A Glimpse into Glory
Mark 9:2-9
How do you describe the indescribable? How do you put words to something that is beyond our ability to say? How can you contain in a description something that both humbles and awes you?
When faced with this conundrum, we might say, as did Alice in Carroll Lewis’ book, “Alice in Wonderland,” “Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas – onlyI don’t exactly know what they are!” This is what she said after reading this verse:
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
That was the opening verse of the poem “Jabberwocky,” a bit of nonsense to help create the feeling of disorientation in the land beyond the looking glass that Alice had stumbled into, a world that was more than what she could adequately describe in words.
Even though it is nonsense, that doesn’t mean that scholars haven’t tried to find meaning in it. There are lexicons which offer sometimes multiple definitions of the words, since Lewis Carroll would tell people a word meant one thing, but a character in the book would say it meant something else. That confusion by Carroll is perhaps intentional, pointing out the nonsense of trying to declare that something real could be contained in a definition.
The $5 word for the inability to adequately put an experience into words is “ineffable,” and it is part of what is known as the mystical experience. This experience is also noetic, meaning the insights gained come from intuition and not logic. It is timeless, in that even a brief moment feels like being connected to eternity. And it is passive, in that the experience is given, not earned.
The mystics understand this about faith. They teach that there are ways of praying which do not require the use of words, because to truly be in the presence of God is to know that the silence is on fire. This may be what Moses experienced on the mountain when he saw the bush burning, but not consumed, and from this bush he heard the voice of God.
Some people will try to claim that mystical experiences are rare. Some will try to convince you that only full-time religious, particularly hermits and monks, are capable of having these experiences. But Wesley believed, and I believe, that these experiences should be the ordinary expectation for all Christians. We run into this mystical experience frequently in our faith.
For example, for some, it is that moment of accepting our forgiveness and finding the mercy of God’s love for us through Jesus Christ. For some, it is a moment of clarity and peace after a time of struggling with God in prayer. For some, it is the overwhelming joy of holding a new born child fresh from God, or the satisfying weariness after serving in mission. For some, it is the experience of the Holy in worship as we partake in the sacrament. I am sure we can add many more such moments of knowing that God is with us, and more than us, and surely for us.
So, if you want your faith to always be rational, then you have come to the wrong place. While we greatly value the place of reason in how we do theology, we also know it is reasonable that God is more than we can figure out. Much like loving another person – no, exactly like loving another person – the joy, the sacrifices, and the commitment of our faith really only make sense from within the relationship.
I think that is why the first evangelical invitation Jesus makes to his disciples is, “come and see.” This is why our faith as Christians is always going to be summed up as loving God and loving our neighbors, instead of “do this and don’t do that, and you’re in.”
So, not only are we going to have trouble explaining these experiences to those outside the faith, we are going to keep having these experiences. We are going to keep having these experiences because God is ultimately greater than any words we can use, and image we can create, and any concept we can figure out. This truth about God is likely part of the reason behind the prohibition in the Old Testament about even saying the name of God, or of making any graven images of God. Whatever name we use, or whatever image we make, is necessarily going to be so much less than the God we know.
We hear this mysticism frequently in our hymns. Charles Wesley thought he needed a thousand tongues himself to just begin to sing God’s praise. Reginald Heber declared that “all thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.” John Newton described our presence in heaven as “being there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun.” Katherine Hankey told the story that “more wonderful it seems than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams.” Bernard of Clairvaux, in his 12th century hymn “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee,” wrote, “But what to those who find? Ah, this nor tongue nor pen can show; the love of Jesus, what it is, none but his loved ones know.”
So, one option we have to talk about Jesus and our faith is to use what has been called “theo-poetic” language. We can talk about burning bushes, and voices in clouds, and doves descending, and casting out demons. It isn’t scientific, it isn’t rational, it isn’t measurable – but it is experienced. Like a good love poem or story, which true faith is, we can try to shine a light on it, we can suggest an experience, we can say what it is not, but the effect is always more than the words we can use.
All of this is well and good if you already believe. You may not have noticed this about our world today, but mysticism is generally looked down upon and dismissed as something that people who can’t otherwise make it in the world cling to for hope. Spiritual directions such as “do not speak unless you can improve upon the silence,” make no sense at all in a world that demands you speak up in order to be heard over the crowd.
