Virtually every waiter asks, but it is always the wrong question. And usually, asked too late.  “Did you save room for dessert?”  Of course not!  Between the second basket of bread or chips, the gallons of free drink refills and the supersized portions, who thinks to stop short and prioritize the Bread Pudding?  Selling desserts in a restaurant is proverbially difficult.  One tried and true strategy, however, is the ‘dessert cart.’ 

Like a roaming minstrel, a waiter casually but methodically pushes the dessert cart around each table. Laden with Raspberry Cheesecake, Pecan Pie, a Chocolate Volcano, Crème Brulee, and yes, Bread Pudding the cart draws attention to what awaits those diners willing to pace themselves.  After a sneak-peek at the desserts, conversation often migrates toward ‘to-go’ boxes and whether one or two desserts could be shared.

A sneak-peek creates awareness of what’s coming next. It removes uncertainty about the experiences and opportunities that await us.  When we are unsure of something, experiencing a taste or getting a glimpse helps reassure and encourage us.  While not so important when it comes to a dessert, if it is something upon which our lives depend, we need lots of assurance, lots of glimpses, to help us count the cost and put our hand to the plough.

The disciples left everything to follow Jesus.  His early ministry was exhausting but glorious.  Jesus was a celebrity.  He drew crowds everywhere he went.  And Jesus continually amazed the Twelve by his power, his words, and his deeds.  Yet, they struggled to understand just who he was.  In a moment of Spirit-illumined insight, Peter declares that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” 

But Peter’s clarity in confessing his faith is short lived.  He quickly moves from declaring Jesus to be the Son of God to taking him aside and ‘rebuking’ him for plainly teaching that to be the Christ means suffering, rejection, death, and only then resurrection and glorious rule.  “Never Lord,” Peter says.  Immediately he feels the stinging rebuke of Jesus, “Get thee behind me Satan!”  Peter and the Twelve could not get their heads around a suffering Messiah.  They needed a sneak-peek, a preview of Jesus’ glory, and a divine word of reassurance.  Things we need as well.

In Mark 9, Jesus takes the inner circle up a high mountain where they get a glimpse of his majesty as the Son of God.  A sneak-peek that prepared them for his suffering and theirs.  An experience that we see from Scripture impressed them deeply and helped them answer the question, “Who is this?”   In one of his letters, Peter later wrote:

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place. 2 Peter 1:16-19

While John noted in his gospel.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14

In the transfiguration of Jesus, recorded in Mark 9, we see the majesty and sufficiency of our suffering Savior and the certainty of the redemption he accomplished and offers.  Jesus’ disciples, then and now, are shown a glimpse, given a sneak peek, of the person and work of Christ expressed throughout Scripture and summarized in the Nicene Creed.

[We believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.

Join us as we examine Mark 9:2-13 and consider the majesty and sufficiency of our Suffering Savior and the certainty of the redemption he accomplished and offers.  We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube.