GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 9-4
Honoree Books and Patriarchs
I have the Bible of my great-great-grandfather, Willis Noble. My father passed it on to me. I used the Bible until the spine split; it now rests on a shelf behind my desk chair. Alice has her mother’s baptismal Bible with the name Velma Brady stamped on the front cover, and the date and occasion of the gift were written on the first page. One of my favorite books, though, is Alice’s catechism book. As with most twelve-year-old Lutheran children, Alice went through a year of catechism before her confirmation at Hope Lutheran Church in Granite City, Illinois. The theology in the book is good, but my favorite part is the doodling of a twelve-year-old girl in its margins. While she was supposed to be listening to the vicar, she drew images and doodled about… boys in her textbook, something about which I occasionally remind her. 🙂
St. Mark said that when Jesus went to a mountain to pray with three of his disciples, they saw Jesus talking with Elijah and Moses: “And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were speaking with Jesus.” (Mark 9:4) St. Luke said the disciples were asleep when the conversation began, and that the visitors came to talk with Jesus about his approaching death. (Luke 9:31) The wording of all three synoptic writers—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—indicates that this was no phantom or vision but an existential visitation. Readers have gleaned many lessons from this account, but the presence of Elijah and Moses confirmed Jesus’ connection with the past, and they discussed with him the events of the near future.
Generations of theologians have offered various interpretations of this incident. For example, some offer the interpretation that Moses represented the Law and Elijah the Prophets that Jesus, as the Christ, would fulfill. Or, Moses died and Elijah was translated; therefore, they represent the dead and the living that the resurrected Christ will take with him at the Second Coming. Or, Elijah and Moses discussed Jesus’ departure, his death on the cross—the ultimate end to which the Law and the prophets pointed. Finally, even though the patriarchs discussed Jesus’ death, the disciples were encouraged to look with hope and faith to the future.
When I look at Willis Noble’s Bible or Alice’s catechism book, they remind me of a connection with the past and the hope and faith for the future. Father, I hope to honor both.
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