If only I could change! Looking at Jesus, the Key to Metamorphosis

The good news of  the Christian  message  is Christ came to set us free  from  bondage to our desires. We don’t set ourselves free.  It  is Christ who sets  us free,  it is the Physician who heals , not the patients. As Christ said, “whoever  practices  sin is a slave to sin.  If the Son  shall set you  free,  you will be free indeed.”  By the power of the Holy Spirit,  we can be free from  our desires.  The church calls this  apaqeia, dispassion.

Transformation, or metamorphosis,  starts by  having  a renewed mind  or spirit  yielded to God’s Spirit.  Paul writing to the Romans  said,  “metamorfousqai  th anakainwsei tou nooj umwn.”  Be metamorphasized  by the renewal  of your mind, nous.

But  how  is our mind  renewed?  How are  we changed,  metamorphed?

We see transformation  typified in the mount of Transfiguration.

“17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. (Mt.17:1-8)

Besides  falling asleep  on their watch,  the disciples did two things here.  First,  they were told  to  listen to the Son.  Secondly,  they  looked at the Son.

To  be transformed- transfigured to His image-  we must listen  to the Son.  God  speaks to us every day. “Today  if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts,”  Is the warning we hear.  He  asks us to  yield  our hearts to Him  every moment and thereby enter into communion with Him.

He also  exhorts us to  look at Him.  We are to “look unto  Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith.”

And, as we stare into  His face  we are filled with the warmth of His love,  of His grace.

For, “we all with unveiled faces beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are metamorphed  into the same image from  glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor.3:18)

  Nature teaches this!  Just like  looking at the Sun  brings warmth,  and can  burn,  so  looking at Christ,  casting  the eye of our soul to Him,  affords us a glance of the rays of His mercy  and love.  For He is the Sun  of righteousness (Malachi 4:2)

Our hearts are restless till we find the Face of God  and are filled with His grace.  Let us listen to the Son  of God, get up into the mountain alone,  away from the world’s desires and look for the Face of God, until  He have mercy on us.  In this way,  we celebrate  the Feast of Transfiguration this August.  Let us be transfigured,  radiant from  God’s glory.  So much  so that as the people had to hide from  Moses’ face when  he came down  from  Mount Sinai after seeing God’s glory,  people might also pause  because they see we are not the same, but changed by the shining of God’s glory.

When God  tells us  to go into the desert.  When  we  don’t have a wilderness  tabernacle endowment.

The miracle of the five thousand , familiar to all, has a very practical import.  Besides attesting to the dynamic power and divinity of Christ,  it shows us  how God transforms our fatigue and faithlessness.

Grief and fatigue are facets of life few avoid.  As the prophet Job  said, ” man is born  into  trouble as the sparks  fly upward.”  Indeed,  the sorrows of life only multiply in old  age,  Moses  testifying, “the days of our years are threescore years  and ten;  and if by reason of strength  they  are eighty,  yet is their strength labor and sorrow;  For it is soon  cut off, and we fly away.” Ps.90:10

Consider the events prior to this  miracle and we can  see how  the disciples became worn down.

1. Few faithful. Every one rejected the preaching of Jesus, and was unbelieving.  (Mt.13:58)  This Galilean  ministry  was a low point in the ministry, and the disciples, no doubt, started to feel some discouragement.
2. A friend’s death. The greatest prophet among  men  was just slain, leaving  the disciples forlorn.
3. False disciples.The people wanted to follow Him, Jn.6:2, only to see a miracle.  False disciples
4. Empty coffers.  They  just had a preaching tour  and there were no  contributions.  They  were left with  bread and fish.  Of course, there is probably another story going on here with Judas.

The disciples  were at a low point.  How does Christ  raise them  up and reveal Himself  to them? How does He grow their faith and refresh them?

1.They got alone with God,  away  from  the crowds.  

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  Mk.6:30-31

Nothing beats a retreat.  It is like  charging  the phone.  If it is on  all day ,  at the end it is dead.  Are we any different?  Even Christ  had to  go into the desert to  spiritually recharge (Mk.1:35)  When  He was touched power- dunamis  left His body( Lk.8:46).  The same happens to us.  We are depleted of God’s sustaining and strengthening grace as we walk in this world.

2. God  forced them to look on the needs of others. 

 As soon as the retreat started, they were interrupted by people needing help.  When  we spend  time with Christ,  and His virtue is with us,  people will reach out.

The disciples  learned to  look on the needs of others, not on their own  needs.  Christ  was moved with compassion here,  the disciples were moved by fatigue.  They  asked Him  to send the people away.  Instead,  He says, “Feed them!”

3. God forced them  to look to Him  and allow others to be involved in the ministry. 
 God put them  in a position  of faith.  They had no money.  They  had to trust God to provide.  They  had no  tabernacle wilderness endowment,  not even two  pennies.  They had no food.  In fact,  the food they  got was from  some little boy.  God used a lad to  feed the disciples and 5 thousand.  

The disciples grew by this experience. They saw God’s provision, being transformed from  grief  into  faith. The next pericope, that is of Peter walking on water, shows they  were transformed,  although  but to a degree.  Having seen the miracle  He takes a step of faith. 

We will be brought into the wilderness of life,  of temptation.  Sometimes all alone,  after having lost  loved ones,  wealth,  family, jobs.  Let us not  turn  back,  but wait for the blessing  and God’s provision.  Then, having seen the hand of the Lord, we will dare by God’s grace to step  out  like Peter and follow Christ miraculously.