“And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.”
My Notes
What Does Mark 9:2 Mean?
"He was transfigured before them." The word "transfigured" (metamorphoo) means transformed, changed in form — the same word from which we get "metamorphosis." Jesus' physical appearance changed: His face shone like the sun (Matthew's account), His clothes became dazzling white. The divine nature that was normally hidden beneath human appearance became visible.
The Transfiguration is a temporary unveiling — Jesus briefly shows the three disciples what He actually looks like when divinity isn't veiled by humanity. The glory was always there; the Transfiguration makes it visible. Peter, James, and John see Jesus as He truly is, not as He typically appears.
The timing — six days after Jesus' first passion prediction — connects the Transfiguration to the cross. Jesus has just told the disciples He's going to suffer and die (8:31). Six days later, He shows them His glory. The suffering and the glory exist in the same person. The cross and the radiance are one week apart.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you ever had a 'transfiguration' moment — a glimpse of Jesus' true glory?
- 2.Why does Jesus connect the glory on the mountain to the suffering in Jerusalem?
- 3.What does it mean that the glory was always there, hidden behind ordinary appearance?
- 4.How do you hold together the mountaintop experience and the valley that follows?
Devotional
For a few minutes on a mountain, the disguise comes off. The carpenter from Nazareth reveals what's underneath: blinding glory. Dazzling clothes. A face like the sun. This is what Jesus actually looks like when He stops holding back.
The Transfiguration isn't Jesus becoming something new. It's Jesus briefly showing what was always there. The glory didn't arrive on the mountaintop — it was revealed there. Every day of Jesus' earthly life, this radiance was hidden behind ordinary skin, ordinary clothes, ordinary carpenter's hands. The Transfiguration pulls back the curtain for three witnesses.
The timing — six days after predicting His death — creates a deliberate sequence: cross first, then glory. Suffering prediction, then visible radiance. Jesus doesn't let the glory stand alone. He connects it to the suffering. The disciples need to know that the person heading toward Jerusalem to die is the same person who looks like this on the mountaintop.
The glory doesn't cancel the cross. The cross doesn't diminish the glory. Both are true simultaneously. The radiant being on the mountain will hang bloody on a tree. The executed criminal on the tree will rise in this same glory. You don't get one without the other.
Have you seen a glimpse of Jesus' glory — a moment when the ordinary veil was pulled back and you saw something that shouldn't have been visible? Hold that image. Because the journey from that mountaintop goes through a valley. And the glory you glimpsed is what waits on the other side.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And after six days,.... Six days after this discourse with his disciples, in their way to Caesarea Philippi, and after…
And after six days ... - See this passage explained in the notes at Mat 17:1-9. Mar 9:3 No fuller - Rather, no…
And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, etc. - For a full account of the nature and design of the…
Here is, I. A prediction of Christ's kingdom now near approaching, Mar 9:1. That which is foretold, is, 1. That the…
Mar 9:2-13. The Transfiguration
2. after six days St Luke's words "about an eight days after" (Mar 9:28) may be…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture