Transfiguration of OUR LORD. LUKE 9: 29-36. GREAT STORY!

There IS A  STORY OF THIS ONE FAMILY WHO HAD TO DEAL AT SPRINGTIME WITH A FAMILY OF RACCOONS, THAT FOUND THIER THEY WAY INTO THE FAMILY'S BACK YARD, AND AT MEAL TIMES, THEY WOULD WASH THEIR FOOD IN THE FAMILY'S SWIMMING POOL. THE STORY  GOES THAT THE FIRST TIME THEY CAME AS FURRY, FUNNY ANIMALS. THEY WERE AN AMAZEMENT TO THE FAMILYS SON, WHO AT THIS TIME WAS LEARNING SOME WONDERFUL TRUTH'S IN SUNDAY SCHOOL. ONE NIGHT HE PRAYED, " DEAR LORD THANK YOU THAT WORMS TURN INTO  RACCOONS, AND THAT RACCOONS TURN INTO BUTTERLIES. " THEN STILL WITH EYES CLOSED TIGHTLY SHUT. HE SHOOK HIS HEAD AND SAID,' LORD I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY DO IT!" 
THE PROCESS OF METAMORPHOSIS IS TRULY AN AMAZING THING, AND THAT PROCESS IS WHAT WE DISCOVER WAS  HAPPENING TO JESUS IN LUKE'S GOSPEL TEXT. THE WORD TRANSFIGURED ( SOMETIMES TRANSLATED TRANSFORMED) IN THE GREEK. IS METAMORPHOO, FROM WHICH WE GET OUR ENGLISH WORD METAMORPHOSIS. WHAT HAPPPENED TO JESUS CHRIST IN THE TRANSFIGURATION IS MORE MYSTERIOUS AND WONDERFUL THAN MOST OF US HAVE DREAMED.
FIRST, LOOK WITH ME AT THE CRUCIAL TIMING OF THE TRANSFIGURATION. SOME EIGHT DAYS AFTER THESE SAYING (LUKE 9:28), AND HE TOOK PETER, AND JOHN AND JAMES AND WENT UP ON THE MOUNTAIN TO PRAY. WHAT WERE  THE "SAYING'S THAT PRECEDED THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS? WELL FOR INSTANCE,
 IN VERSES 18-20: " AND IT CAME ABOUT THAT WHILE HE WAS PRAYING ALONE, THE DISCIPLES WERE WITH HIM, AND HE QUESTION THEM, SAYING" WHO DO THE MULTITUDES SAY THAT I AM?  THEY ANSWERED AND SAID, " JOHN THE BAPTIST; BUT OTHERS SAY, ELIJAH; AND OTHERS, THAT ONE OF THE PROPHETS OF OLD HAS RISEN AGAIN.." PETER ANSWERED AND SAID, " THE CHRIST OF GOD."  THEN PETER BLOWS IT. THIS SHALL NEVER HAPPEN TO YOU. ( SPEAKING OF HIS DEATH AT JERUSALEM).  THINKING ABOUT THE SWORD THAT WAS HANGING AT HIS SIDE NO DOUBT, SURE THAT LIVING IS EVERYTHING AND DEATH MEANS DEFEAT. THAT DYING FOR OTHERS MEANS HAVE NOTHING FOR SELF. WE THINK JESUS WAS TOO STRONG IN REBUKING PETER, WHEN HE SAYS:  " GET THEE BEHIND ME SATAN! YOU ARE A HINDRANCE TO ME; FOR YOU ARE NOT ON THE SIDE GOD, BUT OF MEN.
 THIS STATEMENT WAS A GREAT MILESTONE, AND IT WAS ABOUT EIGHT DAY'S AFTER THIS STATEMENT THAT JESUS WAS TRANSFIGURED.
 ANOTHER SAYING THAT PRECEDED THE TRANSFIGURATION WAS THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME JESUS TOLD HIS DISCIPLES THAT HE WOULD DIE AND RISE AGAIN. OF COURSE THIS NEWS WAS SHOCKING TO THEM. " THE SON OF MAN MUST SUFFER MANY THINGS, AND BE REJECTED BY THE ELDERS AND CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES, AND BE KILLED, AND BE RAISED UP ON THE THIRD DAY." (LUKE 9:22).
 NOW MARK'S GOSPEL SAYS THAT WHEN JESUS PREDICTED HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION, PETER TOOK HIM ASIDE AND BEGAN TO REBUKE HIM. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT?  HE BEGAN TO REBUKE THE ONE WHO WOULD SOON SIT ON THE GREAT THRONE OF JUDGMENT AND REBUKE WHOLE NATIONS AND KINGDOMS AND
PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS AND IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH. PETER HAD NO IDEA YET OF GOD'S PURPOSE IN THE CROSS, BUT IN HIS REBUKE HE WAS STANDING WITH THE FORCES THAT HAD STRUGGLED FOR AGES PAST TO KEEP THE SON OF GOD FROM DYING FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD. AND JESUS " LET HIM  HAVE IT."    HE SAID GET THEE BEHIND ME SATAN! HE WAS SAYING, ' PETER, YOU ARE DOING THE DEVIL'S WORK. YOU ARE BEING HIS MOUTHPIECE, BECAUSE THE DEVIL DOESN'T WANT JESUS TO GO TO THE CROSS, EITHER. THEN THE THREE DISCIPLES WERE TAKEN UP INTO THE MOUNTAIN WITH JESUS ALONE. DO YOU NOTICE THAT EVEN AFTER JESUS HAD SO SEVERLY REBUKED PETER, HE NEVER THE-LESS TOOK HIM UP INTO THE MOUNTAIN TO BE ALONE WITH HIM AND TO LET HIM IN ON ONE OF THE MOST GLORIOUS EVENTS OF ALL. THIS SHOULD TELL US, THAT JESUS HAD AND PLAN FOR PETER, AND HE HAS A PLAN FOR US. AS WE LOOK AT THE SCRIPTURE'S ACCOUNT OF THIS AMAZING HAPPENING, HOW IMPORTANT THE WORD'S IN VERSE 28, " JESUS WENT UP TO THE MOUNTAIN TO PRAY."  IN FACT VERSE 29 SAYS THAT HE WAS TRANSFIGURED "WHILE PRAYING." MUCH WAS NEEDED TO
BE DONE, AN THE DISCIPLES NEEDED TO BE TAUGHT AND TO BE ENCOURAGED, AND I'M SURE WHEN JESUS WAS PRAYING THAT THE NEED WAS MET IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT PRAYER BY THE TRANSFIGURATION. YOU SEE PRAYER IS NOT SOMETHING YOU DO BEFORE YOU ACT. PRAYER IS ACTION ITSELF IN WHICH GOD MOVES THE WORLD.
THE TRANSFIGURATION, WITH THE CRUCIAL NATURE, WHICH ( WHICH LUKE 9:29 SAYS, WHILE HE WAS PRAYNG, THE APPEARANCE OF HIS FACE BECAME DIFFERENT,
BECOMING WHITE AN GLEAMING.
PETER, JAMES, AND JOHN WERE THE ONLY THREE DISCIPLES ALLOWED TO VIEW THIS WONDERFUL EVENT. THE GOSPELS OF MATTHEW AND MARK TELL HOE JESUS GAVE ORDERS NOT TO RELATE TO ANTONE WHAT THEY HAD SEEN, UNTILTHE SON OF MAN SHOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD. I'M SURE THEY WERE BURSTING TO TELL IT.
JOHN WROTE: " THE WORD BECAME FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US AND THEY BEHELD HIS GLORY OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN FROM THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH (JOHN 1;14).