Anchor My Faith

Rise, Have No Fear

Scripture: Matthew 17:7, 9; Mark 9:8; Luke 9:36

We ended the previous lesson with the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, laying face down on the ground before the presence of God in great fear.

^{Lk 9:36} “And when the voice had spoken, ^{Mk 9:8} and suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.”

As quickly as the transfiguration event started it ended. The appearance of Jesus was changed, Moses and Elijah came down from heaven and had conversation with Jesus, a bright cloud overshadows them, God spoke to them from the cloud, and then all was back to normal, or was it?

^{Mt 17:7} “But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”’

As the disciples entered into the cloud (Luke 9:34) they grew in fear and then were terrified when God spoke to them from within the cloud. At God’s presence, they prostrated themselves face down on the ground. As the transfiguration came to an end their fears were removed by the touch of Jesus and his instruction to “Rise and have no fear.” What an experience this was for these three disciples.

In thinking about this experience, I am reminded of the time Moses wanted to see God’s face and he was told “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” God then gave further instruction to Moses and said, ²¹ “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:20 – 23) Here at the transfiguration, the Father veils himself with the cloud and his glory illuminates the cloud. The flesh of Jesus veils his glory, but here at the transfiguration it was seen in part as light radiated from him.

^{Mt 17:9} “And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”’

Jesus instructs Peter, James, and John to keep this experience to themselves until he rises from the dead. This kind of instruction has been given before to others. For example, at Matthew 8:4, Jesus instructs the leper he had cleansed to say nothing to anyone. Again, in Matthew 9:30, Jesus sternly warned the two blind men he had just healed to tell no one. In Matthew 12:16, Jesus will instruct the many he healed to not tell others and in Matthew 16:20, he charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

^{Lk 9:36} And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.”

The disciples obeyed, however, in the other examples listed above, the people went and proclaimed to others what had happened and who made it happen.

This is a good place in the narrative to end this lesson. Next time we will look at some information about Elijah.

Conclusion

As the transfiguration scene returns to normal, the three disciples are still face down and still afraid. Jesus comes to them and touches them and tells them to not be afraid. When have we been afraid, and did we invite Jesus to come and remove our fear?