Jesus Transfigured

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone as the sun, and his outer garments became brilliant as the light.  Matthew 17:2 (Reference Bible)

One of the deadliest blows against the flock of Christ today is the removal of an attitude of wonder over spiritual things.

With the great surplus of information, studies and investigation the human race today has a false sense of knowing everything.  There is a familiar expression which says, ¨Now I have seen it all.¨ Harmless as it seems, this injury to our generation is very real and may have everlasting repercussions.

Our attitude now is that having all the scientific proof behind us, there remains little evidence to support the idea of angels, ghosts and other phenomena.   Society in general has taken this road with its preference of belief resting on evolution.  Man would prefer to lose the wonderful promises of God, only to have a more down-to-earth, and evidence based theory.  This is sad enough in society, but even more tragic is this attitude in the hearts of church-going people.

Christians today speak loudly of their faith in the Great Spirit we call God.  However within our hearts and almost undetectable to our conscience is this down-to-earth mentality.  We have this tendency to count on the things which we can see and touch.  We weigh everything by the experience and the knowledge we have gained over any given subject.

The story of the transfiguration of Jesus is a beautiful illustration and reminder that there is in fact something wonderful and great just outside of our limited powers of perception.

Read Matthew 17 verses 1 through 8.

Peter, James and John had one of the most incredible encounters of all the stories in the Bible.   If we take a careful look at their experience perhaps we can see with a little more clarity our own personal attitude as it relates to theirs.

When Jesus took them up onto the mountain, something spectacular came over them.  Jesus was changed so that He took on a different aspect.  Normally human beings do not glow with an extraordinary light and our clothes do not shine as bright at the sun.  Imagine something like this happening here among us today.  It is almost inconceivable to us, but why?

Perhaps it is because of the fact that we weigh everything by what we know and have seen.  Do you think God would or should open the eyes of people who have no real desire to see with their spiritual eyes all the wonders hidden behind the veil that separates His kingdom and ours?  Maybe we choose each day to see what we want.

Peter and the two brothers, were amazed with what they saw unveiling before their eyes.  Their reaction was to turn to the earthly and the known.  They could not believe their eyes and Peter blurted out, ¨We could build something in memorial.¨  What else could he say?  Just how can we react when all we know of our universe is ripped away from our perception of the universe and reality.

How many of us are prepared to be confronted with a different reality?  What would our response be if our eyes were opened and we saw clearly, our Savior shining in all His glory before us today? What was the Disciples reaction then when a mysterious cloud enveloped them and the voice of God boomed out of it?  Surely our reaction would resemble theirs, in panic and fear.

Dear Lord, thank you for giving us a little window to see human response to divine realization.  We live so enveloped in our own situation that it is hard for us to imagine what it would be like to be confronted by the reality of You.  Please prepare our hearts.  Expand our ability to set our hopes and make real something we have not yet seen.  You have wonders awaiting for us to see and experience that we are not ready to try to assimilate.  But please strengthen our will and resolve that one day You will enable us and we will not expire when those wonders of You do overcome us.

Amen