Scripture Daily

Context No. 1130 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 17:6-10: in context

6When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were very afraid. 7Jesus came and touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid.” 8Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone. 9As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Don’t tell anyone what you saw, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” 10His disciples asked him, saying, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the disciples have seen Jesus shining, with Moses and Elijah, and heard the Father's voice from the cloud. Overwhelmed, they fall on their faces, terrified. Then Jesus comes and touches them and says, rise, do not be afraid. And when they lift their eyes, the vision is gone; they see no one but Jesus alone. As they come down the mountain, he tells them to keep it quiet until he has risen from the dead.

Two small moments carry the weight. First, the touch. The disciples are flat on the ground, undone by glory and fear, and Jesus comes and touches them, rise, do not be afraid. The same Jesus who a moment before blazed with divine glory now stoops and lays a gentle hand on his frightened friends. The glory does not make him distant; he closes the gap with a touch. There is comfort in a Lord whose majesty and whose tenderness are the same person, who can shine like the sun and then reach down and steady you. Second, what they see when they look up: they saw no one but Jesus only. The other figures, even Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, have faded, and Jesus alone remains. That is where the whole mountain was leading, past the glory and the great figures of the past, to Jesus only, the one the Father said to listen to. When the overwhelming vision clears, what is left, and what is enough, is Jesus alone. The Christian life keeps coming back to that: not experiences, not even the great saints, but Jesus only.

When the overwhelming moments fade, is Jesus alone enough for me, and do I know his majesty and his gentle touch as the same Lord who says rise, do not be afraid?

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