Illumination vs. Illusion
When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. Luke 9:36
This Sunday churches all over the world will read the passage from Luke in which Jesus is transfigured on the mountain in front of Peter, James, and John. These three disciples see things that we could only imagine. Jesus is illuminated from within by a great light. Moses and Elijah make an appearance. A voice speaks from a cloud. One would assume that these kinds of experiences are reserved for spiritual masters. As they come down from the mountain, Peter, James and John bring with them the keys to the kingdom. Perhaps on their return they should open a retreat center, where, for an all-inclusive price, you too could learn the secrets of transfiguration and become a spiritual master-in-training.
I don’t mean to sound cynical. Having grown up in the 1980s and 90s, I am very familiar with new age type promises of inner peace and heightened spiritual consciousness. I have known a lot of people who claimed (or hoped) that through an inner experience of illumination they would discover the secrets of the universe that would alleviate their pain and confusion. And there is a kernel of truth to that claim—prayer and meditation are important spiritual practices that nurture faith. But more often than not, behind the desire to find inner illumination is an anxious need to escape the inescapable. Life is painful and confusing, and no amount of avoidance will make that fact disappear.
Anyone who thinks that Peter, James, and John were made into spiritual masters by their mountaintop experience should continue the reading a little further and find out what happens to them the next day. The rest of the chapter is full of episodes of humiliation and hardship in which their illusions of specialness are crushed under the heavy boot of the real world. In following Christ, they do not find a magic spell that lifts them above disappointment, loss, and pain. What they do find (eventually) is the strength and resilience to nurture the seeds of love and compassion in a very hostile world.
This is the message that we need today. Not an escape, but a purpose and a path that we can walk together.
Wishing you Christ’s peace,
Pastor Jen
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