The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 238

c-,,me in thl' clorv of hi~ Fatb,•r, wiLh Iii• Ver. 28.-And it oame to pass about an nn!.'.els. nnrl tl1<•n he slrnJl rewe.rd evpry me.n eight days after these sayinga, he took n,'<'c>r,ling to his works." The kseon WI\S Peter and John and Jrimeg, and went up v,·ry cll'nr. His own might eurely be oon- into a mounttlin to pray. Somo eight dnya te,,l On\~ kt thPm be pRtient. Lo I in after this question asked in the neighbour- the poor rcjeded Rabbi now before them, hood of Ce:,en.roo Philippi, nnd its rt>ply, aml. going to hie hitter suffering nnd hie dooth, the sermon to the people on tho suhji'ct of they were looking really on the awful form "No cross, no crown,' which irnmcdiBlely of the Almighty Judge of quick and dea.d. followed, our Lord summoned the three These wordo, very dimly understood then, leading disciplce and took them up into a in da.vs to come were ofton reoolled bv bis mountain to pray. 'l'hey had spent the hri:r<>rs. They formed the groundwork of last few de.ys appnrently in quiet converse mi.ny a primitive apostolic sermon. t.:igether. SS. llfotthew and llfark epeo.k Yer. 27.-But I tell you of a truth, there only of six days. St. Luke gives the period be some standing here, which sh&ll not in round numbers, counting portions of tho t&s,e of death, till they see the kingdom of first and IMt days as whole days. We mny God. This mngnificent promise hRs always well im~gine that this was a period of been more or lees a difficulty to expositors. intense depression in the little company of Two favourite exple.nntions which (I) in Jesus. Their Master's populo.rity was- fast the Transfiguration mysfory, (2) in the fall waning among the people. His powerful of J crueRlem and de.true lion of the J t>wish enemies seemed gnthering closer e.ud closer state, see the fulfilment of this greRt pr<-~ rvund the Teacher whom they 1vere deter- diction. must be put aside as in11deqm1.te, mined to crush. The le.te utterances of as failing utterly to satisfy nny idea of the Jesus, too, whether spoken to them e.lone, kingdom of God. Concerning (I), it must or publicly to the people, nil foreshadowed be borne in mind that the worus were a time of danger aud suffering in the im- addressed, not only to the disciples, bnt to mediate future for him nnd for them-a time a mixed multitude; the expression then, which, as far as he was concerned, would "there be some standing here," etc., would close with a violfmt dea.th. To raise the seem to point to more tbe.n three (Peter, fainting spirits of hie own, to inspire them Jo.mes. an,! John were a.lone presf•nt at the with greater confidence in himself, seems to Transfiguration) who should, while living, have been the immediate purpose of thnt see the kingdom of God. Concerning (2), grand viaion of glory known a.a the Trans- those who were witnesses of the grre.t ce.tas- figW'lltion. It is true that to only three tropbt> which resulted in the sock of Jeru- was vourheafed the vision, and silence w11,11 salem anrl the ruin of the Jewish polity, enjoined on these, but tile throe were the can scarcely he snid to he.ve looked on the le11ding spirits of the twelve., If Peter, "l:ingrl.om of God. It we.e rather a great Je.m11s, end John were brave, enrnc>st, an,l and terrible judgment; in no way can it hopeful, there was JHtle doubt tba.t their fe.irly be termed the kingdom, or even its tone of miud would be quickly rdlee>te>d herald; it we.s simply e.n awful eveut in the in their companions. 'l'ra.dition, based world's story. But surely the Lord's dis- on the fairly early authority of Cyril of oiplcs, the holy women, the still larger outer Jerusalem, and of Jerome (fourth century), circle of loving followers of Jesus, who were speab! of the mountain as Tabor, but tl.e cbe.nged by what happened during the solitude evidently neceAenry for the mani- forty days which immedbtely succeeded the festation would have been sought for in Resurr,,ction wom,ng--che.ngedfrow Him pie, vain on Mount Tabor, a bill which rises loving, foorful, doubting men anrl. women, aLruptly from the Plain of Esdraelon, not into the brave resistlese preQ.Chere and very far from Nazareth to the eouth-ee.st, ieachers of the new faith-tlie five hundred for the summit of Tabor e.t tha.t time we.a who gazed on the risen Lord in the Gllliliee.n crowned with a fortress. The mountnin mounte.in,-the.se may in good ee.me~t be so.id most probably was one of the lower peaks to have St:tin, whilA in life, "the kingdom of of Hermon, at no great diste.nce from the God." Tl,ese five hundred, or at ell events foun ta.in source of the J ordn.n e.nd C111eare9 lllJl.DY of them, after the ReHurrection, not Philippi, in which district we know Joens only looked on clod, but grasr,ed the meaning enu his companiona ho,d been teaohiug only of the presence e.nd work of God on oorth. e. fow de.ye before. The secret of the btrange resistlcsH pow<:r of Ver. 29.-And aa he prayed, the fashion tLese men in e hostile world was that their of his colllltene.nce was altered, etc. The eyes h11d gazed on some of the sublime rue.rvellous ohange evidently puseod ovor v:ories, and tL~ir e;,re bad heard some of Jesus while he was in prayer, probably th" tremendous secrets of tke kingdom of because of hie intenHe pr11ycr. Real, cln~e God. communion with God ever impnrts to the Vera. 28-36.-Th, Tran,,fiyuration. counknnnce of the one who J:a., 1l,us entered ffll. IL 1-02.) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 23!)