For Christians, Easter is at the heart of what we believe. Jesus’ death and resurrection are the climax of history and the fulfilment of so many of God’s promises in the Bible.
As we continue to reflect on the significance of Easter, perhaps returning to the day to day after the celebrations of the Easter weekend, I wanted to reflect on a slightly less expected passage from Scripture. A passage from the Gospel of Mark (Mark 9:2-10) reads:
Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
This chapter follows the experience of the disciples, Peter, James and John as Jesus leads them up the mountain and as they encounter the presence of God. This is followed by a reminder of what is yet to come for Jesus, as they return down the mountain towards the crowds that follow him.
In this passage we see two main images: Jesus at the top of the mountain and Jesus at the bottom of the mountain.
In the Bible, mountains are often a picture of the meeting place between heaven and earth, between God and man. At the top of the mountain, Peter, James and John witness the transfiguration of Jesus.
The 'dazzling white' that Jesus is described to show provides an image of the glory of God, whilst the appearance of Moses and Elijah calls back to earlier moments in the Bible where figures were described to have encountered God.
We realise here that the disciples are encountering God, that Jesus is God and that Jesus is showing His glory. The truth of Jesus' glory is heightened in the very voice of God: 'This is my son, whom I love, listen to him'. With these words we know that the actions of Jesus are showing us the will and the love and the grace of God.
But if Jesus is fully God, as we are shown by this transfiguration, how can it be that he comes to suffer and to die on the cross?
This is because Jesus is both fully God and fully man. Jesus is neither just a man nor God alone, neither is he half man and half God, with the ability to change between. Jesus is fully God and fully man. This is hard to comprehend, how can Jesus be both fully one thing and fully something else? Maybe one way of understanding this reality is that Jesus possessed the full glory of God, but did not express it fully.
In coming back down the mountain, we see a picture of how Jesus became ordinary, human, weak. He comes back down the mountain because that is the road he must walk, because he must face what awaits him. He came back down the mountain to walk the road of suffering to the cross.
