Transfiguration

I've been thinking for some reason about what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration and how Peter acted during that experience. I am starting to realize that one of the reasons Peter's comments were so hopelessly out of place is that he was living primarily in a religion of the head and the transfiguration was an event almost completely oriented in the heart. This is why Peter was at a complete loss as to how to act or what to say and ended up with a bunch of blather coming out of his mouth that was immediately embarrassing even to himself.

Peter, like most of us, had not yet learned to live from his heart. He was in training and once in a while he could synchronize with what Jesus was doing, but most of the time he would just blurt out whatever he thought was important and often make a fool of himself. This incident was certainly no exception.

But then I remember how Jesus related to Peter even though He knew what Peter was like and often even got Jesus into hot water. I am amazed at the patience and compassion with which Jesus always related with Peter even though Peter was so clumsy and spiritually inept many times. Jesus believed in Peter and saw his heart. He was drawing out the real Peter from deep inside that even Peter did not know about yet. He always included Peter when only three were selected on various occasions to accompany Jesus at crucial moments. And even though Jesus knew ahead of time that Peter would stick his foot in his mouth on the Mount, he took him with Him up the mountain to experience what few men have experienced in the history of the world.

The event of the transfiguration was not about putting on a show to impress three of His followers and convince them that He was indeed God. The reason for this crucial event in the life of Jesus was to strengthen His heart and dramatically increase His joy strength and capacity to be able to go through the intense conflict of the final events just in front of Him. Joy is being happy to be together and the strength that is derived from that experience. In this moment Jesus brought together the family of heaven and His family still on earth for a few minutes of very intense joy that is almost, if not completely, only an experience of the heart, not an intellectual exercise. Moses and Elijah did not come down to inform Jesus of vital information that He would need for His time of trouble. They came down to reassure Jesus of their support as representatives of both heaven and humanity. The three disciples were included as current and future representatives even though at the time they were clueless as to why they were there.

The transfiguration was a visible demonstration of what the kingdom of heaven is all about. It was a foretaste of the unity and glory that God intends for all of His family. It was shared with His disciples to break the stranglehold of formalism from their minds and cause them to think radically outside the religious box that they were so used to living within. And after the Spirit filled them at Pentecost and they looked back on this event from the perspective of the final events of Jesus life on earth and His ascension to glory, it all began to come together and make much more sense in their minds. Then they were starting to make serious progress learning to truly live from their hearts like Jesus had demonstrated before them for three and a half years.

Yes, they still had issues that came up and prejudices to overcome and blind spots to be unmasked. But they had made a distinct shift from a head religion to a heart spirituality that soon shook the entire world. And until it became contaminated with error and selfishness a few years later, the power of that heart-based spirituality compelled by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit was an unstoppable force that swept over the entire civilized world.

Sometimes I think I act like Peter. Oh, I may not be as bold and outspoken as he was, but I am certainly capable of speaking religious talk while disconnected from my heart. I often soon regret many things I say and advice that I give or offhand comments and criticisms that so easily slip through my tongue. More and more I find myself trying to hold my tongue while trying to perform an internal check to see what my current motives are and the condition of my spirit. Very often I realize, sometimes too late, that my spirit is quite selfish and hasty and eager to make myself look better in comparison to others. I come across as condescending or patronizing. And always, my motives have at least some degree of self-interest mixed in to even the most noble motives that are prompted by His Spirit. I am never completely free of bias or prejudices no matter how hard I strive. I realize more clearly that without total dependence on the untainted merits of Jesus' motives and character alone to recommend me to heaven, I am a goner for sure.

But the wonderful good news is that every one of us have been freely supplied with more merit and righteousness than we could ever use or need. If we will accept it, claim it and believe God wants us to have it, we will be transformed by it. In doing so we will become participants in the transfiguration ourselves. The glory of God and of all heaven will infect us and emanate from us and attract others to the beauty and truth about God.