At the Foot of the Mountain
“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed”
Raphael's "Transfiguration" is unique in the way it follows the Scriptures to conjoin the theme of the majesty of Jesus's transfiguration with reality of the chaos into which he descends. The painting is dramatically split into two distinct sections. The upper half depicts the Transfiguration itself - Christ hovering in radiant glory, flanked by Moses and Elijah, with Peter, James, and John prostrate in awe below. In stark contrast, the lower half of the painting portrays the scene from Mark 9:14-29, where the other disciples struggle to heal a boy possessed by a demon. This section is chaotic, filled with gesturing figures, anguished faces, and a sense of helplessness. It's here that we see a vivid depiction of human inability - not just an inability to perform miracles, but a fundamental inability to have the faith required to do so. The disciples' failure, the father's desperation, and the boy's affliction all speak to the limitations of human capability and faith.
The juxtaposition of these two scenes makes Raphael's depiction especially powerful. Christ, shining forth in his greatest glory, is positioned directly above a scene of human need and failure. This visual connection illustrates the central message of the gospel - that God in Christ enters precisely into our inability and weakness. The same Christ who is transfigured in glory is the one who will descend the mountain to heal the boy and teach his disciples about faith ... and, of course, ultimately ascend to the Cross.
This painting, then, serves as a profound meditation on the nature of faith and divine intervention. It reminds us that our moments of greatest weakness and inability are not separate from God's glory, but are the very places where that glory chooses to manifest. Christ doesn't remain on the mountain but returns to heal and teach, and God continually enters into our struggles with faith, redeeming our inability and transforming them into an opportunities for divine power to be displayed. In this way, Raphael's "Transfiguration" becomes a visual sermon, proclaiming that our inability to have faith is precisely what God in Christ enters into and redeems.
"O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?'"
- Mark 9:19
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Texts for This Week
Prayer
O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Scriptures
Isaiah 50:4–9
Psalm 116
James 2:1–18
Mark 9:14–29
We are the Musicmakers
Edward Elgar's "We are the Music Makers" provides a poignant musical backdrop to this week's Scriptures, particularly the concept of human inability redeemed by divine intervention. The poem by Arthur O'Shaughnessy, set to Elgar's sweeping orchestration, speaks of dreamers and losers in the eyes of the world who are nevertheless are "movers and shakers" in the end. It's another way of spelling the paradox of strength made perfect in weakness that we see in the disciples' inability to heal the boy with the demon.
The music's grand, sweeping nature, punctuated by moments of quieter reflection, mirrors the contrast between the glorious Transfiguration and the all-too-human struggle at the foot of the mountain. The disciples find themselves unable to heal in Jesus' absence, and we often find ourselves unable to create the faith we need. Yet the music, like the gospel, doesn't end in despair. Its triumphant swells remind us that our weakness is the very point at which Christ enters in, bringing healing and transformation.
