An Intense Moment on a Mountaintop
"Help me to comprehend the message of the Transfiguration, a message so radiant with hope it can brighten any tunnel. No matter how long or how hard. No matter how dark or how cold or how lonely…Help me to consider You who endured such opposition from sinful men so that I will not grow weary and lose heart when it comes my turn to carry a cross…"
I started to read this next chapter in the book and as I did I thought, "Oh good…here comes another part of the bible I never have understood."
Why leave all the others and go up on a mountaintop? Why was Jesus transformed up there? Why did Moses and Elijah show up and why the heck did Peter want to build a shelter for a couple of ghosts?
But these are not my biggest questions. The bigger questions have always been more like "Why in all of God’s creation would He send His Son down to die for us? We, who beat and betrayed His Son to a bloody pulp? We who ran away from Jesus when He needed us most? We who humiliated and tortured Him? Why didn’t He just speak up and save Himself and why did He have to suffer so much at our hands?"
Some times I think Gire goes for the cheap sell in these chapters – He intentionally tries to pull at our heartstrings knowing most of us will follow along and sink into his emotional holes. For the most part, he’s right - but there has been the occasional chapter where it was so obvious I thought I’d almost gag on it.
This was not one of "those" chapters.
That dirty mirror that we all look at God through while we're hear on earth? Mine got a little Windex and a good scrubbing with this chapter. I am really starting to get it. Why things were done the way they were. Why things turned out the way they did. How Jesus found the strength to go through what He had to go through. (And it couldn't come at a better time as that is the part of the Stations of the Cross I am starting to write!)
I have to say – this chapter left me touched...deeply, deeply touched. And, truth be told, probably a little bit changed. I think my faith grew a little deeper after I read this - I really do. That mirror is starting to show enough light through it now that its all starting to make sense. I no longer have to go off of just faith when I try to figure out what happened and why – I am really starting to SEE.
It's all so breathtaking, isn't it?
I started to read this next chapter in the book and as I did I thought, "Oh good…here comes another part of the bible I never have understood."
Why leave all the others and go up on a mountaintop? Why was Jesus transformed up there? Why did Moses and Elijah show up and why the heck did Peter want to build a shelter for a couple of ghosts?
But these are not my biggest questions. The bigger questions have always been more like "Why in all of God’s creation would He send His Son down to die for us? We, who beat and betrayed His Son to a bloody pulp? We who ran away from Jesus when He needed us most? We who humiliated and tortured Him? Why didn’t He just speak up and save Himself and why did He have to suffer so much at our hands?"
Some times I think Gire goes for the cheap sell in these chapters – He intentionally tries to pull at our heartstrings knowing most of us will follow along and sink into his emotional holes. For the most part, he’s right - but there has been the occasional chapter where it was so obvious I thought I’d almost gag on it.
This was not one of "those" chapters.
That dirty mirror that we all look at God through while we're hear on earth? Mine got a little Windex and a good scrubbing with this chapter. I am really starting to get it. Why things were done the way they were. Why things turned out the way they did. How Jesus found the strength to go through what He had to go through. (And it couldn't come at a better time as that is the part of the Stations of the Cross I am starting to write!)
I have to say – this chapter left me touched...deeply, deeply touched. And, truth be told, probably a little bit changed. I think my faith grew a little deeper after I read this - I really do. That mirror is starting to show enough light through it now that its all starting to make sense. I no longer have to go off of just faith when I try to figure out what happened and why – I am really starting to SEE.
It's all so breathtaking, isn't it?
posted by HeyJules at
7:42 AM
6 Comments:
Loved your Windex analogy. (And yes, timing is everything, isn't it?)
By
Claire Joy, at 9:30 AM
Jules, it had to take place away from the public's eye because they would have demanded to make Him King right then...we would still be in our big mess of sin. That's why they couldn't tell of it until after His resurrection.
Do take time to read Peter's account of this event in 2 Peter 1:16-18...it's worth it!
By
Pilot Mom, at 9:31 AM
I will Claire. I promise. Thanks!
By
HeyJules, at 9:39 AM
"I no longer have to go off of just faith when I try to figure out what happened and why – I am really starting to SEE."
I love that statement... knowledge really is power, and I feel like I get so much more than Gire's writing when I read all of y'all's writings that expound on that....
By
dangermama, at 10:26 AM
Me too. This book has really taken on a lot of dimension with all our different personalities and gifts pulling different things to the forefront!
By
HeyJules, at 10:40 AM
I agree!
By
Pilot Mom, at 11:01 AM
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