6 August 2024 Mark 9:2-10
“Let us make three tents: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Mark9:5
Bottom of the ninth, one out, runners on first and third, home team down by one. Pitching is the hard-throwing closer, at bat the home team slugger. The count goes full, 3-2. On the next pitch the slugger hits a fly ball to deep center. The centerfielder catches it, two down. The runners tag, and the runner from third scores, tie game. The runner from first is waved in and heads for home. The fielder throws, a frozen rope, fielded by the catcher. The runner slides, the catcher reaches out with his gloved hand. The crowd rises cheering to its feet.
A very exciting moment.
But only if you know what “bottom of the ninth” and “down by one” mean, where “first and third” are, what “two down” means, and what a “full count” is. Only if you know what it means that the “runners tag,” what a “frozen rope” is, why the runner is sliding, and why the catcher is reaching out with his gloved hand. If you don’t know anything about baseball, you have no idea why the crowd rises cheering to its feet, or what any of the excitement is about.
You only understand the moment you are in if you know something already about baseball, and the rules, and the teams. You only get the excitement if you are already part of the story.
Peter understood what he was looking at on the mountaintop with James and John. It was a theophany, an appearance of God Himself. Because he understood what he was looking at, Peter knew what to do. They were alone with God – the Jews had a feast to celebrate that very thing, Succoth, one of the High Holidays when Jews celebrate the Exodus, and their time in the Wilderness, alone under the providence of God. During the week-long festival, each Jewish family makes a Sukka, a temporary shelter like a tent, where they eat and sleep, to remind them of how they lived in the Wilderness, alone under the providence of God. That is why Peter said, “Let us build tents.” He understood that they were alone on the mountaintop in the presence and under the providence of God.
He recognized God because he was already part of the story.
Theophanies aren’t especially rare. God promised Israel, “They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Jeremiah 32:38). Jesus promised the Church, “Lo, I am with you always, even till the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The nearness of God is a pretty solemn assurance throughout the Bible, so the question is not, “Why doesn’t God appear more frequently?”, but rather, “Why don’t people recognize God when He appears?”. And the answer is that people do not recognize that they are part of the story. They don’t know the rules, or the score. They don’t know who the opponent is, or how to defeat him, or why. They don’t even know the words to describe the contest.
So, we have a story to tell so that people recognize the field they are on. And under the providence of God, when we tell it, more and more will stand up cheering.
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