Matthew 17:1-9: The Mountain Part II

Introduction

(Read once to be introduced to the series. After that skip this to go right to the good stuff!) 

Welcome to my Devotions Series. This series features devotions based on the Scriptures of the Common Lectionary. The series is being prepared for eventual and hopeful print publication.

The series is also posted and regularly updated on my official blog: http://www.cedwardsellner.blogspot.com/

You can find a host of additional information, online resources and links to my other work there. This includes a cross-referenced Archive that lists the various Sundays, but then also lists all currently published Devotions by their sequence in Scripture as well as a Topical Index.

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Each Scripture is also hyperlinked to the online Bible at Bible Gateway in the NIV version I used in preparing the series.

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Lectionary Series Year A: Transfiguration of Our Lord Sunday
Matthew 17:1-9 (Read it on Bible Gateway)
The Mountain Part II
See also Devotions: Exodus 24:8-18
This Gospel passage is the classic story of the Transfiguration of Christ, which as mentioned before, is always celebrated in the Lectionary on the last Sunday before Lent. Here we have a powerful story of Christ which is one of the few select times where we see Jesus' divinity fully revealed.

In the Gospel of Matthew, this passage comes right in between Jesus predicting his coming death and the last collection of his teachings in this Gospel, before the events leading to his actual crucifixion. Coming late in his life on earth and in his public ministry, this story seems all the more profound and heart-wrenching as it is a last reminder of glory before the shadows of Lent come to embrace us.

There are few important matters here we should touch on.

First is the actual Transfiguration itself. Central to the identity of Christians is the core belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the divine made flesh, incarnate on this world. While Jesus performed many miracles in the presence of thousands, he was still presented primarily as very human in the Gospels. Just as there are stories of Jesus' miracles and wonders, there are stories of his hunger, thirst, tiredness and being overwhelmed enough to need to get away for a while.

However, there are only three times in the Scripture that some measure of Jesus' divinity is revealed in such a profound way that it would seem inarguable. The first is his Baptism (see Devotions: Matthew 3:13-17), this is the second, and the third is his actual Resurrection (Matthew 28). Interestingly enough, there are no witnesses to his Resurrection and the most prominent witnesses to the outpouring of God at both his Baptism and his Transfiguration were people who had, prior to those incidents, already declared Jesus Messiah. John the Baptist, as was pointed out, greeted Jesus with a solid affirmation that he knew Jesus to be the Messiah, and Peter, just a few verses before (Matthew 16:15-20) answered Jesus' question of "Who do you say that I am?" with, "you are the Christ." Just as Jesus instructs his Disciples to not tell people he is the Christ in those earlier verses, he also counsels them to keep the Transfiguration itself a secret until after his death and resurrection. Peter apparently honored that directive, but certainly shared the experience with others in later years (see Devotions: II Peter 1:16-21).

This gives us a theme in the Gospel of Christ wanting to keep definitive confirmation of his messianic status a secret during this life, thus making it necessary for the people who saw him firsthand to come up with their own answer to that same question of "Who do you say that I am" without the benefit of either incontrovertible proof, or the firsthand testimony of the same.

In the midst of Jesus' Transfiguration, we also have two critical figures who appear, Elijah and Moses. Moses, the Lawgiver, as you should remember from the first part of this two-part Devotion, was the agent of God who played a primary role in sealing the first Covenant God had set out. His role as the agent of God from the time of the Exodus, through the giving of the Law and the sealing of the Covenant puts him in a very exalted position in the eyes of the Jewish faith. Elijah the Prophet, was seen as the greatest Prophet of the Lord. So close was he in his relationship with God that he did not die, but was taken up to Heaven in a fiery chariot. Elijah was seen as the greatest Voice of God in prophecy and the teaching, even today in the Jewish faith, is that he would return one day. Jesus referred to John the Baptist as that returning Elijah (see Devotions: Matthew 11:2-15).

As has also been mentioned, Matthew was a Gospel written to a Jewish audience. The focus here in this story of the presence of these two central figures in the Jewish faith, would only serve to strengthen the authority and divinity of Christ. Christ now becomes the next link in the chain of God's intervention into the lives of God's people. This intervention had already come first through the law, then through the voice of prophecy, now God's intervention would be perfectly embodied in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

Then of course, lastly, we have that mountain-top experience.
In our current idiom, when we talk about a mountain-top experience there is an understanding we're talking about something that we find exciting, wondrous, perhaps even life-changing. We know we're talking about one of those moments where all seems right with the world and we feel like we're standing square on top of it.

Needless to say, the Disciples with Christ felt that way in this passage. Their response to Jesus shows us the other side of that mountain-top feeling: the desire to stay there, no matter what we might be leaving behind down below. There is a desire to sustain that moment, hold on to it and everything that comes with it.

The Disciples, like Christ, were feeling the growing pressures of their ministry. They were becoming increasingly at odds with religious authorities, increasingly overwhelmed and pressed by those in need wanting healing and help, and increasingly stretched thin as the long days and nights were catching up to them.

Then, here they are, delivered to a moment of wonder and grandeur, who can blame them for wanting to throw up shelters and stay on the mountain.

Still, as profound and powerful as the message is in the actual Transfiguration of Christ, in that high holy moment of profound revelation, perhaps just as important is that when its over, Jesus, once more a simple appearing man, gathered up his Disciples and told them it was time to go back down the mountain.

There may be times we find those mountain-top experiences, there may even be times we desperately need to have one, yet in the end, no matter how deserved, we need to go back down, because that is where the work gets done.

For the complete listing of our Devotions, see our Devotions Archive