“With Faces That Shine”
by Bruce J. Johnson
Would you believe me if I said that I am so glad to be
home, out of all that sun and heat and golf of a
Before leaving last Friday, I read somewhere that people on a plane and
people in the pew have a lot in common. (Lucado, Just Like Jesus, p.77) All are on a journey, going somewhere. Most
are well- behaved, and presentable, although that is changing somewhat. Some
sleep, others read, there are kids on
coloring books, Game-Boys and the new craze—DVD players and still more just simply gaze out the
window. At the early service this morning, others made comments as they were
leaving the sanctuary that people on a plane and people in the pew also both
pray that it will be over soon! Another suggested that both also like to get
off and out ‘on time.’
For many the mark of a good flight and the mark of a good worship
assembly are the same. “Nice,” we like to say. “It was a nice flight/it was a
nice worship service. No turbulence.” We exit the same way we enter, and we are
happy to return next time.
That comparison falters a bit, however, for the week that we fly.
Flying to
Moreover, it is a special treat when you fly down for race week--- the
kids have nothing on NASCAR racing fans! What a hoot—how they dress and the
looks on their faces and the obvious level of anticipation and excitement for
the Daytona 500!
Faces tell quite a story! DON’T THEY?
ALWAYS DO!
I was thinking up there in the clouds--- “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had
this same kind of anticipation and excitement in the pew each Sunday— AND IT
SHOWED ON ALL OUR FACES---that somehow we SIMPLY anticipate that today—we will
stand in the presence of God.
I’ve always loved that quote: “Joy---- is the infallible sign of the
presence of God.” (Teilhard de Chardin)
This morning is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday in Epiphany.
I’m quite certain that the disciples who accompanied Jesus up the mountain that
day didn’t anticipate what they would eventually see and experience but it was
transforming. Each of the Synoptic gospels has an account, and although we didn’t
read any of the accounts, most of us know them well. Matthew’s version goes as
follows:
“Matthew 17:
1-8
The two lines I like the best are:
“And his face shone like the sun.”
“And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but
Jesus only.”
As we all know, Mel Gibson’s “The Passion is being released on Tuesday.
Throughout the week, I’ve been reading article upon article and there have more
than a few talk shows discussing the controversies surrounding its release.
In yesterday’s New York Times, the Arts and Ideas section, there was an
article titled:
“What did Jesus Really Look Like?”
Of course, there is no way for any of us to know but we do think that
he wasn’t your
Archeological evidence does give us some idea of what he may have
looked like. The evidence suggests:
“the average man of Jesus’ day was about 5’3” tall and
a bantam-like 110 lbs. Given the harsh conditions, especially for working
stiffs like the members of Jesus’ family, combined with Jesus’ ascetic
lifestyle, which included walking everywhere, scholars agree that he was most
likely a rather sinewy peasant, as tough as a root and about as
appealing.” (N.Y.
TIMES, p. A 17)
I am going to see “The Passion” and quite frankly, given that it deals
with the final 12 hours of Christ’s life, I’m not looking forward to seeing His
face—so filled with suffering and pain but perhaps what we envision today will
make it bearable.
We’re told today that up there on that mountain, his face shone like
the sun! And then we are also told that those who were with him told no one
anything—once they came down. I often wonder why and I often wonder if ----they
didn’t need to tell anyone--- all the other disciples needed to do was to look at them. Their faces would tell the story--- I
would think. It was no ordinary prayer service that they had just attended. I
don’t think that they came down the mountain and said simply: “It was nice!”
In his book, Listening to Your Life, Frederick Buechner says:
“It is as strange a scene as there is
the gospels. It was the holiness of the man shining through his
humanness, his face so afire with it that they were almost blinded.
Even with us something like that happens once in a
while. The face of a man walking his child in the park, of a woman picking peas
in the garden… Every once and so often, something so touching, so incandescent,
so alive transfigures the human face that it’s almost beyond bearing.”
Faces
really do, often tell the story don’t they?
I remember reading C. S, Lewis’ “Till We Have Faces”--- something he
wrote about the myth of Cupid and Psyche. There is line that has always stood
out:
I saw well why the
gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer.
Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they
hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till
we have faces?”
The actress Lauren Bacall once commented:
“I think your whole
life shows in your face …”
I think that that is true, although we all at times become pretty good
at concealing our histories and our feelings.
But this morning, in worship we are reminded of that day when Jesus’
face “shone like the sun’ and that must have been an awesome experience but it
is equally awesome to see any face shine! --- because it has been in presence
of God or been touched by a love so tender and tough or actually accomplishes
what God has really intended.
Paul does such a wonderful job at holding out the challenge--- that in
Christ we see the full glory of God, unveiled, and Paul argues that because of
Christ, glory is ours too. The light that offers hope in the
lives of those who believe. God desires to take our faces, the exposed
and memorable parts of our bodies and use them to reflect divine goodness.
He writes: “And we all, with
unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his
likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who
is the spirit.” (2 Cor. 3: 18)
So this morning, let us see the Lord’s shining face and see Him only
and with faces that shine, may we show that we believe and that the joy therein
is the “infallible sign of the presence of God.
Amen