[Thursday's Devotional] - On the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus Christ’s glory is revealed

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone.  There he was transfigured before them.  His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.  And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’  (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)  Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’  Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

Mark 9:2-8 [NIV]

Mountains can be exposed places open to the elements, fierce and wild, with wind, cloud or snow impairing visibility and extremes of temperature.  Climbers need to be well prepared.  But nothing prepared the disciples for what they were to experience on the mountain.  When Jesus revealed his glory to them, Peter’s reaction was one of bewilderment and fear.  He didn’t know how to express the emotion he felt as he experienced the intense religious moment, so he filled what could have been a holy silence with words, anything off the top of his head.  I suppose he was trying to make sense of something he couldn’t quite grasp, or trying to find a way to make a memory he could go back to and meditate on later.

Although Jesus didn’t set out to confuse his followers, not everything he did or said was instantly understandable.  The Word of God is not a simple handbook of instructions and explanations.  Some things need coming back to, thinking about more fully, meditating upon in the light of experience, before their significance and meaning become clear.  We need to be prepared to live with some uncertainty and expect some surprises.

For prayer:

Is there something you have heard or read or experienced recently, that doesn’t make sense at the moment? Or is there something that has become clear that you could share with others to help them?

Mairi Mowbray