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النشر الإلكتروني

SIMPLE READINGS.

LI.

The Transfiguration of Christ.

ST. MATTHEW XVII. 1-9.

1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

2 And was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them:

and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.

6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.

7 And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.

8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.

9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

THE transfiguration, one of the most remarkable events in our Lord's earthly ministry, forms a fitting subject for the commencement of the second part of our "Simple Readings."

The ministry in Galilee was now drawing to its close. Through the length and breadth of that country Jesus had proclaimed the kingdom of Christ, and shown by mighty works that He was the expected

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One. Many thousands had actually been benefited by the miracles; and yet of all these there were only twelve that really clave to Him, and one of them was Judas the traitor. In the preceding chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, our Lord began to unfold the doctrine of His passion more fully, and strange and incomprehensible these tidings must have seemed to His disciples. Like most of the Jews, they could form no idea of a suffering Messiah. They did not understand that the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah must be literally fulfilled; they did not see that the sacrifices of the law were all meant to point them to the death of the true Lamb of God: they thought of nothing but the second glorious coming of Messiah, which is yet to take place at the end of the world; they thought so much of Messiah's crown, that they lost sight of His cross; they did not see that He must needs suffer and die; they dreamed of worldly honours and temporal rewards in their Master's service; they did not understand that true Christians, like Christ, must be "made perfect through sufferings." Our Lord dispels these dreams by telling them that His followers must "take up the cross." The glorious kingdom they were expecting was not about to be set up immediately: they must make up their minds to persecution and affliction, if they intended to be His servants; they must be content to "lose their lives," if they Iwould have their souls saved.

The transfiguration, which took place just a week after this conversation, is to be understood in connection with it. The minds of the twelve were greatly

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