Buckets and Understanding

This morning as I sat down to pray, I was reminded of a couple of verses I was thinking about a few days ago.  Here are the verses - Mark 9:2-10 NIV:

[2] "After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. [3] His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. [4] And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 

[5] Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters---one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” [6] (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 

[7] Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” 

[8] Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. 

[9] As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. [10] They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant."

While I have read about the Transfiguration many times, and have quiet a few reflections on it, the verses that caught my eye this morning were verses 9 & 10.  It is such an interesting mention of a seemingly passing comment that Jesus made and the apostles focus on that rather than the experience they just had with Jesus!  

It is understood that John Mark was writing this Gospel, which was based on Peter's witness (There is still plenty of disagreement as to the actual authorship, but don't let that be a distraction) and apparently Peter's recounting of Transfiguration is represented here.  His mention of their not understanding what "rising from the dead" meant, is really an important point.  We find a similar verse later in this same chapter, where Jesus clearly tells them about his coming suffering and death and rising from the dead, and again we are told,  "But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it." ( Mark 9:32 NIV).

I greatly appreciate these comments for they show the humanness of the apostles, and I think they help us to see some of their humility.  Peter didn't need to recount these details to John Mark, but they stood out as important points!  We are unable to fully grasp the depth of their unknowing, or lack of understanding, but it must have been great for them to keep mentioning it!  We struggle to fully comprehend, because for us, we already know the story and have had it passed down for generations, so it seems a bit absurd that their lack of understanding keeps getting mentioned.

We know that God had raised people from the dead in the history of the Jewish people, and it was always a wonder, but it was definitely a well known miracle.  The two I know occurred with Elijah,  the widows son - 1 Kings 17: 19-22  and a dead man thrown on his grave - 2 Kings 13:21.  To further research, I  looked at the Greek language used in Mark 9:9 and it is pretty straight forward, so the uncertainty probably ins't from understanding the meaning of the words Jesus spoke.  

I think the issue is that Peter and the rest of the Jewish people had a firmly entrenched understanding of what the Messiah was going to do when he came to save them, and dying and rising from the dead wasn't part of that understanding!  The statements of Jesus, while about as clear as they can be (“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” - Mark 9:31 NIV) and yet they just couldn't grasp that He could actually be saying this about Himself, for it did not fit their understood narrative.  

As I was writing this, I was reminded of a couple who were expecting a boy to be born (I don't remember why they thought that) and the wife went into labor.  When the baby was born the man saw his child and started freaking out because his son didn't have male genitalia!  The doctor calmly assured him that these type are known as girls.  The point being that if we think something is absolutely true, and then are confronted with something is conflicting, it can cause confusion, doubt, and even a serious questioning of one's understanding. Growing up in the pinball age, we would say this caused one's mind to "tilt", or just stop functioning for a while.

A couple of days ago I was reflecting on the issue we have with trying to rationalize God's ways and thoughts, and the problem with making that attempt.  We are rational beings, so it is understandable that we try, but God is Majestic, Glorious and Holy beyond knowledge.  We try our best but we will never fully grasp Him, and yet God provides a way forward.  Paul writes his prayer for the Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV:

[16] "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, [19] and to know this love that surpasses knowledge---that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Our hope of knowing God is found through the power of the Holy Spirit, someone the apostles had only been introduced to prior to Pentecost, but not yet been filled fully.  While they were following Jesus, their understanding of God, which comes through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, had not yet been fully breathed upon, or at least that is my opinion.  

It does make sense in a way, the only way to know God is to be in relationship with Him, to be connected to Him, to hear His voice and understand His words. In the same way that we can never fully understand another person by just reading about them.  Even people that we have known for years can totally surprise us.  Our thoughts are often at odds with our actions, and it is only in fully experiencing and understanding both, that we can hope to know someone really well, and that is speaking of another human, not God.  

Taking this a bit further, we are all triune beings, and the paragraph above is just dealing with 2 of our three natures, our body (actions) and mind (thoughts), but does not address our spiritual nature.  I think that Jesus was speaking truths into their spiritual nature, and while they probably felt the conviction in their spirits that what Jesus said was true, their minds just couldn't comprehend what the words meant.  

I know there have been times when I felt something occur in the Spirit, and I could not understood it in my mind.  This is essentially what Paul is praying for the Ephesians.  He is praying that their inner being (spirit man) might be strengthened and enlightened to know "this love that surpasses all knowledge."  Isn't that an interesting point?  There is a point past all knowledge, and it exists in and through Holy Spirit pouring into our spirits.  In other words, it goes past rationalization and the understanding found in our mind!

In my experience with the Lord, I have found that He will speak a word to me, and I might think that I grasp the meaning, but will find out later that I had only grasped the smallest portion of understanding.  To put it in another context,  learning Math is much more than addition and subtraction, they are a small bit of understanding of a much greater field of understanding.  In the same way, I think our understanding of God's words and purpose is always (this side of eternity) a small bit of understanding of the fullness of what God means.  

The apostles couldn't grasp that the salvation of the Messiah was a salvation of their very souls, and the enemies that were going to be defeated were sin and death.  They were thinking in the physical realm of the Romans, and God was moving at a much deeper and greater level!  Jesus was speaking of Spiritual truths, and the apostles minds were mired in the natural realm and rationalized understanding.  

I was thinking of the number of times that Jesus said the same thing, and to me that speaks of God's patience and understanding of our struggles.  Jesus knew they couldn't grasp these truths, yet He spoke them into their minds and spirits, that they might fully understand post Resurrection and Pentecost.  I am encouraged that Jesus knows just how much we struggle, a recent term a friend used was bucket-head!  We struggle to get beyond out own understanding, and sometimes that is where we stop, yet the invitation is beyond, into the reaches of love that surpasses understanding!

Maybe we need to take the buckets off our heads so we can see and understand, and hold them out to be filled by the Holy Spirit!

Oh, that we would be strengthened in our spirits to more fully know our Lord!  That we might see beyond our buckets of rationalization, and lean into Holy Spirit, asking Him to bring enlightenment and deeper understanding of His love, His perfection, His ways, His purposes!

Oh Lord help us!  Oh Lord, strengthen our inner beings!  Fill us to the measure of all the fullness found in You Lord!

Amen and Amen!