Sermons

FILTER BY:

← back to list

Feb 13, 2022

Glimpses

Glimpses

Passage: Mark 9:1-13

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Follow: Learning from Mark about Jesus’ Most Misunderstood Command

To this point in Mark’s account, we’ve both heard and seen plenty of astonishing things from Jesus. Not like what we’re about to see, though.​​ The otherworldliness of Jesus is on display if only for a moment. Why bother? Why make a momentary spectacle of Himself despite his humble manner and frequent attempts to keep things quiet? They, and we, are meant to get a glimpse of something. And while it will be of something otherworldly it has something for us living in this world.

Readings & Scriptures

PREPARATION:
LEADER: Heavenly Father,
we joyously come together to worship,
realizing we need not summon you into our midst,
for you are here.
We need not call you into the secret places of our hearts,
for you are there.

ALL: We need our eyes of faith to be opened,
that we may see you;
our ears to be unstopped,
that we may hear you;
our minds to be sensitive,
that we may know you;
our hearts to be tender,
that we may receive you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
and by the power of your Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Exodus 33:17-23
17 And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

CENTRAL TEXT: Mark 9:1-13
1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” 2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. 9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Exodus 24:16ff
  • Exodus 33:17-23
  • Leviticus 23:33-44 / John 7
  • Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19 / Acts 3:22
  • Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6
  • Luke 24:13-35
  • John 2:1-5
  • Romans 8:18
  • Hebrews 2:9, 10
  • 1 Peter 4:13, 5:1
  • 2 Peter 4:1-10

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. What’s the last thing you marveled at–that made your eyes widen and maybe your mouth hang open a bit?
  2. How might this passage relate to the passage immediately preceding (8:22-31)? 
  3. Is the transfiguration a revealing of his nature or a change of his nature? Defend your answer.
  4. What’s behind Peter’s impulse to want to build three “booths” for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah? (Hint: Lev 23:33-44) How is Peter still not quite getting the fullness of who Jesus is even in this astonishing moment?
  5. Who is the “Elijah” who has come, according to Jesus? How is this Elijah following the pattern the disciples had been told about? How has he gone beyond that expectation?
  6. What purpose might be served by Jesus’s decision to be “transfigured” before them? If you’d been there, or been told about it, how might it have helped? Of what is the transfiguration a preview?
  7. Clearly we are let in on the secret of his true being. What might that revelation of Him suggest about those who are united by faith to Him?
  8. Does the transfiguration offer a word of encouragement to you in your present circumstances? If so, how?

Illustrations

InView Media Album 2.13.2022

QUOTES: 

  • Luminous beings are we–not this crude matter. - Yoda
  • There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - William Shakespeare, Hamlet
  • . . .in the kingdom of his divinity and glory he will make us like unto his glorious body, where we shall be like him and shall be no longer sinners, no longer weak, but shall ourselves be kings, the sons of God, and as the angels that are in heaven. Then we shall say "my God" in real possession, which now we say only in hope. - Martin Luther
  • So if I stand let me stand on the promise
    That you will pull me through
    And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
    That first brought me to You
    And if I sing let me sing for the joy
    That has born in me these songs
    And if I weep let it be as a man
    Who is longing for his home
  • - Rich Mullins, “If I Stand”