Sunday, 3/12/17
Our Lectionary tells us that today’s Gospel represents
verses one to nine in the Gospel according to Matthew, however it is not all
there. It chops off the first part of verse one which tells us it was “After six days” that Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain
where he was transfigured.
What happened six days before that was that Jesus, for the
first tine announced that he was going up to Jerusalem to suffer greatly and to
be killed. The prospect of the pain and humiliation that lay before him filled
his soul with such dread that he needed to meet with his Father for strength
and comfort. For that, Jesus climbed a mountain where he could be close to his
Father.
To strengthen him for what lay ahead, God gave Jesus a
little foretaste of his heavenly reward.
To the Apostles who awoke to the strange happenings, it
seemed as though the floor of heaven was stretched down to take Jesus bodily
into heaven. Thus engulfed into heave, Jesus began to glow like a resident in
heaven.
The Apostles had heard how Elijah was carried to heaven in a
fiery chariot; and they had heard that Noses along with his grave had been bodily
taken up to heaven; so it seemed right to them that they would see those two coming over t chat
with Jesus.
As well as giving a boost to Jesus when he needed it most, this
little drama of heaven coming down would have given a boost to the Apostles,
and should also give us a boost.
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