June 17, 2016
My 2016 Ongoing Journey: Exploring Matthew to
discover what following Jesus and becoming more like him would look like.
Matthew 17:1-13 ~ The story of the Transfiguration is a
story and a follow-up. Today I’ll look at the story (verses 1-13), and will
deal with the follow-up in my next blog.
This is another of those biblical
stories that challenges postmodern and post-scientific thinking. It describes
an event that’s “outside the box”—unless one looks at it as metaphor.
One must take care lest metaphor become
a crutch to explain everything one can’t put in a test tube, quantify and
verify. On the other hand, metaphor and provable, observable fact are not
necessarily mutually exclusive.
One can find deeper meaning sometimes by
attaching metaphoric understanding even to something that’s tangible and
concrete; therefore, metaphor offers a good meeting place for both those who insist
that everything in the Bible is literal fact, and those who don’t. And if you
believe everything in the Bible is literal fact and don’t want to allow anyone
else any other understanding, you probably won’t be reading my blogs, anyway;
and, I can honor that choice.
I’m just not going to deal with whether this story “actually
happened” exactly and literally the way it is described. I accept it as part of
divinely inspired Scripture, and my only concern is how it helps me “to see him more clearly, love him more
dearly, follow him more nearly, day by day”.[1]
Jesus’ transfiguration relates him to
Moses, whose face also radiated God’s glory when he came down from the mountain
after receiving what is now known as the “Ten Commandments”. Moses: the
law-giver. Matthew wants that connection to be clear.
And there’s Elijah, the one the prophets
said would announce the coming of Messiah. Well, here it is!
All three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew,
Mark and Luke) include this story. It must have been important to those first
century Christians! Jesus is the one!
When we back away and get the broader
view, we see that all the prophecies and promises, beginning with the original
covenant between God and Abram, are fulfilled and completed in Jesus—past,
present and future. Nothing remains to be done. As Jesus said on the cross, “It
is finished.”
So, I need no further rationale or
justification to follow Jesus. He is the one. But, making that profession of
faith is not all there is to it. There is a follow-up! Watch for it in verses
14-21!
That's the way it looks through the flawed glass that is my world
view.
Together in the Walk,
Jim
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