Clarity
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. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 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.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. - Mk 9:2–9.
5 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.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. - Mk 9:2–9.
When I was 14 years old I attended a church retreat for high school students and at that time I would not have called myself a disciple of Jesus. However, while I was singing worship songs in a small building with other Christians, I had a profound experience of the Holy Spirit. In that moment, I told God that I wanted to follow Him.
Now, if you interrogated me about that experience and questioned every detail of what was going on, I couldn't tell you with certainty how it all went down. I couldn't explain to you in certain terms what it was like to experience God that night.
However, I can tell you how it changed me, because it was a clarifying moment that left me a different person.
Some events offer us certainty and others clarity, and some give us both. In the case of the transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were offered a clarifying experience of who Jesus is, even if they couldn't explain with certainty exactly how everything happened. How could they?
How could they explain with certainty the holy presence of God, being surrounded by Jewish heroes that they had never met, and hearing the voice of God speaking to them? This was a supernatural experience that they would have no earthly framework to understand. Though, even in their ignorance, I am sure that it gave them a new lens to see Jesus more clearly then they had before.
They saw their Rabbi, standing next to Moses and Elijah, the forerunners of God's saving plan. Not only was he standing on common ground with them, but he was the glorious fulfillment of their story. The disciples saw Jesus clearer, perhaps, then ever before.
As is often also the case, when we see Jesus more clearly, we see ourselves more clearly as well. We can have unexplainable, amazing spiritual experiences and find ourselves frustrated with the lack of transformation we expected. This transfiguration did not make Peter, James, and John into super disciples when they came down the mountain who suddenly figured it all out and outshone all the others. No, they retained many of their flaws, but that's not to say that they were completely the same.
This is the difficult reality of following Jesus - it's not always the radical transformation we are hoping for.
It takes time for these clarifying moments to sink deep into us. Sometimes other things have to happen to us as well until the confluent streams of our life empty out into a larger river who's banks are being shaped by it all. It's long obedience in the same direction that reveals to us the person of Jesus and how he is slowly and deliberately shaping us into new creations.
20 years after that clarifying night that I gave my life to Jesus as a freshman in high school, I am writing to you as a pastor, who has made almost every mistake you can imagine, and yet, I am more like Jesus today then I was back then. My hope is that I can say the same thing 20 years from now.
I am not certain how everything happened up on that mountain, but when I read this scripture, it gives me clarity about God's larger story to save me through His son Jesus, and reminds me that His Glory is changing me, like stones under rushing water, a little more each day.
Pastor Mitch
Now, if you interrogated me about that experience and questioned every detail of what was going on, I couldn't tell you with certainty how it all went down. I couldn't explain to you in certain terms what it was like to experience God that night.
However, I can tell you how it changed me, because it was a clarifying moment that left me a different person.
Some events offer us certainty and others clarity, and some give us both. In the case of the transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were offered a clarifying experience of who Jesus is, even if they couldn't explain with certainty exactly how everything happened. How could they?
How could they explain with certainty the holy presence of God, being surrounded by Jewish heroes that they had never met, and hearing the voice of God speaking to them? This was a supernatural experience that they would have no earthly framework to understand. Though, even in their ignorance, I am sure that it gave them a new lens to see Jesus more clearly then they had before.
They saw their Rabbi, standing next to Moses and Elijah, the forerunners of God's saving plan. Not only was he standing on common ground with them, but he was the glorious fulfillment of their story. The disciples saw Jesus clearer, perhaps, then ever before.
As is often also the case, when we see Jesus more clearly, we see ourselves more clearly as well. We can have unexplainable, amazing spiritual experiences and find ourselves frustrated with the lack of transformation we expected. This transfiguration did not make Peter, James, and John into super disciples when they came down the mountain who suddenly figured it all out and outshone all the others. No, they retained many of their flaws, but that's not to say that they were completely the same.
This is the difficult reality of following Jesus - it's not always the radical transformation we are hoping for.
It takes time for these clarifying moments to sink deep into us. Sometimes other things have to happen to us as well until the confluent streams of our life empty out into a larger river who's banks are being shaped by it all. It's long obedience in the same direction that reveals to us the person of Jesus and how he is slowly and deliberately shaping us into new creations.
20 years after that clarifying night that I gave my life to Jesus as a freshman in high school, I am writing to you as a pastor, who has made almost every mistake you can imagine, and yet, I am more like Jesus today then I was back then. My hope is that I can say the same thing 20 years from now.
I am not certain how everything happened up on that mountain, but when I read this scripture, it gives me clarity about God's larger story to save me through His son Jesus, and reminds me that His Glory is changing me, like stones under rushing water, a little more each day.
Pastor Mitch
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