Exodus 34:29-35
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Luke 9:28-36
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" — not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Today is the last Sunday before Lent begins for this year. This Sunday is also traditionally Transfiguration Sunday. This is a Sunday that is all about seeing – seeing something there, in someone, that we had never seen before.
Many discussions of transfiguration events give an impression that it is the one being seen who has suddenly changed, but I tend toward an interpretation that it is instead the vision of the see-er which has changed.
Perhaps what the viewer sees has always been there, but the viewer was blind to it.
This is another week when I have included both the Old Testament and the Gospel reading because they are both important to the story.
Moses had many conversations with God – not all of them face to face, but certainly he has spent a lot of time following God’s instructions, listening to God’s word. Surely all of this has had an effect on him over time. Maybe it was Aaron and the other leaders who couldn’t shift gears enough to see Moses as he has truly become – to see something other than Aaron’s little brother -- until he came down from the mountain with the presence of God so obviously with him that it couldn’t be ignored anymore.
Jesus’ followers knew he was someone special – but, right up to the very end they appear to have been remarkably dense as to just how special. And after they saw what they saw they still kept silent about the whole thing – because they were so stunned, so gobsmacked by what had just happened that they literally could not talk about it.
But was it Jesus who changed in appearance? Or was it that the eyes of the disciples were opened so that they could finally see what had been right in front to them all along?
How often, when we think we know someone and then see them in an entirely different situation, do we say something like, “I saw him in a whole new light.”? In most cases like this, the implication is that they didn’t change, we just saw them this way for the first time.
I believe that Transformation Sunday is a call for us to open our eyes and see what has been right in front of us all along. To see the holy that is all around us: in the natural world that surrounds us, in the sun and the trees and the birds. To recognize divinity in the faces of those we work with and live with and in total strangers we pass on the street – and in the faces that look back at us from our mirrors.
One of my favorites poets, the English priest Gerard Manley Hopkins, has always said this better than I ever could:
Many discussions of transfiguration events give an impression that it is the one being seen who has suddenly changed, but I tend toward an interpretation that it is instead the vision of the see-er which has changed.
Perhaps what the viewer sees has always been there, but the viewer was blind to it.
This is another week when I have included both the Old Testament and the Gospel reading because they are both important to the story.
Moses had many conversations with God – not all of them face to face, but certainly he has spent a lot of time following God’s instructions, listening to God’s word. Surely all of this has had an effect on him over time. Maybe it was Aaron and the other leaders who couldn’t shift gears enough to see Moses as he has truly become – to see something other than Aaron’s little brother -- until he came down from the mountain with the presence of God so obviously with him that it couldn’t be ignored anymore.
Jesus’ followers knew he was someone special – but, right up to the very end they appear to have been remarkably dense as to just how special. And after they saw what they saw they still kept silent about the whole thing – because they were so stunned, so gobsmacked by what had just happened that they literally could not talk about it.
But was it Jesus who changed in appearance? Or was it that the eyes of the disciples were opened so that they could finally see what had been right in front to them all along?
How often, when we think we know someone and then see them in an entirely different situation, do we say something like, “I saw him in a whole new light.”? In most cases like this, the implication is that they didn’t change, we just saw them this way for the first time.
I believe that Transformation Sunday is a call for us to open our eyes and see what has been right in front of us all along. To see the holy that is all around us: in the natural world that surrounds us, in the sun and the trees and the birds. To recognize divinity in the faces of those we work with and live with and in total strangers we pass on the street – and in the faces that look back at us from our mirrors.
One of my favorites poets, the English priest Gerard Manley Hopkins, has always said this better than I ever could:
..... the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
We, as people of God, are hungry for God’s presence in our lives and yet, we are terrified by the idea, as well. In our day to day existence we prefer to keep God at a nice safe distance, but occasionally – in spite of our best efforts – we experience God’s presence in our lives in a manner that is undeniably real. We see what has always been with us and we don’t know what to do with the experience or the feelings it leaves us with.
Perhaps we all need to practice seeing – to practice walking through this life with our eyes wide open, to see what is really there without editing it down to just whatever is comfortable for us.
Writer Marilynne Robinson once wrote: "It has seemed to me sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation and it turns to radiance--for a moment or a year or the span of a life. And then it sinks back into itself again, and to look at it no one would know it had anything to do with fire, or light....Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?"
Probably the most difficult -- and most frightening -- thing we will ever be called upon to see and acknowledge is the light of God's radiance shining back from our own faces. If we are, as we believe, made in God's image, then how can this not be?
But who would have the courage to see? Do I? Do you?
Perhaps we all need to practice seeing – to practice walking through this life with our eyes wide open, to see what is really there without editing it down to just whatever is comfortable for us.
Writer Marilynne Robinson once wrote: "It has seemed to me sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation and it turns to radiance--for a moment or a year or the span of a life. And then it sinks back into itself again, and to look at it no one would know it had anything to do with fire, or light....Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?"
Probably the most difficult -- and most frightening -- thing we will ever be called upon to see and acknowledge is the light of God's radiance shining back from our own faces. If we are, as we believe, made in God's image, then how can this not be?
But who would have the courage to see? Do I? Do you?
RSS Feed