Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
June 25, 2023
Mark 9:2-13
2 Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, 3 and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. 4 Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” 8 Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Human One had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept it to themselves, wondering, “What’s this ‘rising from the dead’?” 11 They asked Jesus, “Why do the legal experts say that Elijah must come first?” 12 He answered, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. Why was it written that the Human One would suffer many things and be rejected? 13 In fact, I tell you that Elijah has come, but they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it was written about him.”
Good Morning, It is a great day to lift our praise to God.
God is speaking! Listen! “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” Many of us have experienced a time when someone was giving directions, and we weren’t listening. Maybe it was your parents, a teacher, or even a boss when you were young. Instead of listening, we continued our own conversations with our friends. Sometimes we even ask for directions or advice, but we forget to listen to what is said or dismiss the answer as not being helpful.
Jesus is sharing life-giving, life-saving advice to his disciples and the world. Even when they seemed to be intently listening, they did not yet understand what was being said. Their desire to build a shrine to Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the mountain exemplifies their misunderstanding of what God/Jesus was teaching them. Despite their confusion, Jesus continued to teach them so that they might come to understand when they were ready.
Think about when you were young and tried learning and understanding basic math. You start with simple addition, and you slowly develop number sense. Imagine trying to learn calculus as a young child when you had not yet learned to add one plus one. You might get lucky and get a correct answer occasionally, but you would not know why or how this happened.
Jesus’ words and actions were as different as basic addition to calculus. The disciples then and the world today require remediation to move towards understanding. Our homework is to read the Bible, where all the scaffolding needed to construct our relationship with God is contained. As we move along our path of faith toward our eternal glory, the lightbulbs slowly begin to light as we start to glean God’s truth. God’s word contains life-giving nourishment to sustain us on our journey to the promised land.
Loving God, We thank you for Your blessings. Please help us! We struggle to understand even the simplest ideas. Thank you for giving us grace and mercy as we stumble toward you. We Thank You! In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: I will listen to scripture as though my life depends on what I hear.
Listen! God is speaking! Pastor Liz
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