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The world wants to tell us that Christianity is just a cleverly devised myth. A priori they consider the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ impossible, because they consider God incarnate impossible, ultimately because they do not acknowledge God himself. Whatever else they propose regarding the origins of Christianity only takes on likelihood to the degree that these things seem unlikely. The modern consensus is that they are not demonstrations of science and therefore not likely. But is this consensus any more than a simply prejudice?
but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Christianity is built upon the testimony of witnesses. These witnesses make no sense without that to which they bear witness. Alternative attempts at explanations do not explain the phenomenon of their lives dedicated to witness.
For he received honor and glory from God the Father
when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory,
"This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
Peter, James, and John beheld the glory of the only Son of God. At first they didn't fully grasp what they were seeing. This humility in the face of revelation suggests that they did not and would not have devised such a vision. Yet the vision did offer them comfort. As Jesus endured the cross the vision of Christ transfigured whispered hope to their hearts.
You will do well to be attentive to it,
as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
After the resurrection the disciples were willing to look foolish for the sake of bearing witness. They were happy to insist on what they saw even when they themselves looked ignorant or unreliable or even traitorous at the time. They now fully appreciated what the vision of Christ in glory meant and were willing even to let themselves be killed that what they had seen and known could be shared with others.
And so, what of us? Do we listen to the vague mutterings about that which is 'modern' or do we rather listen to the witnesses of Christ? The testimony of the transfiguration is not merely a datum we can know. It can be a lamp that illuminates the dark places of our lives and hearts. We can, in a real sense, have our own revelation of the glory of Christ sufficient to strengthen us to bear our own crosses.
One like a Son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
When he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
The one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
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