Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, February 11, 2024
by Madison Johnston, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: The dazzling vulnerability of God is what shows us how to love each other well.
Sometimes, it can be harder to watch a loved one struggle than it is to struggle, yourself. When someone you know and care for deeply is in pain, there isn’t always a way to help. There aren’t always words to use that do their experience justice, or that show just how much you care.
It was probably excruciating for Jesus’s disciples to learn that Jesus was going to suffer. They had given up families, jobs, and homes to follow this man into his public ministry. They had grown close to Jesus, eating every meal with him and sharing every space with him and going to sleep and waking up next to him every single day. Now they learn not only that he is going to die, but that he is going to die a violent and terrible death.
Peter’s response to Jesus is understandable. Peter probably thinks that putting up a fight will show his love and his loyalty to Jesus. Peter probably wants Jesus to know just how much his safety and happiness matters to Peter and to the rest of the disciples. But Jesus doesn’t seem to hear any of that. On the contrary, he gets more upset and rebukes Peter right back. A sense of tension grows between these two friends. And perhaps the most important thing about the Transfiguration story is that in the transfiguration of Jesus, we see that tension break.
When Jesus brings Peter, James and John to the mountaintop, Jesus meets them in the most genuine form possible and on the most visceral level possible. They see a version of Jesus that he hasn’t shown before. While there is something intimidating about the idea of a beaming, transfigured Jesus who looks a bit like Edward Cullen, there is also something very vulnerable about it. This dazzling display seems to speak not to who Jesus can be in a supernatural sense, but who Jesus always has been in a foundational sense.
Peter’s response to this vulnerability is completely different than his response to Jesus in Verse 32. He offers to construct a dwelling place for Jesus. In this one little idea, Peter demonstrates a newfound humility. He commits intentional time and space to Jesus, emphasizing togetherness in the unfamiliar.
One thing Transfiguration Sunday can teach us is that, in talking about his struggles, Jesus didn’t need rebuking. Jesus didn’t need solutions. Jesus didn’t even need to know Peter’s opinions or perspectives regarding the things he was saying. In talking about his suffering, Jesus needed listening and understanding. Jesus needed compassion. Jesus needed his friends to try to understand his opinions and perspectives—in short, his reality. This is sharing a burden instead of trying to eliminate it. This is dwelling instead of fixing. This is what loving your neighbor looks like, and it is hard to do. But it is the single most important way that we can show up for our families, our friends and our communities. And showing the kind of vulnerability that Jesus showed is the single most important way we can allow our families, our friends and our loved ones to show up for us.
In the Transfiguration story, a voice that we assume is the voice of God comes down from the clouds and says to Peter, James and John, “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him!” Our good news this morning is that God will keep reminding us to listen, especially as the harsh realities of Ash Wednesday and Lent are just around the corner. God will keep reminding us to listen to Jesus, to each other, to ourselves and to the spirit of dwelling.
