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of Greater Whitbourne Page 3FromtheRectorThe Last Sunday before Lent tells the story ofthe transfiguration; it is one of my favoriteBible passages and good preparation for Lent.“His clothes became dazzling white … Then acloud overshadowed them, and from the cloudthere came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listento him!’”(Mark 9:3, 7)Anyone who uses an electric arc welder for buildingmetal structures knows that the white light itproduces is so bright that someone looking at it isin danger of damaging their eyes. So the personusing the welder has to wear a dark glass maskthrough which nothing can be seen until the weldingstarts.Mark has told us that the disciples at Jesus’ transfigurationsaw his clothes become dazzling white –though not perhaps quite as bright as the light ofthe welder. Nonetheless, a bit like the mask, acloud comes and shields him from sight so Peterand the others see him in his transfigured state nomore.So what is the significance of this brightness andthe cloud which covers it?The key lies in understanding the Old Testamentbackground to this story. In fact, Mark’s accountcreates a web of references which his first readers,steeped in Old Testament study, would havegrasped. Let us unpick some threads in the web.First, the disciples have already seen two famousfigures from the past, Moses and Elijah, with Jesus.Both these men had encounters with God at the topof Mount Sinai: Moses at the giving of the Law,Elijah after fleeing from King Ahab and QueenJezebel. This sets the scene for a new encounterwith God on the mountain of transfiguration.Second, we have seen how Jesus’ clothing “becamedazzling white”, and here too Mark is alluding tothe Old Testament, specifically Daniel’s vision inwhich the clothing of God’s own person isdescribed in equally dazzling terms (Daniel 7:9). Soit seems that while this encounter with God hassimilarities to the earlier ones of Moses and Elijah,it is also radically different, since Jesus is not somuch encountering God, as being himself revealedas God in his glory.At this point the cloud hides the glorified Jesusfrom sight. And once again we must think back,with Mark’s first readers, to earlier scriptural referencesto clouds, especially those from Exoduswhich speak of the cloud in the wilderness in whichthe glory of the Lord appeared. God’s glory wasseen by the people but only when masked in mysteryby the cloud. Indeed the fullness of God’sglory would have been too much for them to bear,too bright and, like light from the welder, it neededshielding. And so it is, Mark is telling us, atJesus’ transfiguration.Out of this cloud a voice which, given the background,can only be the voice of God, says, “This ismy Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” God the Fatheris affirming his love for the Son in words identicalto those used at Jesus’ baptism. But let’s focusmore on the command, “listen to him”, and noticewhat, according to Mark, Jesus says directly beforeand after this incident, to which we might indeedlisten.Before it, a passage of teaching starts with Jesusdeclaring, for the first time, “that the Son of Manmust undergo great suffering, and be rejected …and be killed…” Then, as Jesus and the disciplescome down the mountain after the transfiguration,he “ordered them to tell no one about what theyhad seen, until after the Son of Man had risen fromthe dead”. That is, of course, after his death.So to bring all this together: the dazzling whitenessspeaks of Jesus’ divine glory. The cloud speaks ofthe mystery of that glory. Mark’s handling of theFather’s words from the cloud, in relation to Jesus’words before and after the transfiguration, suggeststhat, for Jesus, glory will be mysteriousindeed. Far from the world’s ideas of glory, forJesus, glory will mean walking the path of sufferingand death, the way of the cross. Only that way willhis glorious saving work be accomplished.David HowellRectorThe Parish of Greater Whitbourne