After Six Days...

One of the most fun (“most fun?” Is that proper English?) jobs I do at our church is to compile our Advent Devotional. This year we’re trying something new – a Lenten Devotional. One of the perks to this job is that I get to read everything ahead of time – before the devotions get sent the congregation.

It is because of that “preview” that I had read Jeff’s devotion (you can click on his name to read it) prior to last Sunday. He talks about the immediacy of Jesus moving from baptism to temptation. Mark is full of “immediately.” In fact, when I did a search, I found that Mark uses the word “immediately” 33 times in his Gospel. And that doesn’t even count other variations of the word.

So, I was surprised when Carol read the scripture last Sunday. It was the transfiguration scripture from Mark, and here is what surprised me:

Mark 9:1-3: And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power." And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

After six days…

Peter, James and John are about to have this wonderful, “mountain-top” experience, but they don’t get to have it “immediately.” They have to wait six days. SIX DAYS. I think, in a gospel as packed with immediacy as Mark’s, waiting six days must be important.

Jesus was transfigured on that mountain. Peter, James and John had to have been transformed on that mountain. They no longer were able to have any doubt that God was God – they had seen it with their own eyes. No wonder they wanted to stay on the mountain. My point is that the event was very significant for them. And yet, they had to wait six days for it.

There has to be a message there. I’m wondering if it might be that God has his own sense of timing. A Red Cross volunteer came to our Sunday school class and discussed her experience in the Katrina relief efforts. She said that God met every need she or the people around her had during those two weeks. Not just for strength and ability to do the job – but in concrete, practical ways. When they needed a car seat to transport a child to another location, one was brought in by a volunteer (who had no idea that they needed one). When the children being housed in the church had a break-out of lice, she found that one of the women working in the building was a school nurse. Her list went on and on. The point is that every need was met, but only at exactly the moment it was needed. When they needed the car seat, it came, but not any earlier than was necessary. This immediacy of God’s frustrated the Red Cross volunteer. It frustrates all of us.

God has his own timing, and no matter how much we worry and fuss, we don’t alter the timing. Even when what God is going to provide is transformation.

Image source: http://www.hermanoleon.org/ (really nice clip art)