March 14 - Luke 9: Talking over the Exodus

He then asked, 'And you - what are you saying about me?  Who am I? 

Peter answered, 'The Messiah of God.'  Jesus then warned them to keep it quiet.  They were to tell no one what Peter had said.

He went on, 'It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty... be killed, and on the third day be raised up alive.'  (9:20-22)

Peter called Jesus the Messiah, meaning the promised one, the expected deliverer.  Jesus called Himself by a different name - the Son of Man - the name used first for Ezekiel, the prophet sent to prophesy against the religious leaders of his time and to speak repentance for Israel.  This contrast of names for Jesus reveals much about what He is trying to communicate about Himself.

Don't run from suffering; embrace it... Self-sacrifice is the way, my way to finding yourself,  your true self.  (9:24-25)

Jesus is clearly delineating what His life is about - the suffering servant, sent to sacrifice Himself for undeserving man.  The disciples still don't get it, they want to make it about the kind of glory that they understand - a Messiah for the people of Israel; memorials for Elijah, Moses and Jesus; arguing over who would be most famous among them.

In Jesus' shoes, I would have been exhausted and hurt by the lack of understanding on the part of the disciples.  He was pouring His life out in so many ways and the disciples weren't there for Him - they still weren't getting it.  They were self-focused, seeing only what fit into their limited, human concept of the world and eternity.  (I recognize in this how much I am like the disciples.)

In the midst of these examples and teachings and lessons, Jesus met with Moses and Elijah and "they talked over his exodus, the one Jesus was about to complete in Jerusalem." (9:31)   Matthew 17 says that Moses and Elijah were in deep converation with Him.  This recorded moment keeps coming back to my thoughts today.  I don't remember ever thinking about what really happened at the transfiguration or the purpose of it.  I'm wondering if God gave this moment as a gift to Jesus, the suffering Son of Man.  A precious moment of being understood, of being truly en-couraged.  A reminder of the spiritual community that He had known within the Trinity, a reminder of His purpose, even in the midst of the disciples' craziness and the reality of the cost.

In this upside-down world, if we choose to follow Christ then we live with the misunderstanding and frustration that He did.  What a rare gift are those moments when we experience spiritual community - when love is spoken in truth that yes, we will suffer, but there is a beautiful and loving purpose to the cost that is far greater than ourselves and our momentary afflictions.