Getting It

Often times, I read something in the Bible and I really don’t understand it at all. I am being totally serious. I can read something and it has no meaning or application to my life. And I am not just talking about the geneology verses in Matthew; sometimes I read “normal” verses and the meaning totally escapes me. But, later, sometimes, years later, I experience something and suddenly I remember that thing I read years before and its truth hits me. Voila! It totally makes sense. I used to worry about not “getting it.” Until I realized that the disciples didn’t always get it. And, in fact, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, didn’t always get it.

Reading through Mark, I don't think the disciple John got it when he was on taken by Jesus up a mountain and there witnessed the transfiguration. Mark 9:2-12 tells us that Jesus took his friends Peter, James and John up the mount with him. There Jesus was transfigured (meaning he was in a glorified state before them) talking with Elijah and Moses. Talk about the greatest hits of the Old Testament. Moses gave us the law, spent forty days on Mt Sinai with the Lord. He met face to face with God in the tent of meeting. Elijah was fed by the ravens at the command of God. He saw the army of the Lord encamped around him. Elijah is the prophet, who on Mt. Carmel, challenged all the prophets of Baal to a fire come down duel and 400 prophets of Baal were extremely embarrassed that day before the fire of God consumed them.. Moses was buried by God Himself. Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. But Moses did not get the divine nod. Elijah did not get the divine nod. Jesus did. “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.” (Mk 9: 7, 8)

            The lawgiver. The prophet. But Jesus got the accolade: “This is my son, whom I love. Listen to Him.” And, as was often the case, John, James and Peter didn’t really understand what they had just witnessed. That was probably just as well since Jesus told them not to tell anyone about what they had seen until after  the Son of Man had risen from the dead. (Mk 9:9)

            However, like so many things that the disciples did not understand at the time of the telling by Jesus or at the time of experiencing it, after Jesus was raised from the dead, the disciples understood. Consider John 2:19 where Jesus has an odd response to the Pharisees who ask him for a sign of his authority:  The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” ²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

The Pharisees did not understand what Jesus was saying but they had a vested interest in not understanding it. The disciples, on the other hand, had a vested interest in understanding every word that came out of His mouth, but they didn’t understand it at the time either. However, after Jesus was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered what He had said and they believed and trusted His authority.

Likewise, John, who had been on the Mount of Transfiguration, descended from the mountain and immediately engaged with Peter and James in a discussion on what does “rising from the dead” mean.(Mk 9:10) He had just seen Moses and Elijah chatting with Jesus who was in a glorified state. He had heard the voice of God come from a cloud affirming the Father’s love for the Son. Did he hear it? Did he understand that it wasn’t the lawgiver or the prophet, it was all about the Son, whom the Father loved. Not at the time. The discussion regarding the meaning of “rising from the dead” was much more important at the time.

Years later, after Jesus was raised from the dead, John penned his witness account about Jesus, and he wrote magnificently to the glory of the Son. He wrote of the preeminence of Jesus, over law and over prophesy. He must have thought back  remembering that moment on the Mount of Transfiguration: “we saw His glory, the glory of the one and only son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (Jn 1:14, 17)  He remembered how he could hear the voice from the cloud: “This is my Son, listen to Him.”  And this time, he got it.