 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Saturday, August 5, 2023 The Transfiguration tomorrow visit of Fr. Ross Stuckey and Paula   Luke 9:28-36 Now about eight days after Jesus had foretold his death and resurrection, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” – not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silence and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.  The Art of the Transfiguration There are a couple of things that we might notice when we look at religious art across time and culture. First, Jesus is depicted in different ways depending on the artist’s own religious experience and cultural values. And while that disturbs some people, it is actually theologically astute! Jesus, according to Christianity was the “exact image of God” – the “Incarnation.” – or as the hymn says, “God in flesh appearing.” And that suggests that even as we all know Jesus was born in Palestine, a Jewish baby born to Jewish parents, our experience of the risen Lord is mediated by our own race, culture and history. If Jesus was really “one of us,” then in our imaginations, he is also “like” each of us. If it bothers you, consider why most American and western images of Jesus show him as a white man – not a Semite. That has never bothered us. Let’s not be bothered by Black or Native or Asian images of the “Lord in flesh appearing.” Secondly, notice in these pictures two different, sometimes overlapping, depictions of the radiance of his glory at the Transfiguration. One is some version of a star – the other is an oval or a circle, sometimes colored like a rainbow. The Magi are said to follow a “star” which in the culture of the day signified the birth or death of a great person. We see this image again: “Here is greatness, look up!” Also, the circle or the oval, the mandorla, signify completeness: wholeness, totality, the beginning and the end – which is what we say about God. What might that tell us about who the risen Lord Jesus is to us now?   |
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