The object for which the question had been put was now partly achieved. By the mouth of one of their number the Apostles had expressed the conclusion, to which they had come after so long enjoying the society of their Master, that He was no other than the Messiah, the Son of God. This their testimony He accepted; acknowledged the truth of the Apostle’s confession; declared that it had not been revealed to him by flesh and blood, but by His Father in heaven; and bestowed upon him the promise of peculiar dignity in the Church He was about to establish (Mtt. xvi. 18, 19).
But now, having, as three Evangelists distinctly tell us (Mtt. xvi. 20; Mk. viii. 30; Lk. ix. 21), charged them strictly not to divulge the fact of His Messiahship to the world at large, He began to reveal to them strange and mournful tidings respecting Himself. The Son of Man, He declared, must go up to Jerusalem, and there suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be put to death, and after three days rise again. This was the first announcement, clear, distinct, peremptory of what lay before Him (Mk. viii. 32), revealing not only that He should suffer, but the agents in His sufferings, the form they would take, the place where He would undergo them, and their issue, a mysterious resurrection after three days. To the Apostles the announcement sounded utterly strange and inconceivable. The selfsame Peter, who, a moment before, had witnessed so noble and outspoken a confession to his Lord’s Divinity, was utterly unable even to endure the thought of His suffering. That be far from Thee, Lord, was his indignant reply. But with a solemn rebuke the Holy One checked his untimely expostulations, which savoured of the weakness of flesh and blood, not of holy obedience to a heavenly Father’s will. Nay more, as if to seal the words He had uttered in the presence of many witnesses, He called to Him some of the people that were standing near (Mk. viii. 34), and in their hearing, as well as that of the Apostles, bade any who would come after Him, take up his Cross and follow Him, for through the gate of suffering lay the road to Glory, not only for Himself, but for all His followers (Mtt. xvi. 24; Mk. viii. 34; Lk. ix. 23).
CHAPTER IV.
THE TRANSFIGURATION—THE LUNATIC CHILD.
A.D. 29.
AFTER the announcement we have just considered, the teaching of the Lord as addressed to His disciples assumed a new character. The mysterious close of His life had been already[361] more than once hinted at in figures or parables, but now He began gradually, as they were able to bear it, to speak clearly and openly of His death and rejection by the Jews. So far from establishing any earthly kingdom such as they expected, in which they might occupy distinguished places, He proceeded from this time to intimate in precise and distinct language how very different was the end that really awaited Him.
To the Apostles, who indulged to the close in dreams of a reign like that of earthly kings, these intimations of their Master sounded strange and unaccountable. To cheer, therefore, their wounded spirits, to enable them in some measure to comprehend the supernatural character of His kingdom, the Holy One was pleased to assure them that there were some standing there, who should not taste of death till they had seen, in spite of the sad announcement He had just made, the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Mtt. xvi. 28; comp. Mk. ix. 1; Lk. ix. 27).
Accordingly six days afterwards, with three of the most privileged of their number, who had already in the chamber of Jairus witnessed their Master’s power over death[362], He retired to one of the numerous mountain-ranges in the neighbourhood, not improbably one of the summits of Hermon[363]. From St Luke’s intimation that one object of His own withdrawal was that He might engage in solitary prayer (Lk. ix. 28), and that the three Apostles were wearied and oppressed by sleep (Lk. ix. 32), we infer that evening was the time of this retirement of the Holy One, the close, it may be, of a long day spent in going about doing good. While, then, they slept and He continued engaged in prayer, a marvellous change came over His person (Lk. ix. 29). His raiment suddenly became shining, exceeding white as snow, the fashion also of His countenance was altered, and shone like the sun (Mtt. xvii. 2; Mk. ix. 3; Lk. ix. 29).
Roused at length by the supernatural brightness around them, the Chosen Three awoke[364], and shaking off their slumbers, perceived not only the mysterious change that had come over their Master, but also that He was no longer alone! He was accompanied by two men, in whom they were enabled to recognize no others than the great pillars and representatives of the Old Testament dispensation, Moses and Elias. Nor did they only see their transfigured Lord attended by these strange visitants from the world of spirits, but they were privileged to overhear the subject of their mutual converse. They spake of, or described[365], the decease He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem (Lk. ix. 31).
Upon the ardent, impulsive Peter it was the scene itself, and not the topic of mysterious converse he overheard, that made the most impression. To him it seemed as though the kingdom of heaven was indeed “revealed in power.” In the excitement of the moment he would have made three tabernacles, one for his Lord, one for Moses, and one for Elias, in order that from thence the laws of the kingdom might be promulgated, and all men might recognise the true Messiah attended by the Pillars of the old Economy. But it was not to be. While he was yet speaking there came a cloud overshadowing them, and out of it there came a Voice, saying, This is My Beloved Son, hear ye Him. And then all was over. While the Apostles lay panic-stricken on their faces, their Master once more joined them, and bade them rise and not be afraid, and, as they descended from the Mount, He charged them to reveal to no man what they had seen, till (again the mysterious words recurred) He should have risen from the dead (Mtt. xvii. 9; Mk. ix. 9).
Rejoining the rest of their fellow-Apostles, the Chosen Three found them surrounded by a great crowd, amongst which were certain of the Lord’s old adversaries, the Scribes, not unwilling witnesses of a defeat which His disciples had sustained. During their Master’s absence a man had besought their aid in behalf of his son, who was possessed with an evil spirit of peculiar malignity. But he had besought their aid in vain. The Nine had been unable to expel the demon, and the Scribes, making the most of their discomfiture, were eagerly disputing with them (Mk. ix. 14), and doubtless “arguing from the impotence of the servants to the impotence of the Master[366],” when He suddenly appeared, bearing, it would seem, on His face and person traces of the celestial glory of the past night. Greatly amazed (Mk. ix. 15) at His appearance, the multitude no sooner saw Him, than they ran to Him and saluted Him (Mk. ix. 15), and as He was asking of the Scribes the reason of their dispute with His disciples, the father drew near, related what had occurred, and the terrible condition of his only son (Lk. ix. 38). Possessed he had been for a long time with a dumb spirit (Mk. ix. 17), but at times it seized him with such violence, that he foamed and gnashed with his teeth (Mk. ix. 18), or was driven with almost irresistible impulse into the water and into the fire (Mtt. xvii. 15).