Recall these words from the Epistle reading for today:
“Even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing.
…the god of this world has blinded the(ir) minds…
to keep them from seeing the light
of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.”
Those who do not see the light of the glory of Christ
are perishing.
But who CAN see this glory light of Christ?
It was only three of the twelve who were with Jesus
when this glory light was manifested to them,
and they saw what was not visible to the ordinary eye.
Seeing what is not visible to the ordinary eye…
Elisha saw the chariots of fire,
we heard in the Hebrew Bible reading just a few moments ago.
When Elijah, that leader of all prophets,
the one who showed up with Moses on the holy mountain
when Jesus appeared transfigured,
when Elijah passed out of his earthly existence
and was taken up into heaven,
Elisha, his faithful disciple,
the one who would pick up Elijah’s mantle
and carry on in the role of prophet,
Elisha saw the glory light.
He saw bright flashing light like fire as a means of conveyance
that had the swiftness of a chariot and horses
– the race car of ancient times.
The light flashed, the heavens opened, and Elijah was gone.
And all that was left was his mantle, his cloak,
lying there like Obi-Wan Kenobi’s cloak
before a stunned Darth Vader.
And Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him,
and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him,
and struck the water, saying,
“Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”
When he had struck the water,
the water was parted to the one side and to the other,
and Elisha went over.
When the company of prophets who were at Jericho
saw him at a distance, they declared,
“The spirit of Elijah rest on Elisha.”
And later there is another example of
seeing what is not visible to the ordinary eye:
the story of Elisha in a besieged city
that was surrounded by a great army.
When the attendant of the man of God
rose early in the morning and went out,
an army with horses and chariots was all around the city.
His servant said, “Alas, master! What shall we do?”
He replied, “Do not be afraid,
for there are more with us than there are with them.”
Then Elisha prayed: “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see:
So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw;
the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
More glory light of exceedingly great power and magnitude,
and a reality is revealed,
and there is seeing what is not visible to the ordinary eye:
chariots of fire ablaze with a light from the heavenly throne,
light from the Source of all light,
from the One who said Let Light Be on the first day of creation.
And now the three disciples with Jesus on the mountain
- Peter, James and John -
seeing what is not visible to the ordinary eye:
Jesus, transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
more white, brighter than is earthly possible,
Jesus himself so radiantly bright with uncreated Light from the Source
that it shines right through his clothes.
No amount of clothing will veil this radiance, this glory light.
And they saw the light of the Gospel,
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God,
the glory light.
Now, I can’t imagine anyone remembering what I preached last year
about the Transfiguration,
but this of what I said then bears repeating:
This glory light, this radiance of Uncreated Light
is the NORMATIVE state for Jesus.
He was surrounded by this Light all the time.
This was not something he took on at that particular moment
to dazzle the eyes of Peter, James and John.
Rather the eyes of the disciples were unveiled in order to be able to see
what has always been there, to see the Truth of what Jesus is like.
Jesus opened the spiritual eyes of his disciples
so that they could see the Uncreated Light;
it was a transfiguration of consciousness,
a transfiguration of their consciousness.
And so Paul says in 2 Corinthians, today’s Epistle reading,
that this gospel truth of glory light is veiled,
and people are blind and perishing not seeing that.
The Radiance of God is all around us all the time,
but WE DON’T SEE IT.
Is this not strange? How can we miss it?
Should we not all fall on our faces before the Glory Light of God?
We perish without that Light, but our vision is veiled.
A Sufi story is told about the 70,000 Veils
that separate Allah, God, the One Reality,
from the world of matter and of sense.
And every soul passes before its birth through these 70,000 veils.
The inner half of these are veils of light;
the outer half, veils of darkness.
For every one of the veils of light passed through,
in this journey towards birth,
the soul puts off a divine quality;
and for every one of the dark veils,
it puts on an earthly quality.
Thus the child is born weeping,
for the soul knows its separation from Allah, the One Reality.
And when the child cries in its sleep,
it is because the soul remembers something of what it has lost.
And so, we can see, how dull minded we are, how blind spiritually we are
- for the most part -
since we do not see the chariots of fire, we do not see this glory light
that is supposedly all around us.
But then Paul reminds us
of what is at the heart of our Gospel of Jesus Christ
that it is God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”
who has shone this light in our hearts – not our eyes!
to give the light of knowledge,
the knowledge of this glory light, actualized and experienced,
revealed to us in the face of Jesus.
It is God’s action of grace and revelation that effects the unveiling
- good news that this is not left up to us alone!
I like to point out that in meditation
we sit ceasing from our own actions,
clouded as they are with our vision limited by so many veils,
we sit with open hearts, so that we can see with the heart
the revelation that can come,
we sit with open hearts as an expression of faith and trust
and it is the transformation of consciousness that occurs,
a transfiguration of consciousness.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18 a few verses before today’s epistle:
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord
as though reflected in a mirror,
are being transformed into the same image
from one degree of glory to another;
for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
And so may I offer this to you?
Hear these words as the words of Jesus speaking revelation to you:
“The light is all around you.
The light is within you.
The light is the life that I am.
The light is the enlightenment which no one lacks. …
Awaken in my light. …
Hear my word within.
Receive the radiance that I am.
Open your hearts with awe and love to my presence.
Pour out the gifts of my heart from one to another.
You are the illumined ones.
In you, my image arises as radiance, peace, and offering. …
You are to be my presence to one another.
Honor my beauty in one another.
Respond to my heart in one another.
Recognize me in one another.
See what I have given you.
I give you one another to empower the awakening of each in my light.
You are my presence, not merely something of the eye …
I have given each of you to be the dwelling of my radiant awakening
and shining forth.
You are my heart in the world. …
You are the ones through whom my heart is to be recognized and demonstrated.
When you have come to recognize me fully radiant in one another,
and to honor and offer thanksgiving to me there,
you will have awakened to the freedom which I have intended for you.
You are my light.”
