March 27, 2010 (Mark 9, Luke 9:28-62, Matthew 17-18)

Today's reading covered the "Mount of Transfiguration" and the story was told in all three of the gospels listed above. Perhaps it is cases like this that give some people the claim that the Bible has contradictions. The account that I am using below is only listed in Luke. Matthew and Mark don't list this as happening. Which made me wonder "why"? The people involved in this story were Peter, James, John and Jesus. Which means there were four people that had the possibility of telling others what happened. First of all, read Luke's account of what happened below:

^{Luke 9:28} About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³⁰ Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. ³¹ They were glorious to see. And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.

³² Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him. ³³ As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ³⁴ But even as he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them.

³⁵ Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.” ³⁶ When the voice finished, Jesus was there alone. They didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

This is the only version that tells 'why' He took them up on that mountain top. As I read this, I was struck by the fact that the disciples slept while Jesus prayed. I can't imagine such a thing. To hear the Son talking with the Father - to see how they communicated. Boy, I wish I could have been there. But maybe Jesus prayed silently? Who knows. But what we DO know, is that this was not the disciples finest hour. If I was retelling the story, maybe I would have left out this one little part too. The important part is what happened up there on the mountain, right? Not the fact that we 'failed' in our spiritual disciplines. Perhaps that is why Peter had the response that he did. Mark said it this way:

⁶ He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified.

I wonder what the response would have been had he been praying, instead of sleeping. We'll never know. But if we apply that to our lives, what are we missing out on because we are 'sleeping instead of praying'?

And then, to spring off that last 'bolded' statement, God said to listen to what Jesus had to say. Here is what He had to say later in this chapter:

⁵⁹ He said to another person, “Come, be my disciple.”

The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach the coming of the Kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”

⁶² But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

We all have excuses for not being Jesus' disciple, but if we will heed these verses, we truly have no excuse.