Something More Sure: Comparing the Transfiguration to Gethsemane

Jason Braaten has written a post drawing comparisons between the Mount Transfiguration and Garden of Gethsemane.  I enjoyed the summary of his opening comparison list:

As impressive as this list of similarities is, what I find most striking is what is missing in Matthew's account of our Lord's agony in the Garden: (1) Moses and Elijah are conspicuously absent; (2) the Father is deafeningly silent; and (3) Peter, James, and John are so utterly uninterested in what's happening in the Garden that they fall asleep—three times.  In other words, our Lord is in a one-way conversation in Matthew's account of the Garden, whereas in the Transfiguration, He is speaking with Moses and Elijah, with Peter, James, and John, and with the Father.  What is highlighted then in the Garden is Jesus' Words.  What stands out is what Jesus is saying.  Listen to Him.  Not My Will but Your will be done.

And then near the end, he makes the point that we have something even more sure than that brief, shining glimpse of divine glory in the Lord Jesus on the mount:

And we have something more sure than the vision on the mount of Transfiguration.  We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed.  We have the Words of the Word made flesh.  We have the faithful promise of Him who submits to the Father's will and word, endures suffering and death and on the third day rises.  This is more sure because it confirms what the prophets had spoken.  It confirms what our Lord had spoken.  Listen to Him.  Not My will but Your will be done.  And it is so.