THE BIBLE – TODAY’S TREASURE HUNT
COMMENT FOR THE SUNDAY BEFORE LENT – 26-02-06
II Kings 2: 1-12
Elijah came from east of the Jordan where settled agricultural life around 846BCE was less advanced. He had developed the role of the Hebrew prophet as challenging political power with God’s justice, promoting the covenant response of the people and in himself such great spiritual powers that his passing is shrouded in restless drama and mystery.
Psalm 50: 1-6
The reading of this psalm was part of the Festival for the renewal of the Covenant. These six verses being part of the ancient festival, but they also show that the Hebrew God who called his people then was already becoming a universal God who calls and judges people of faith today.
II Corinthians 4: 3-6
Paul is under some pressure as he writes this letter. Hence he falls back on his own crucial experiences in coming to know Christ which gives him authority in proclaiming the gospel. The gospel came to him as “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. We might memorise that and read of its context in this letter.
Mark 9: 2-9
This is a story full of drama and mystery. There is the mountain and the cloud, the approving voice and the company of Moses and Elijah, the intense light of the transfigured Christ is that of God’s glory. The three disciples are confused. But years later Mark tells us that this person Jesus was then confirmed as the son of God and that this event cannot be understood apart from his inevitable suffering and resurrection.
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