Being theo-poetic doesn’t work for folks who want to understand their faith at least as well as they understand their smart phone. The other option we have to tell people about our God, who is beyond what we can say, is to get close to the original meaning and compare it to something the people already know to help them understand the new thing.
The church has used this approach in lots of different ways in our history. For example, we took over trees used in Saturnalia, and gave them a new identity as Christmas trees. We took over the Sumerian and Egyptian practice of placing eggs in tombs as food for the next life, and gave them a new identity and story as Easter eggs. In our recent history, we have taken the sound of contemporary music and given it new lyrics, so we can call it praise music. In each case, it can help those outside the faith start to understand what it is like to be inside the faith.
Many modern translations of the Bible use this principle of using something we already know to nudge us towards a new understanding. Some of these changes are easy to justify: reporting the length of something in feet instead of cubits, or using miles instead of stadia. This doesn’t change the facts of the story – it just makes it easier for us to understand.
Some translations also try getting across the same core meaning of a verse or idea, by using words that are not part of the actual verse. A famous example in the CEB translation is 1 John 3:9a: “Those born from God don’t practice sin because God’s DNA remains in them.” DNA was an unknown concept when John was writing, and it is not present in the verse, but we know about it now. It’s an attempt to say that God is part of us in a real and undeniable way that matters and affects how we live.
Sometimes, the changing of one wordmakes it easier to understand, but it also changes the meaning of the verse. When I was a youth, Bible paraphrases were popular. Instead of calling it the New Testament, the book was titled, “The Greatest is Love.” The Beatitudes, instead of saying “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” now read, “”Humble men are very fortunate, for the Kingdom of heaven is given to them.”
In our reading for today, we sometimes see translations making a one-word change. Jesus takes three of his disciples up on a mountain; and while they are there, something never before seen happens. Jesus is joined by Moses and Elijah, and the clothes of Jesus shine impossibly brighter and whiter. This is a new thing, and Peter doesn’t know what to say about it because words fail him. This is the very definition of a mystical experience. Peterapparently would like some time to think about what he is seeing and experiencing, but the moment passes.
Jesus tells them not to say anything about what they have seen until after the resurrection, which gives them plenty of time to come up with a way to describe this experience. And when they do tell this story, the word they use is “transfigured.
Some translationsfor our reading today use the word “transformed” instead of “transfigured.” They do this because most people know what “transformed” means. The translators are hoping that this makes the passage a little easier to understand. Jesus was there on the mountain with three of his disciples, and he was transformed for a moment, shining bright between Moses and Elijah. Jesus was a man, who transformed into a divine, and then transformed back into a man.
John Wesley was always proud of being a graduate of Oxford University. Before becoming a missionary to Georgia, he was employed as a lecturer in Greek, and he served as a moderator of the classes. For most people, reading “transformed” instead of “transfigured” is good enough. But for Wesley, “transfigured”was a word problem that had to be solved, if the Word of God is indeed sacred. “Good enough” was not “good enough” when it comes to understanding the gospel.
Wesley wrote that “transfigured” meant that Peter and the other disciples saw Jesus as both God and servant in that moment. The human and divine were together, inseparable, in Jesus. Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, all at the same time. Jesus is God who took on human flesh to be with us.
The transfiguration is confirmation of what the angels declared at the birth of Jesus, that he is Emmanuel, God with us. The disciples weren’t there to hear the angels, but they know it to be true because they have seen Jesus transfigured. The crucifixion makes sense only if they have seen Jesus transfigured, for that reveals God’s great sacrifice in Jesus dying for our sins. The resurrection makes sense only if they have seen Jesus transfigured, for that reveals Jesus raised as the victory over sin and death.
And that is important for us to believe, even if it sounds like nonsense to the rest of the world. We believe that Jesus was fully human, showing us what it is like to love God and love our neighbors, to be without the sin that separates us from God. We believe that Jesus was fully God, showing us that God loves us, and forgives us, and gives to us new life.
What this all means for us it this: It is not enough for us to simply do “do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can!” If this is all our faith is, then it is nothing more than an attempt to save ourselves apart from Jesus. For us to have genuine saving faith, for us to have those experiences of God-with-us, we need to see Jesus transfigured – we need to see Jesus shine!
Faith We Sing 2173 “Shine, Jesus, Shine”