Six Days Later?

 This Sunday's reading from Mark 9:2-9 contains the story of the Transfiguration. It begins with a memory teaser about what preceded this event.

"Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead."

Six days earlier would appear to refer to Mark 8:27-30,

"Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him."

Because Caesarea Philippi was a Greco-Roman city located near the ancient city of Dan, in the northern part of Israel, by Mount Hermon and the Jordan River, it is assumed that the mountain upon which the Transfiguration occurred was Mt. Hermon. At 9,232 feet this is the highest peak in Israel and the source of the Jordan river.

Others assert that Mt. Tabor or the Mount of Olives was the site, so all of these places get a little piece of the tourist action today. 

Matthew in Chapter 17 also uses the six days later text, 

"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them."

Matthew in Chapter 16 places Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi as the last specified location before the Transfiguration.

To us, it matters not where it happened. 

The important thing is that it did happen.