Why the silence by the Pillars?

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Giuseppe
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Why the silence by the Pillars?

Post by Giuseppe »

Marcion’s Gospel
9:28 Now about eight days after these sayings, Jesus took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain.
9:29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothes became very bright, a brilliant white. 9:30 Then two men, Moses and Elijah, both talked to him. In glory Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he was saying.
9:34 As he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 9:35 Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved One. Listen to him!” 9:36 After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. So they kept silent and told no one at that time anything of what they had seen

Luke 9:28-36
Now about eight days after these sayings, Jesus took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray. 9:29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became very bright, a brilliant white. 9:30 Then two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with him. 9:31 They appeared in glorious splendor and spoke about his departure that he was about to carry out at Jerusalem. 9:33 Then as the men were starting to leave, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he was saying. 9:34 As he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 9:35 Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!” 9:36 After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. So they kept silent and told no one at that time anything of what they had seen.
It is strange that the Pillars are silent about what they had seen even if Jesus didn't require the silence explictly about what they had seen, differently from another occasion.

So Mcn:
18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying,
his disciples were with him:
and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?
19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah;
and others say, that one some prophet of the original ones is risen again.
20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Peter answering said, The Christ of God.

21 And he straightly reprimanded them,
and commanded them to tell none such a thing
;
22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things,
and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be slain, and be raised the third day.
For Marcion's Jesus, the 12 had to maintain the silence about his false identity (being the Jewish Messiah) - just as the demons - hence his explicit reproach.

The suspect is that the 12 are silent after the Transfiguration Episode because they don't like to proclaim what they had seen: the supremacy (and splendor only) of Jesus over Moses and Elijiah (who didn't appeared in glorious splendor).

Therefore their silence shows their frustration and disappointment in finding that the ''kingdom of God'' was not what they had hoped for :
27 But I tell you truly, there be some of those that stand here, which shall by no means taste death, till they see the kingdom of God.
So the irony is that what requires more and more a proclamation - the identity of Jesus as Son of a Stranger God - is kept hidden and not divulged deliberately by the apostles (against the will of Jesus)...

...while what Jesus requires is not to be proclaimed - precisely, that he is the Jewish Messiah predicted by the Scriptures - is against his will divulged by the Jews and the 12.

The 12 work as at the same time occultists of a truth and loudspeakers of a lie.


The insertion of Mark 4:11-12 serves to destroy that irony, by making Jesus himself an accomplice of the conspiratorial silence of the 12 disciples.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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