It is later at night than I usually post - sorry if I threw anyone off today by posting late.
As we look into chapter 9 Jesus has taken Peter and James and John - his inner core - up to the top of a high mountain and there he is transfigured before them. He becomes a dazzling bright white, and Moses and Elijah appear with him and are talking to him there. Many of us have heard this scripture and read it so many times we skim over it if we are not careful. Imagine the excitement, the terror, the many emotions that fill these simple fishermen.
I also am always pleased for Moses when I read this account. Moses had led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and had shepherded them for 40 years through their whining and complaining. Just as the Israelites get to the edge of the Promised Land God calls Moses to the top of another mountain. God shows Moses the Promised Land but tells him you will not be going in with my people. One of the most courageous acts of obedience in any book ever written takes place at that point. Without so much as a word of protest or complaint, Deuteronomy 34:5,7 reads "5 Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord's command.7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated." In other words he was perfectly healthy, he just died because God told him to!!! Always seemed unfair to me until I realized that God gave him a better gift. Moses had always asked and asked to see God's face. Now, here, on the mountain later called Transfiguration God gives Moses what he always really wanted. How cool is that!
We are completing our second week on this journey friends. I have been blessed by your emails and posts here. Thanks for traveling with me and sharing your faith as we deepen our relationship with each other and more importantly our relationship with our Lord.
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
6 comments:
It is hard to wrap my mind around this concept. I think the hardest part for me would be to witness this aqnd then keep my mouth shut!
Why does Jesus speak in third person in verse 30?
I'd like to think all of the disciples weren't jockeying for position in the favorites race. Who do you think was?
Is salt an analogy? How would salt lose its saltiness?
Sorry, just lots of questions today.
Hi Charlene,
Thanks for blogging in - I thought I might end up ch 9 all alone!
I'm with you, it would have been hard to see this and not tell - particularly for Peter with Andrew I'd think, as Andrew found Jesus and told Peter (Simon) and now Peter sees and can't tell. That would be tough!
In vs 30 Jesus speaks in the third person because he is using a common Jewish phrase derived very likely from Daniel, particularly chs 7 & 8 of "THE Son of Man. This speaks and becomes synonymous with the messiah.
I am stuck in this culture and I am not sure about theirs - I know in our culture competition is everywhere. Other places in the gospels we hear about the disciples arguing or at least debating who will be first in the Kingdom, so I am lead to believe it might be a weak part of human nature that they suffered from too.
Now let me take a shot at the salt question. First off I think it is a metaphor. and then, how does salt lose its saltiness? Let me get in over my head scientifically - and you scientist readers feel free to correct me, this isn't my field.
If we presume salt is NaCl or sodium chloride, then it can not become "un"slaty by definition. And in practice, NaCl is a very stable compound that is "happy" together and not likely to break up unless electricity or other energy is exerted to break it apart into ions (did I mention I am in over my head scientifically here). So, perhaps we become less salty if we are diluted by the world like salt is diluted in water. If I continue in this line its falvor is restored by heat - purifying fire to eveaporate the water and restore the saltiness.
Don't be sorry - this is fun!
Bill
What you said about salt makes sense - I've wondered about that, too
What does Jesus mean in verse 12-13 about Elijah having come and them doing what they wanted to him and restoring all things? It seems he's talking about more than the transfiguration
(The deleted comment above was just from me - too early in the morning to type)
Hi Bek,
Jesus could be referring here to John the Baptist. In Matthew 11 Jesus gets very specific and says a very strange thing -11:13&14 says "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come."
Dad
So much packed into one chapter again. The Transfiguration is one of those scenes I do have a hard time placing - what to do with it/think about it? I empathize with Peter, who clearly has no idea what to do and is just trying to say something intelligent sounding, yet still seems to miss the mark.
"I believe, help my unbelief." That's one of my favorite verses because I think it so captures our Christian struggle - we're always caught somewhere in the midst of our firm belief and our complete lack of faith. Jesus says that all things can be done for those who believe. But I find it so hard to believe that things are possible sometimes, and because I fail to see what is possible, it becomes indeed impossible. (I think I'm rambling a little bit now...)
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