From Both Sides Now

Charlie Brown and Linus are lying on a sunny knoll, watching the clouds. “I see the
Battle of Waterloo,” says Linus. “There are the British regulars and grenadiers, over there is the French cavalry. What do YOU see, Charlie Brown?” Charlie Brown replies, “I see a clown; and a ducky.” More recently, I’ve learned that my words and data all live forever in The Cloud, somewhere in cyber-space. Early mystics spoke of the Cloud of Unknowing, a fogged-in spiritual condition where the only choice for safe passage is to put your hand in God’s. “I really don’t know clouds at all.”

On this upcoming Ultimate Sunday of “Aha!” we remember the Transfiguration of Christ. We’re to remember that Jesus is God as well as Human, and thus to watch for the Holy in our daily living. The Old Testament reading recalls the story of Elijah being swept up into heaven in a fiery chariot, II Kings 2:1-12. EliSHA, Elijah’s apprentice prophet, walked “across the Jordan” with him. “Elisha said, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ He responded,’…if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted.'” Elisha kept watching, and saw Elijah ascending into the clouds.

St. Paul speaks of similar sight which is more than our eyes can bear. He says that the god of this world (greed, anger, intolerance) “has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (II Corinthians 4:4) But God the Creator of Light shines “in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We see Jesus from both sides now.

Jesus took his closest friends, Peter & James & John, to a high mountain; and it seemed to them as if his clothes became “whiter than white”. “There appeared to them Elijah [the Prophets] and Moses [the Law], who were talking with Jesus.” (Mark 9:2-4) “Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” (v.7) Remarkable! Watch for the Holy in our daily living…

“Transfiguration”, then, has something to do with Being Changed. The question becomes, “What then changes, the seer or that which has been seen?” Beyond debate, we experience those timeless moments when our vision changes from merely that of our eyes to our inner being. As the Season of Epiphany concludes, we can say that we’ve looked at Jesus from both sides now. What visions of rapture are yet to burst on our sight?

God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King