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Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John to
the top of a mountain. No one else was there. As the men watched, Jesus'
appearance changed, and his clothing became dazzling white, far whiter than any
earthly process could ever make it. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began
talking with Jesus. Teacher, this is wonderful!" Peter exclaimed. "We
will make three shrines, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He didn't really know what to say, for they were all terribly afraid. Then a
cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved
Son. Listen to him." Suddenly they looked around, and Moses and Elijah were
gone, and only Jesus was with them.
(Mark 9:2-8 NLV). One of
the Lenten readings for this week is found in our Scripture this morning.
The Transfiguration of Jesus is one of the most spectacular events
recorded in the Gospels. The word transfiguration really means metamorphosis.
It is about change! The
times of change in our lives are often difficult and always stressful. A few
years ago, I took a little test at a workshop about the various things that had
been happening in my life. Some of them were positive, like receiving an award;
others were not so positive, like the loss of a relative or other difficult
changes. When the workshop participants had completed the test, numbers were
given to each of the items we had checked and we were asked to total our scores.
If we had scored above 150, we learned that we were experiencing a lot of stress
in our lives. I won’t disclose my score, but I can tell you it indicated there
were a lot of changes going on in my life that year! The
positive things that happen in our life – positive changes – provide stress
as well as the negative things. I had never suspected that. But it makes sense.
All change provides some sort of stress. Even the positive things that happen in
our lives do. There are so many changes, so many adjustments that we are called
on to make in our lives. At times, it seems overwhelming and difficult. However,
life is about “transfiguration.” There are new friends, new experiences, and
new challenges with each new day. So many of the experiences are wonderful. Some
are difficult. All are stressful. I have learned, through all the changes of life, the important lesson that it is not necessary to go through any stressful change alone. For people of faith, there are spiritual resources through prayer and meditation that provide a sense of a shared journey with God. For Christians, there is a very real sense that Jesus has gone before us in all the things that we face, and that our trust in him assures us that we, too, can prevail over any obstacle. That’s the message in our reading this morning: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” As wonderful as it was to see Moses and Elijah, they were merely secondary to Jesus! There is no need to be alone. Ever! |
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