Now there is even more to talk about isn’t there? They’ve seen so much and there is so much more to come – but Jesus commands the three disciples to remain quiet about all of this. Tell no one about this experience until after I have been raised from the dead. Perhaps the silence is necessary so the real work can begin now without distraction - Christ’s death on the cross – Jesus knew it had to be done, and this glorious transfiguration might obscure that which is just as great and necessary. The glory and the cross are two sides to the same coin. And their truth, particularly the hard truth of the cross, is sometimes too much to bear. We’d prefer to stay up high on this mountain.
Why do I like Peter so much? Well, I seem to be a lot like him. Not that I am an apostle or reckoned as the first pope or anything like that. But there is a certain…manner…that is similar. Maybe you feel this way too? On the one hand, I desperately want to follow Jesus because I am very grateful for all he has done, and is doing for me.
But I so easily fail, and fall short, and mess up. Not only that, but when it comes right down to it I’d rather set up shop the easy way and do what I think is best, what comes easiest for me.
Sometimes I am so confident and secure in my faith – bold and eager to share it with others, and to do the right thing. But then my faith wavers, and I stagger around and start to sink, just like Peter. It’s often embarrassing and regrettable.
My words, like Peter’s are sometimes right on – direct, honest, life-giving. Yet, more than anything else, my mouth gets me in trouble. So frustrating, the words I wish I could have back.
The boldness and confidence of Peter, coupled with his impulsivity and recklessness. Pretty complex. None of us are much different are we?
Where do you excel? Maybe you’re not like Peter in these specific ways, but like him, there are things you get right, things you do well. Patience perhaps, or acts of service. Wisdom and insights into hard situations. Generosity.
Those are the things that you might want to hold before God – gratefully of course, asking God to show you how you might be able to use them even more fully for the Kingdom.
And like Peter, you struggle. With different things: Fear, anxiety, selfishness. A mean streak that not many people know about. Thoughts that plague you which never seem too far away from your conscious mind. These things too you must bring to the transfigured Christ. For Peter was shown something amazing. He saw the end before that which must comes first. The transfigured Christ is a foreshadowing of the risen and ascended Lord. And transfigured, Christ shows us the possibility of our own transformation.
This is how you and I are most like Peter. Not so much because we share the same humanity. But because we participate in the same divinity. The words of the Father are terribly and wonderfully true:
Listen to Him: This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased – I am glorified through his humility. So obey him w/o hesitation. He is the truth and the life.
He is My strength and My wisdom.
Listen to Him: he whom the mysteries of the law foreshadowed, of whom the mouths of the prophets sang.
Listen to him: who by his blood redeemed the world, who binds the devil and breaks the debt of sin and the bondage of iniquity.
Listen to him: who opens the way to heaven and by the pain of the cross prepares for you the steps of ascent into his kingdom.
Listen to him. Get up and do not be afraid.
Listen to Jesus.