The Transfiguration Series

Lk 9:32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. Lk 9:33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

Either the talking or the light wakes the disciples up but when they come to they are pretty amazed by what they see. You have to love Peter because he is easy to relate to. Peter always seems to have the wrong thing to say. On occasion he gets it right but here Peter pulls out a fail blog moment. This was an incredible experience for the disciples. When Moses and Elijah are leaving Peter wants to hold on to that moment. He suggests they build three tabernacles one for each man to commemorate this moment. This is a bad idea for two reasons: one it ignores Jesus supremacy. Though Peter has not realized it yet, Moses and Elijah together can’t hold a torch to Jesus. They may have been honored patriarchs of the past but they are nothing compared to the Son of the living God. Two: holding on to this moment would hinder the progression of Jesus ministry. As glorious as this moment was there is a greater glory to come.

What Peter is doing is what we often do as humans. We have a great experience with God but instead of enjoying it and moving on we try to relive it. We try to hold on to the glory that is passed instead of longing for the glory that is to come. This thinking is what so often gets us out of synch with God. We tend to look at the glory of the past and try to hold on to the moments. We reminisce over how great things use to be. How wonderful it was being a part of a church that was alive an active and instead of following the moving of the Spirit of God as it progresses towards God’s coming glory we search for a formula to try to get back to the glory of how things were before the Spirit moved on. It’s like instead of letting ourselves get caught up in the flow of the stream of life in the Spirit we try to stop the stream from flowing. Building these shelters as Peter suggests would prolong this moment and prevent the progress of Jesus mission. This is our error: we constantly look to the splendor of the past when God is looking forward to the glory to come. We want to hold on to a passing moment instead of moving forward to the next one. We look back, Jesus is looking forward.

Lk 9:34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Lk 9:35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” Lk 9:36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

To show the disciples the error of this idea a cloud appeared, perhaps like the cloud that led the Israelites by day in Exodus. In Exodus the cloud was God leading Israel where He would have them go. It is wrong to try to hold on to the moments of the past. Holding on to the moments that are passing prevents us from moving on with the direction that Jesus is leading.