Mark 9:13

That Elias is indeed come that is in the person of John the Baptist, to whom men acted even as it had been written of the persecution of the real Elijah. A few remarks here will not be out of place (i) On the three accounts of the Transfiguration; (ii) On the meaning and significance of the event itself.

(i) The three accounts. (a) All three Evangelists relate the conversation which preceded, and the Miracle which succeeded it. (b) St Matthew alone records the prostration of the disciples through excessive fear, and the Lord's strengthening touch and cheering words uttered once before on the stormy lake (Matthew 17:6-7; Matthew 14:27), recalling, as the Hebrew Evangelist, the scene in the Exodus when the face of Moses shone, and the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him(Exodus 34:29-30). (c) St Mark, in describing the effect of the Transfiguration, uses the strongest material imagery, "white as snow," "so as no fuller on earth can whiten," and he alone has the sudden vanishing of the heavenly visitors, and the inquiring look around of the disciples, and their questioning amongst themselves what "the rising from the dead could mean." (d) St Luke alone tells us that our Lord was engaged in prayer at the moment of His glorification (Luke 9:29), and mentions the slumbrous and wakeful condition of the three witnesses, the subject of mysterious converse between the Lord and His visitors from the other world (Luke 9:31), and the fact that the Heavenly Voice succeeded their departure(Luke 9:35). (e) Both St Matthew and St Mark place in immediate connection with the Event the remarkable conversation about Elias, but St Matthew alone applies the Lord's words concerning that great prophet to John the Baptist (Matthew 17:13).

(ii) The meaning and significance of the Event. This we may believe had respect (a) to the Apostles, and (b) to our Lord Himself.

(a) As regards the Apostles. This one full manifestation of His Divine glory, during the period of the Incarnation, was designed to confirm their faith, to comfort them in prospect of their Master's approaching sufferings, to prepare them to see in His Passion the fulfilment alike of the Law and the Prophets, to give them a glimpse of the celestial Majesty of Him, whom they had given up all to follow.

(b) As regards our Lord. As regards the Redeemer we may conclude that the transaction marked His consecration as the Divine Victim, Who was to accomplish the great "Decease" at Jerusalem, even as the Baptism inaugurated the commencement of His public ministry; it was the solemn attestation of His perfect oneness with His Father in heaven at the very time when He was about to descend into the valley of the shadow of death. It was, as it has well been called, "the summit-level" of the Life Incarnate. From this time forward there is a perceptible change. (a) Miracles, which hitherto had abounded in prodigal profusion, well-nigh cease. Only five mark the period between the Transfiguration and the Passion. Those, for whom "signs" could avail, were already won. For the rest, no more could be done. They were like those, amongst whom in His earlier ministry, "He could do no mighty work because of their unbelief." (b) As regards His teaching, public addresses, before the rule, now become few and rare; His special revelations of the future to the chosen Twelve become more frequent, and they uniformly circle, unenshrouded in type or figure or dark saying, round the Cross.