What is the story of Jesus on the mountain?

Answer 1

This is the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. He took Peter, James and John up into a high mountain, where his appearance changed, and they saw him talking to two strangers. Somehow, the disciples knew without question that the strangers talking to Jesus were Moses and Elijah. When the disciples looked up again, Moses and Elijah were gone.

Read literally, the sole reason for this journey was to let the three disciples see Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah, yet they learnt nothing from the experience and were even instructed to tell no one. In spite of this life-changing event, and the absolute proof the presence of Moses and Elijah would provide that Jesus was the Messiah, Peter went on to deny Jesus. It must be that the disciples were less sure of who the strangers were than is suggested in the gospel.

We can understand more about the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain by looking at it within the framework, parallel structure of Mark's Gospel, since this is where the story was first told. Mark wanted to associate Jesus with Elijah and Moses. It was not enough to have Jesus talk to Elijah and Moses, impressive as this would be, but to associate him as closely as possible with two of the most revered men in the Hebrew scriptures. He achieved this by linking the Baptism of Jesus and his forty days in the wilderness with the Transfiguration and the appearance of Elijah and Moses on the mountain. As shown in the following table, the parallel structure allows the gospel to link Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, in the pair groups BCD, and the Transfiguration, in the pair groups B'C'D':A . John explains the coming of Jesus(Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

Event B is a transformational event in the life of Jesus and Jesus is again transformed in event B'. Events C and C' both have God call Jesus his beloved son, in whom he is well pleased. Event D (Mark 1:13) then tells of Jesus going into the wilderness for forty days, ministered by angels just as Elijah was ministered by an angel and in the wilderness forty days (1 Kings 19:5-7). There is no actual suggestion in Mark that Jesus fasted for this time, but those familiar with the story of Elijah are likely to have assumed he did do so. This brings into play another allusion, to Moses when (Exodus 34:28) he fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets. Matthew and Luke follow the allusion to Elijah in a subtly different way, taking the angels out of the gospel story and actually have Jesus fast for forty days, just as Elijah did after the angel ministered to him.

Mark's Gospel was not originally intended to be read in short passages, but in its entirety so that the parallel structure links and subconsciously reinforces the two sets of events in the mind of the reader. For this to be effective, Mark needed events that matched each other in precisely the correct chronological order, but not every event described really happened in the life of Jesus.