Transfiguration
February 14, 2010
Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36
So where have you seen God at work this week?
It really takes practice.
When I got new glasses a few months ago, I put them on – and was certain I had the wrong prescription. Looking through my new glasses actually made me dizzy. I couldn’t see anything. I remember telling the guy helping me that they weren’t right.
He assured me that they were.
I didn’t believe him.
He said, "You’ve had this kind of lenses before, right? You know how you have to look through particular areas...." I thought I did, but I guess I didn’t. The differences between the areas of each lens must be more pronounced than previous pairs of glasses I've worn.
For a week I was convinced I would need to take them back. But then, slowly, my vision cleared.
It just took practice to look through the right area.
We really aren’t trained to see God at work in the world. Our eyes haven’t practiced.
Maybe this is a dimension of what Paul is talking about when he describes ‘the veil’.
A guy wrote about his middle school science fair project – this makes utterly no sense to me, but maybe it will to you. His project consisted of a shoebox, with a triangular prism glued inside. He cut a slit in the side of the box, and had the judges look through that slit as he shined a light on the prism. When the white light struck the prism, and suddenly every color was visible. He was showing the way light refracts –
Like I said, I don’t quite get it, but...
The statement that got me was: “We humans see only a tiny fraction of the light that God made, yet we persist in the presumptuous notion that only what we see exists – that only a 300 – nanometer piece of the spectrum is real.” (Adam Thomas, Christian Century, February 9, 2010)
Think about what you see when you look around.
Maybe you look around and see danger everywhere. Maybe you look around and see stupidity everywhere. Maybe you see disaster. Maybe you see possibility.
Maybe if you could see through / in a different light, you would see something different.
Not fluorescent or incandescent light, but the Light of the World: Jesus.
When Peter, and James and John were on that mountain with Jesus they saw a different light. The veil was pulled back, and they were given a glimpse, a chance to see and feel what is always present: the light and glory of God in all of creation. That day it just burst forth in Jesus.
Thomas Merton:
We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time.
I think it even shines through us.
Over the years, however, our ability to reflect God’s light tends to fade. Every time we look at another person and shake our heads at their stupidity, every time we say something cruel, every time we ignore a neighbor mistreated and every time we cling desperately to some thing or person, another layer of dust covers us, diminishing our ability to reflect God's light. Every time we fail to extend a hand to another, every time we squander a gift God has given us another layer of apathetic dust weighs us down and blurs our vision.
God made us to do more than stand around like pillars of dust. God made us to shine.
But how can we scrape off the grime? How can we be freed from the things that weigh us down and be cleansed so that we can once again reflect God's light?
No cleanser, commercial or natural -- can touch it. There is only one way. Jesus was speaking about it with Moses and Elijah: his departure. His death and resurrection. "The word for 'departure' is exodus. In the new Exodus, Jesus will lead all God's people out of the slavery of sin and death, and home to their promised inheritance – the new creation in which the whole world will be redeemed" (N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone).
This exodus takes us through the veil, through the grime. We participate in this exodus through the waters of baptism, and the wine and bread which sustain Christ's new life within us. As we are joined to Jesus, we are cleansed – and given new eyes to see. We can see God. We can see what God is doing. And we can see how to be part of it.
This week, the season of Lent begins. As we practice seeing God at work, the practices of this Lenten season offer special support for the journey. It is an opportunity to move beyond simply acting the way we want, into the way God wants. It is an opportunity to be transformed.
This week, as you watch for God at work, check your vision. Are you seeing the world the way you always have? Or are you able to glimpse something more? Not just a new wavelength of light – but a new dimension of God’s love.
As you begin your Lenten journey – that journey with Jesus to the cross, and to the empty tomb – practice seeing in a new way.
And when you see the light of Christ, let it shine.
amen
