Sometimes we need better light light to help us see where we are. But the risk is that the light will reveal what we are afraid of, or what we didn’t know was there. While we can resist the light, remain hunkered down in our own shadows, God loves us too much to stay there with our limited vision. The hope is that true light will reveal a way forward, a new path, opportunities that for too long had been hidden. The disciples of Jesus were stuck in shadows, paying attention only to what was right in front of them. So Jesus invited them to an experience. An dazzling experience like no other.
To learn and grow, spiritually, mentally, and physically, we need to be open to new inputs. But sometimes our biases and prejudices, our attitudes and habits, can get in the way of authentically seeing and hearing what’s in front of us. That’s why Jesus took his friends up the mountain. So just for a moment, and just long enough, can we suspend belief, suspend our “we know it all” positions to truly see and hear and consider truth?
Why did Jesus take the disciple up that mountain that day?
They needed to know something…. Really know it to trust it. Actually, to know the real Jesus, not just the healing Jesus, the miracle worker Jesus, the leader Jesus. But know Jesus in his essence… he is God. And knowing he is really, really God in person, how does that’s truth inform our life?
Like Moses, like Peter, James, and John, we can get an unobscured sense of God’s glory, Jesus’ light, to shine in the face of our failings. And dispel any misunderstandings about who Jesus is and who God is and who others are and who we are. That would be something! That possibility is available for all of us this week as we gather in worship and are transported to a place of realignment, recalibration, refocus, even revelation in Pastor Kevin’s message from Matthew 17, the Light we Need. Could our assumptions be transfigured right along with Jesus?Find out by listening to this message!
Similarly, Jesus sent an advance team of 72, ordinary people in need of the kindness of strangers, yet given the authority to heal and cast out spirits, a power made known to those who welcome them and provide for their needs. The Jesus way requires trust on the part of those going and those to whom the disciples are sent to produce a plentiful harvest to be gathered, shared and used to feed the world, physically and spiritually.
Maybe you’re like me, feeling a bit overwhelmed when my grandkids wanted me to go on the Buccaneer Pirate Ride. Whoa! Did I want to go first? No way. But, I knew it was important to them, and also to me. Wow! Going first can be scary sometimes, but God sends us ahead with the promise of a harvest of goodness, if we don’t give up! What a ride!!