I can’t help but wonder what the Transfiguration would look
like today, here. Jesus asks a few good folks from GCR to come with him to the
sand hills for some time alone for devotional. On arrival, Jesus stands at the
apex of a dune and who should appear but George Washington and Alexander
Campbell with Him who shined like the sun. The good folks said ‘Lord it is good
that we have seen this. We are not far from pavement, so let us drill a
water-well to create on oasis out here. We will call it the “spiritual
Rest-Stop” so all can worship You and our most influential spiritual founders.’
A big whirl-wind blew in and a voice from the wind says “This is My Son, Whom I
love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
As ridiculous as this story is, it sounds like what happened
to the disciples, or what could happen to us. After all, six days previous, in
Matthew 16:24, Jesus had told them “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Jesus didn’t tell them to consult
Moses’ writings or call on Elijah for help. His instruction was pretty plain as
I read it. But the disciples, and maybe us sometimes, are looking for something
more, something to do to make the world right and our place in heaven secure.
Even after Jesus told them in 17:9 that He would be raised
from the dead, they still asked him about Elijah. How like the disciples I am
sometimes? I cling to immersion, Lord’s Day communion (and only on the Lord’s
day), acapella music to find some piece of salvation, when all the time it is
all about Jesus. If I concentrate on “The One that God loves” and do those
commands in the “red” letters, how much easier and more fulfilling will my life
be?
- Deane Durham
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