Redirection: Mark 9:6-7
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There's a joke used in movies and sitcoms sometimes of the jaded teacher's lounge: a sad, dim place filled with tired adults smoking and ignoring the kids. The kids are up to their shenanigans, and the teachers either yell or ignore them. No energy to attempt patient redirection anymore. There's another joke used sometimes about the bright-eyed, eager young teacher who thinks he or she can change the world. Both stereotypes are often played against one another. The kids have worn down teacher after teacher, and they'll get this next one eventually too..., or will they?
Which teacher is God like? We want him hopeful and world-changing. We often picture Jesus this way. Or is God worn down and jaded, ready to snap, sick and tired of the shenanigans of the human race? And we are guilty of more than just shenanigans. We have deeply sinned against one another; we are full of pride and selfishness; we are forgetful, ungrateful, and unaware at times. Has God had enough? Some people worry that he has, especially when it comes to themselves.
In Mark 9, Jesus is showing Peter, James, and John something awesome. He takes them up to a mountain peak, brings down Elijah and Moses, and changes his whole appearance. He becomes more radiant than anything that exists. In a moment that was intended for quiet, worshipful awe, Peter instead asserts himself: "Let's..." and he comes up with some ridiculous idea that is hard to understand because, "he did not know what to say, for they were terrified" (Mark 9:6 ESV). Then God the Father speaks from the heavens: "This is my beloved Son; listen to him" (7). In other words: be quiet, take it in, listen instead of talk, humble yourself, don't try to dictate. God redirects Peter.
The Bible records that the three disciples were terrified before, but not after, the voice from the heavens. God corrects Peter for babbling on, for audaciously making suggestions to a transfigured Jesus instead of just humbly taking it in, for pushing his own agenda or trying to add to a wonderful moment. God corrects him. God steers him. God points him in the right direction. But God does not terrify him.
Two things here: First, let's get it out of our minds that Jesus is the loving and hopeful one while God the Father is harsh, strict, and exasperated. God is gracious, both Son and Father.
Second, God sees human beings individually and graciously. As with Peter, God trains us and leads us back to where we should be, time and time again. God sees each of us, and, if we have put all of our hope for our soul's salvation in Jesus Christ, God's own Spirit indwells us, in part to continually and patiently lead us back when we wander, get distracted, or come up with ideas that aren't on task. God isn't jaded. God is patient and individually attentive. Even in discipline, correction, redirection, God is patient. Let's be in happy awe when his redirection comes.