My Beloved

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, ‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ He said to them, ‘Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.’ Mark 9:2-13

They saw only Jesus after the most remarkable event in their time with him. They had witnessed the barrier between the temporal and the eternal be broken for a time. This mountaintop event quickly became the rough road to Jerusalem, and the final passion. We ache to see Jesus in our time, yet we also don't want to go on the road to Jerusalem. When hard times hit me, it feels as if I have been abandoned and left on my own. I guess it's a normal human feeling. And yet rough roads and hard times are always with Jesus, the beloved, and we are beloved and cherished as well. 

Gracious Creator, you dwell on mountaintops

and along the warm sands by the roiling ocean

as well as with us on the stony paths we walk

you called us beloved and hold us very close.

We give in to anger and fury on the tough days

we believe that God has forgotten about us

or is punishing us for our wicked behavior

and we fail to grasp the love that is eternal.

Help us see Jesus today in our travails

strengthen our faith to walk with confidence

knowing we are held always in loving arms

and the Holy Eternal is always by our side. Amen.