Summary
Only Jesus
Lent calls for an honest look at ourselves, and one of the most uncomfortable questions it asks is whether we have grown dismissive of Jesus—treating him as a familiar pal rather than the living God. The account of the Transfiguration in Mark 9:2-8 shatters that casual familiarity by showing us who Jesus truly is in his glory, and why the only faithful response is to listen to him alone. This is the heart of "Only Jesus" 3-6-22.
The setting matters. Mark places the Transfiguration at the very center of his Gospel, six days after Peter's confession that Jesus is the Messiah Mark 8:29 and Peter's rebuke for refusing the path of suffering. Mark rarely marks time, so "six days later" is significant—it echoes the six days of creation and points forward to the new creation in which Christ reigns. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John "apart by themselves" up a high mountain, the biblical place of divine revelation, where Moses received the Law and Elijah heard the still small voice (Exodus 19; 1 Kings 19:12).
There Jesus is transfigured before them: his clothes become dazzling white, and Moses and Elijah—the Law and the Prophets—appear speaking with him. The apostles are not simply startled; they are terrified, sick with fear. This is holy fear, the fear that is the beginning of wisdom Proverbs 9:10. When Moses asked to see God's glory, the Lord answered that no one can see his face and live Exodus 33:18-23. The disciples are now witnessing that glory in the face of Jesus, and like John on Patmos who fell at the feet of the glorified Christ as though dead Revelation 1:12-17, they are undone.
Peter's blurted suggestion to build three dwellings—one each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah—is the chatter of a man overwhelmed, but it also reveals a temptation: to put Jesus on equal footing with the Law and the Prophets. The Father's voice from the cloud corrects this immediately: "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him." When the disciples look up, Moses and Elijah are gone. They see Jesus only. The Law and the Prophets have done their work in pointing to him; he is their fulfillment, and he alone is to be heard.
This is why the glory matters for us. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, laying bare the thoughts and intentions of the heart Hebrews 4:12-13. When we are confronted with the fullness of who Jesus is—the Word made flesh John 1:14—we become acutely aware of our pride, our laziness, our unworthiness, our sin. We tremble. And yet the same glorified Christ who undoes John lays his hand on him and says, "Do not be afraid." The God whose holiness should consume us comes near to comfort and to save.
Only Jesus could keep the Law perfectly. Only Jesus could fulfill every prophecy. Only Jesus could bear the wrath against sin. Only Jesus holds the keys of death and Hades. This is the work of Lent: to let the living Word pierce us, to face our complete inability to save ourselves, and to throw ourselves at the foot of the cross—where we find that the cross is empty, because Jesus, and only Jesus, has risen. And it is this same Jesus we receive at the altar in the bread and the wine, his body and blood given for us.
Video citations
- "Only Jesus" 3-6-22 — Please be seated. If you already have your Bibles open to the Gospel of Mark, you are right where you should be. If you need to open and you're using a Pue edition, you can find Mark the ninth…