Over the last couple of days a chap called Matty B has been wondering what Jesus meant when he said:
And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” (Mark 9:1)
At first glance this might raise difficulties if we assume that ’seeing the kingdom of God’ means simply means Jesus’s second coming, clearly the topic of the preceeding verse (8:38), since his audience (the disciples) are all dead, and Christ has not yet come ‘in the glory of his Father and with the holy angels’.
My interpretation of this statement is that Jesus was primarily referring to his transfiguration, which follows immediately in Mark, Matthew and Luke (John does not mention the transfiguration).
In this post I want to briefly explain why I think this, and in a follow-up post I will attempt to defend this position against various criticisms.
I’ll focus on Mark’s account of this episode, since it’s the gospel I am most familar with, but we’ll take a look at what the other snyoptic authors, Matthew and Luke, say too.
Reason 1: The context
The broader context for the saying above in all the synoptics is the Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ in Mark 8:29, which leads on to Jesus’s first prediction of his death at the hands of the religious leaders. Jesus seems to be teaching the disciples what being the Christ, or God’s Anointed, means - suffering now, glory later.
Jesus then applies this to his followers:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
As followers of Jesus, we must follow the same path Jesus trod: we must lose our lives now to save it later. This is pretty similar in Matthew and Luke. I’ll be giving a talk on Matthew’s version of this passage to some children in a few weeks 
What does this have to do with the transfiguration? Well, it makes very little sense for Christians to lose our lives now unless Jesus will be raised, will come in the glory of his Father and ‘repay each person according to what he has done’ (Matt. 16). Only a fool would lose their lives now for a Jesus who was only a person who died in 33 AD.
To help the disciples understand that the suffering now, glory later equation does make sense, Jesus then shows them a glimpse of his glorified self in the transfiguration:
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”(Mark 9:2-7)
So the logic of the three evangelists is this: Peter gets that Jesus is the Christ -> Jesus explains being the Christ means to die now, live later -> Following Christ means to die now, live later -> Disciples can confidently do that because of the glimpse of Christ’s glory in the transfiguration.
So I would argue that the logic of the placement of the passages in the three synoptic gospels makes most sense when the transfiguration is tied to the preceding material on Jesus’ followers dying now in order to live later.
Reason 2: The specifics of the verse
With the idea that the transfiguration is important as a sign that followers of Jesus can confidently lay down their lives as he did in mind, we can now see that the focal verse makes sense as a bridge between die now, live later stuff and the transfiguration:
“For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels [OK, great but that sounds like a long way off]. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here [Peter, James and John] who will not taste death [all the other disciples will die before they see the kingdom of God] until they see the kingdom of God [the kingdom is defined by being ruled by God's king - see the whole of Mark 1] after it has come with power [the transfiguration was pretty powerful I'd say!]”
So in this verse Jesus is telling his disciples how they can rely on the Son of Man’s return - just wait, Jesus says, in a few days I will be transfigured, and the Father will powerfully show you that I am his Son.
As followers of Jesus then, the transfiguration helps us to have the confidence we need to take up our crosses and follow Jesus on the path of denial and death now to gain life and glory when he returns. That Jesus knew this event was approaching and used it in advance to teach the disciples is even more amazing.
That’s my outline of why I think the transfiguration is the best explanation of what Jesus means in this verse, though I wouldn’t rule out several other explanations, and multiple fulfilments of this verse might be possible.
In a follow-up post I will attempt to defend this interpretation against any criticisms, so post your thoughts or objections below.
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