Matthew 17:22

“And the disciples were filled with grief.”

“Listen up!”  Haven’t we all heard that?  The disciples heard every word Jesus said – he will be betrayed or disowned, and be handed over to people who will kill him but on the third day he will be raised to life. Obviously the disciples heard only the bad part about being killed but not the good part about his resurrection from the dead. Jesus said two things, he will be killed and then raised from the dead. Both are equally impossible for the human mind to accept. But it was the first that sent the disciples into despair.

It is quite clear that the disciples heard both but the first – he will be killed – overwhelmed everything. They simply could not move to the second – his resurrection – therefore, as Matthew noted, “The disciples were filled with grief.”

So the curtain falls on that scene of divine drama, the Mount of Transfiguration, with the disciples thrown into a pit of despair, “filled with grief.”

As we look back on that scene we are amazed that they heard only the first half of the story, Jesus’ death, and not the second half that was joy and victory and life renewed. Why, however, should I be amazed? I see things that fill me with grief and so many unanswerable questions that I am left dangling.  A voice nudges me, “Don, move to the end, the reality of the Resurrection.  Concentrate on that, praise God for that. and you will rejoice, not despair.”