Too Much For Us

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.)  Mark 9:5-6 (TNIV)

Jesus shone with a brilliant light.  He was being transfigured.  This means that something supernatural was happening before the Disciple´s eyes.  They were scared.  Well, perhaps that is an understatement.  They were completely blown away by what they were witnessing.  There is no way to prepare ourselves to the moment when realization of the spiritual kingdom sweep over us.  It is too great, too immense and too unlike anything we can imagine.  We are finite beings as we are.  We cannot capture nor contain the infinite without divine help.  So Peter blurted out in fear.  He stuck his foot in his mouth.  He spoke of common structures of human worlds.  He was confronted with amazing and inconceivable wonders.  But he responded in earthly conclusions.

The problem does not belong to Peter.  It is something we all share.  Our Lord moves across our conscious.  His motives are to bring spiritual responses.  His goals are eternal.  They are forever uniting beings in honesty and closeness of heart.  We look at ourselves.  We look at the world around us.  We try to place things into a context that we can manage in the moment.  How can we fit the immensity of God into our tiny frames?  How can we look into eternity?  How could we look the All-Powerful in the face?  How could we possibly see clearly into the mists that envelope the spiritual kingdom?  How can we fathom or deal with the weight of the moment that Jesus is shone for Who He is?  Are we helpless? Is there a way?

Praise be to the Father above!  He has provided a helping hand.  He has given support where no other hope could be found.  He has bridged the gap that lay between His created beings and Him.  He gives us His only Son.  He gives us Jesus to lift us up where we fail.  All heaven and all earth sing glory and honor to His name.  He has achieved what was impossible for us.  We can now approach that brilliant glow.  We can draw near to Him who was too much for us to fathom.  What was too much for us to bear now becomes accessible as Jesus enables us.

So before we go and put our foot in our mouth as Peter did, let us reach out to Jesus.  Let us look to Him.  What still remains for us to realize in the spiritual kingdom is still too much for us.  Our hearts and our minds would surely burst if full realization were to come over us.  If the curtains were pulled back in an instant the Light would be more than we could bear.  But our hope is Jesus.  Like tiny children we can edge closer to Him.  We can slip our little hands in His big capable ones.  Next to Him, our familiar friend, we are safe.  We put our eyes on the One we love and the One who loved us.  We look to Him and His strength is activated.  We lean on Him and we cannot fall.  Our feet do not support us.  But the mighty arm of our Savior holds us up.

Dear Jesus, our soul yearns to see You glorified before us.  The fear of that moment of realization terrifies us.  We know we could not stand in the face of Your brilliant light.  But knowing our insufficiency does not reduce our desire to see You.  It does serve to throw us further on Your mercy and Your strength.  In You we may stand.  In You these unworthy vessels can be made worthy of receiving that sight.  Hold us close.  Then let the realization of Your glory sweep over us today.

Amen