Scripture: Matthew 17:1-13
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”
Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
Consider:
You spend 1/3 of your life sleeping. 1/8 of your day is spent either eating or preparing to and cleaning up after eating. If you are working or going to school, 1/3 of your day is spent working or learning. Only 5% of our day is spent on entertainment or hobbies - and how many of those hours do we spend mindlessly scrolling?
In fact, Research at Duke University suggests roughly 40% to 45% of our daily behavior is governed by routine and habit rather than conscious decision-making.
So why do we look for God in the unexpected places?
This story of the Transfiguration is central to Matthew’s gospel story - in fact it’s literally right in the middle. There is Jesus before and Jesus after. No other story changed the path of the narrative quite like this moment on the mountain.
But it also skews our own perception of God. We expect to see God in some miraculous shoot of light on a day we’ve hiked up a mountain in the dark. If a few dead celebrities could show up that would be super helpful, because then we would know for sure it was God and not bad Chinese food.
The truth is for most of us we will never encounter God on a mountaintop, or hear the voice from the clouds, or see our own faces start to shimmer with enlightenment.
When we begin to own the truth of this kind of miraculous appearance in our own lives as unlikely - possible, but unlikely - it actually opens up our ability to see God in the ordinary and every day.
The Transfiguration is 1.2% of the Gospel of Matthew. Most of Jesus’ story is in the ordinary, routine acts of eating, sleeping, and walking. God is found most often in the 45% of our day which is completely, boringly routine.
Respond:
As you go through today doing the boring and ordinary tasks of the everyday, have your eyes open to see how God is in the midst of those things which you take for granted. At the end of the day, make a list of 5 specific ways God was present when you did the routines of your life.
Pray:
Lord, steady my heart within the ordinary. Open my eyes to Your quiet presence hidden in the rhythm of the mundane. In every chore, commute, and habitual task, let me sense Your grace. Grant me clarity tonight to name five specific ways You were moving in the life I often overlook. Amen.
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