2. An tmmediate consequence. Another and immediate consequence was to reconcile the disciples to the sufferings of their Master, and sustain them amid their own. Then, as now, the Jews overlooked the first appearance of Messiah in weakness, through haste for his glorious second advent. Then, as now, their pride rebelled against the idea of a suffering Saviour, in their anticipation of his glory. Then, as afterwards, they looked for a great temporal potentate, to whom all thrones would be subject and whom all sovereigns would obey. They antedated the glory of his reign. But this experience uf heaven upon earth, of glory so surpassing was surely enough to make amends for those disappointed hopes, It was meant also to prepare them for the approaching crisis, to comfort them when it came, and to confirm their faith in his Divine majesty, even when, as a malefactor, he was nailed to the cross. 3. An additional consequence. Again, it not only helped to reconcile the disciples to the death of their Master, but doubtless went far to comfort Immanuel himself in the near prospect of his agony and bloody sweat, and of his cross and passion. Elsewhere we are informed that, “ for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame.” This short space of heavenly enjoyment, coming in as a parenthesis amid the wearisome struggles and strivings of earthly life, would cheer him onward towards the end. The foretaste thus afforded of the coming glory that would crown everlastingly the brief sorrows of the present would sustain him in the approaching sufferings. The cloud of witnesses that surrounds the Christian in his pilgrimage serves as a motive to urge him on, so that, laying aside every weight, he runs witb patience the race set before him ; so these wit- nesses, representative of ten thousand times ten thousand, intensely interested in the
a4 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [ou. rm. 1—60.
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Redeemer’s work and intently looking on, would encourage the human spirit of the Saviour, so that, braced with new alacrity, he would hold on the course appointed and pass through the baptism of blood. As his baptism was the commencement of his ministry, his transfiguration was his consecration to suffering.
VI. THE CONVERSATION HELD. 1. The persons engaged in converse, Here were two prophetic men, of whom one died and was buried by mystic hands, no one knew how or where,
“By Nebo’s lonely mountain,
On this side Jordan’s wave,
In a vale in the land of Moab, There lies a lonely grave.
And no man knows that sepulchre, And no man saw it e’er;
For the angels of God upturned the god, And laid the dead man there.
And had he not high honour ?—
The hillside for a pall;
To lie in state while angels wait, With stars for tapers tall ;
And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes, Over hia bier to wave;
And God’s own hand, in that lonely land, To lay him in the grave!”
The other never died, was never buried; but went straight from earth to heaven==
* All undrest From his mortal vest, He stept on the car of heavenly fire; To prove how bright Are the realms of light, Bursting at once upon the sight.”
And now these two visitants from the heavenly world have taken their place together on that lone mountain apart. Here also were three apostolic men—the foremost of the apostolic band: John, with his heart of love; James, with his high standard of law— both of them sons of thunder with outspoken courage; and Peter, honoured with the keys that opened the door of faith to Jew and Gentile. “And why these?” asks the devout Bishop Hall, in his ‘Contemplations on the Holy Scriptures.’ ‘ We may be too surious: Peter because the eldest; John because the dearest; James because, next Peter, the zealousest: Peter because he loved Christ most; John because Christ most loved him ; James because, next to both, he loved and was loved most. I had rataer,” he adds, “to have no reason, but because it so pleased him. Why may we not as well ask why he chose these twelve from others, as why he chose three out of the twelve?” But with prophets and apostles, the foundation of the future Church, was Jesus Christ the God-man and the Church’s chief Corner-stone. The converse, however, was confined to Moses and Elias and Jesus; the apostles were unly listeners. One is naturally curious to know the subject that engaged the attention of that small but wonderfully select company. The subject must have been worthy of such an august assembly. 2. The subject of conversation, What, then, was the subject that occupied them? Was it political, embracing the fate of kingdoms, or the fall of dynasties, or fast-coming times of calamity and change? Was it the extent and power and future breaking up of the
t Roman empire? Was it the subjection of Palestine to Roman rule, or the rela- tion of the Tetrarch of Galilee to the Procurator of Judwa? Nothing of ail this. But if the subject was not political, was it one of Jewish casuistry, such as divided the schools of Hillel and Shammai, about binding or loosing? Was it in reference to the primary or derivative prohibitions of sabbath work—the avoth or the toldoth? Was it about the Halakoth or Hagadoth—the rules of jurisprudence or the legends illustrative of them, and both afterwards embodied in the Gemara? None of these, or such as these was of sufficient importance to command their attention. We might, however, reason-
on, x. 1—60.) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK, 48