“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him…”
- Matthew 17
“God intended that his open commendation of his son at the transfiguration should stabilize the disciples’ faith when everything would seem to contradict it…”
- BSF Notes
This is the clearest explanation I have yet heard of an episode in the gospels I have never before understood to my satisfaction. It causes me to think back to times when God may have revealed himself to me in some way, as intending to “prestabilize” my faith when everything should seem to be against it later on.
The crucifixion did not “give the lie” to the transfiguration, even though it would have seemed to the disciples like the ultimate broken promise.
In the same way, seemingly senseless trials in my own life do not give the lie to the promises of God that preceded them.
