Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus

Sun-burst by David Kochka

I saw one like a Son of Man coming, on the clouds of heaven. When he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.


The prophet Daniel describes an astonishing sight. He saw a human being given enormous authority. He clearly understood the Ancient One in his vision was God. If he described God as sitting on a throne, he was not a mortal man who might walk the earth. But the Son of Man is such a creature. How can a man born of the earth – an earthling -- be so favored, blessed and powerful?


The Enlightenment, which gave us the insights to develop the sciences and create enormous governments, imagines the human being – both male and female – as dominating the earth by default. They might say, “Since there is no god, we’re left in charge.” Enlightened thinkers of the American Revolution supposed there is a god, but he has abdicated. We’re left to govern ourselves. Scientists could explore the mysteries of physics, chemistry, and biology without the interference of an omnipresent deity.


But after three centuries, Enlightened thinkers do without the fiction. Few modern theologians worry about this unscientific conclusion from the scientific community; they know that scientific methods cannot detect a God in any case. The discipline, by its very nature, dismisses the possibility of God so as to understand and develop controls of the earth and its resources.


But faith is not so easily dismissed. It is not irrational but neither does it depend on reason for proof. If you cannot see a cloud through your magnifying glass that doesn’t prove clouds don’t exist; and science is, after all, an elaborate set of instruments designed to see the world. It cannot begin to measure all of human experience.


On today’s feast we remember that Jesus has been given authority over all the earth, and over each of us. God has told us, “Listen to him!”


And what does he say to us? Perhaps most often, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid of evil around you or within you; do not be afraid of God’s goodness which surrounds and saturates you. Human beings often experience life as warfare between heaven and earth, and each human life is a battle ground. We tremble in fear as the guns roar, as the angels advance and the demons retreat. At times we’re not sure who will win; and, worse, we’re not sure who we hope might win.

Detail of Sunburst, center

Do not be afraid. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus. We have experienced the small miracles of forgiveness, peace of mind, reconciliation and healing. We look forward to that great miracle when our eyes are opened and God’s grandeur appears just as clearly as the brilliance of a summer day.