What is the strangest thing you have ever seen? How did what you saw compare to outlandish scenes put into movies? Did you think it was unbelievable? Did you think it was supernatural? Have you noticed the supernatural and perhaps hard to believe events in the Bible?
Extraordinary things happen. We may see them. We may hear about them. And yet we may find them very hard to believe. We may want to explain them away as a random event. All the while, our brains our telling us we saw it and yet do not know how to process it.
That may have been the initial thought of Peter, James, and John when they went up on the mountain with Jesus. Not only do they see Jesus transfigured and start glowing like a light bulb, but suddenly Moses and Elijah appear out of thin air. They must have been jolted as if they had been struck by lightning. Of course, one question that always pops to mind when I read this passage is: how did they know it was Moses and Elijah? After all, it’s not like they had photographs of them to reference.
So, why is this important and how do we use in our lives today? We could easily dismiss it as something nice to know but has no effect on our faith. But that would be dismissing something important. This encounter demonstrates the power of God, and thereby the power of Jesus. If we are to believe that God is all-powerful, that he can do anything, this is an example of that power. Jesus can be transfigured into a blinding light and God can summon the dead to interact with the living. Yes, the story is bizarre and outlandish. Yet it supports our faith in a God that is not constrained by earthly rules.
I pray we all know that God is not constrained by earthly rules. I pray we know that God is all-powerful. I pray each one of us allow the transfiguration encounter to support our faith. God is not constrained. God is all-powerful. Increase your faith. Be in awe of the transfiguration.
Matthew 17:1-3 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
Marty Pressey 