Reading for Thursday, Oct 18: Mark 9

In the Transfiguration, the future intersects the present. We see a glimpse of Christ in His ultimate glory, illuminated in power and flanked by Moses and Elijah, who represent the Law and the Prophets. The written word culminates in the Living Word; the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises are realized in God’s Yes (2 Cor. 1:20). In Jesus, God’s glorious future has burst forth in our time.

But this glory is laid alongside the narratives we read here: stories of sick children in need of a cure, stories of evil running rampant in the world, doubt ever threatening to have run of the store. But this is where faith wages it’s war: “I do believe, but help me with my doubt!” (v24). Faith is the in-breaking of the future in our minds and hearts; doubt is the reality of our present condition. But, like the disciples, we see the new horizon that comes to us through Christ. What will be frames the present.