 18th century images of slavery in the southern United States, this is about giving up your ability to make your own decisions. Not that doing that is any better, but we can hope that Paul's intentions were decent. We can see it in his words elsewhere.

Here though, he is trying to explain why the message of love and forgiveness hasn't made it to the world. It's been there in the shadows, but God brought the light, and showed it to us in our hearts, unless it was veiled and you don't believe, in which case you are perishing, so proclaim Jesus not yourself, then you'll know because you'll see. Crystal clear, right?

Mark 9:2-9

We jump to chapter 9 this week, but we'll get back to the place in Mark we left off later. Transfiguration Sunday sets us up for the Lenten and Easter seasons. We see the reason for the passion story. Bad things are going to happen, but it's because of who Jesus is. The allegory of Mark to the real world is, bad things happened, the Temple was destroyed and the Jews were defeated by Rome, because they didn't recognize the Messiah was here, they didn't listen to him. This theme is repeated to this day. How many times have you heard the idea that if Jesus showed up today we would not recognize him, or he would be crucified, or he wouldn't recognize His church? It's not just religion either, the same is said of the founders of countries or of ideologies or even of your neighborhood group.

A classic depiction of this was done by Saturday Night Live when Jesus shows up to see Dick Clark and the receptionist doesn't seem to know much about anything other than how to keep people in the waiting area. David Spade says to everyone who comes in, "and you are?" When Jesus, played by Phil Hartman, says he is the Christ and come back as he promised, Spade says, "did you have an appointment?"

But getting back to the Bible, this is a succession, like the one of Elijah, but with a little more mystery to it. Instead of being done in front of 50 prophets, it's just 3 apostles and they are told to keep it secret. This idea of mystery will continue to be used throughout Christianity. There are things you can see if you believe. It will be abused to mean you have to be an apostle, or descended from an apostle, or directly learn from someone who directly learned from an apostle, or you can't really understand who Jesus was. See 2 Peter 1:16-18 or just ask a pastor.

For us, the ones hearing this story, we are let in on the mystery. This is for us today just as it was when this was first written. Most people now know the end of the story before they read it, but here the story is telling us the ending. But as the events unfold in the narrative it was supposed to be a secret, until the resurrection happened. The resurrection explains everything about Jesus. There's no point even in saying he became a ghost like figure blessed by the Prophets. It will probably cause more trouble and confusion. The gospels constantly show us people not recognizing the Messiah, be they Pharisees or Apostles. It's part of how the prophecy has to play out.

It's hard to say just what the authors of Mark were thinking. We know this was written during the time of Roman Hellenization, which would include an understanding of using allegory in storytelling but it is not until a couple centuries later that we get church fathers, like Origen, actually commenting on the idea. He said that there are allegorical meanings to these stories, but most people won't understand them or won't be inspired by them, so he says they should be taught as if they are literal until a person is ready to hear the spiritual meaning behind them. His spiritual interpretations are quite complex and not very inspiring, so I can see why he said that. I won't go into those but you can if you want.