What do you See?
At Jesus’ baptism we see his
humanity in his decision to get baptized even though he had no need to do so; in
his transfiguration we see his God nature as he is briefly transfigured and the
disciples see him shining with God’s glory. There’s a little foreshadowing in
here of Jesus’ passion. The disciples are fighting sleep in order to see Jesus
shining with light as he prays and in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus is
once again praying, the disciples don’t manage to stay awake. And of course,
here they see him with two men and Jesus is crucified between two men.
Transfiguration and Crucifixion –
two very different events but deeply connected. Jesus is killed in an
ignominious way and yet it is also his moment of greatest glory as in so doing
he enables God to show the complete victory over the sin matrix which enmeshes
us. We have a tendency to shy away from thinking about the cross, preferring to
focus on Christ’s glorious resurrection and the new life he brings. This is a
correction from previous generations who have tended to focus on sin and the
necessity of Christ’s pain and suffering on our behalf. But I sometimes wonder
whether we, and I speak for myself here, haven’t gone too far in the direction
of joy and have lost something of the depth of the wonder that is the mystery
of the cross.
I’m sure you’re all familiar with this optical illusion,
known as Rubin’s vase. If you look at it one way you see one thing; if you
shift your perception you see another.
The transfiguration is a shift in
perception. The disciples were able, in that limbic half awake, half asleep state
of consciousness, to see Jesus as the Christ – the anointed one. They were able
to see his light body shining brilliantly. The pain of the cross, the glory of the
resurrection – you can’t have one without the other. Which one you focus on is
a shift of perception. The dark part of the image or the bright part of the
image? If there were no dark there would be no contrast and we could not see
the light. If there were no light we could not see the dark.
Sometimes we get stuck in the darkness
of the world and of our lives. We don’t see the light. It takes a shift in
perception. I wonder how it would be if I saw everyone in this room or everyone
in the market as the Christ? How would it be if I could see the oneness that we
all share with all created life? How would I act differently if I could
actually see that Christ light shining
in the world?
We tend to think that everything
in the wider world is going to hell in a handbasket. We see the news of war and
refugee crises and hunger and disease, not to mention severe weather and water
shortages. It all looks pretty bad. But this week, the Christian Science
Monitor has a feature article explaining that worldwide less people are living
in poverty.[1]
Between 1993 and 2012 the number of people living in extreme poverty was cut in
half. There has been an unprecedented reduction in poverty and an improvement in
health. A shift in perception takes us from the daily diet of disaster to see
that human flourishing is increasing.
Yesterday a few people gathered here
at St Ben’s to make quilts to send to those who are dispossessed; refugees and
the victims of natural disaster who will welcome a quilt made with love as a
gift from friends across the world. We are adding to the numbers of those who
are improving human flourishing.
Yet earlier this week I came
across a quote from Dr. King about the parable of the good Samaritan.
“On the one hand we are called to play
the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act.
One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so
that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their
journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a
beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice
which produces beggars needs restructuring.”[2]
This
is a change in perception. Instead of just thinking about how we can help those
in need by supplying their needs with food or quilts or contributions towards
housing, we are to change the way we look at it, taking more of a bird’s eye
view to see how the whole situation could be changed so that there are no more hungry
people, no more cold people, no more homeless people. As King says, “we must
come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and
women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on
life's highway.” That is the reign of heaven on heaven.
By
a shift in perception we can see the darkness of the world as an opportunity
for us to see God’s love at work, and be God’s love at work. Instead of seeing
gloom and doom we can see a wonderful opportunity for God’s grace. We are not Polyannas who always look on the
bright side and ignore the darkness but the people of God who can see the
darkness but are not swallowed by it. Because we see God’s light shining in the
person of Christ so we are inspired to see that same light shining out of the
people around us, God’s beloved.
The
writer and teacher, Marianne Williamson, tells of a time when she was complaining
to God about a man she didn’t like. After she had complained bitterly she heard
God reply, “Huh, that’s funny, I really like him.” Every individual including
you and me and the leaders of ISIS are God’s beloved, and the whole of creation
is God’s beloved.
Let
us ask God to let us see with his eyes, the eyes of compassion and
unconditional love; and the eyes of truth.
posted by Caroline Hall at
7:50 AM
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