Daily Devotional • Februrary 6
A Reading from Mark 9:2-13
11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” 16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. 20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” 21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” 24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” 25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”
Meditation
Today’s gospel reading begins with “six days later,” which, in a great economy of words, sets up the cosmic context for the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ. Origen, in his commentary on the parallel account of the Transfiguration in the Gospel of St. Matthew, writes: “In six days (the very number denoting perfect fulfillment) the whole world, this perfect work of art, was made. But there is one who transcends all the things of the world…”
That is Jesus Christ. He is eternal, out of time, existing before all things were made and to whom all those created things are subject. He entered into time to lead his own up, so that we may witness the timeless reality of God, beyond all worlds. The past, represented in Moses and Elijah, is with Jesus in the present, but he is also transfigured, manifesting a future glory beyond anything we’ve known.
Jesus chooses Peter, James, and John to accompany him, the same three that he later chooses to accompany him in the Garden of Gethsemane. We know these disciples are not perfect. On the mountain, they lose their cool and become terrified. Later, in the garden, they fall asleep. Peter, James, and John show us that to walk with Jesus and be led up on high can be a terrifying and exhausting journey. And yet we want to be chosen by Jesus. We long for the eternal, where we may behold our Lord in all of his glory. This world is truly a work of art. And yet there is still more. Let us strive to remember that after all the glory of the six days, there came a seventh. Let us strive to remember that what we see in our present is not all there is, and follow Jesus up into the high mountain.
Sarah Cornwell is a laywoman and an associate of the Eastern Province of the Community of St. Mary. She and her husband have seven children and they live in Wheaton, Illinois.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Louisiana – The Episcopal Church
Christ Episcopal Church, Pottstown, Pennsylvania
