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| The Transfiguration, by Jyrki Pouta, a teacher from Vaajakoski |
At some point in our lives we may have wondered what it would be like to actually meet God. You know, like without having to go through religion or Church, but just to meet God straight up. What would God look like? If I knew that I was going to meet God, should I dress up in my best clothes? Or should I just go in my ordinary work-clothes. Or should I go to the shops to get some nice biscuits or cakes or something special for God?
The disciples don't know that they are going to meet God
As they began to follow Jesus up the mountain, Peter, James and John did not have a clue that they were going to meet God. Neither did they know that they were going to see Moses and Elijah. They were caught off-guard. As Jesus clothes become gloriously and dazzlingly white, they remain in the shabby clothes that they have just climbed a mountain in! They're sweating, tired, red in the face, out of breath.
Meeting God is a very confusing experience
For Peter, James and John, meeting God is very confusing. They haven't a clue what is going on at all. And if we think we have a clue, then we've made the first classic mistake of a proud disciple. To be a humble disciple of Jesus is to recognise that we haven't got a clue what's going on. As God tells us who Jesus really is from the cloud, we haven't a clue what that really means in our lives.
Meeting God is the most real experience of our lives
If we were going to meet God today, we wouldn't have a clue that it was about to happen. But, if it happened it would cut to the chase very quickly. All the pretence of our lives would fall away to the nothingness that it really is. And, the one thing that really matters, God, would come sharply into focus: 'This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.' If we met God today we would have no problem listening to him. But the experience would leave us with palpitations, confusion, bewilderment. We might have to try to remember what the experience was like in order to really hear what God said to us.
We meet God especially in the poorest of the poor
Travelling out to Uganda in January with Trocaire, I didn't wear my Sunday best. I was wearing jeans and T-Shirts, and an old hat to shield my eyes from the sun. But there, I was reminded time and again by the confusing, bewildering experience of meeting people who had had everything violently taken from them, that I was meeting Jesus in them. I wasn't dressed like I would be for a job interview, but sweaty from the travel, covered in the dirt of the dust from the road, and meeting people in the dignity of their homes.
Knowing the one thing necessary puts everything in perspective
When we encounter God it leaves us bewildered. It turns our world upside-down. Everything we thought that we knew suddenly is turned on its head. But, the priorities of our lives are put in the proper order. God first, people second, everything else third. We can give away everything we own when people are more important than things.
Credit to Rev Patrick Comerford for the image and information. See his blog at revpatrickcomerford.blogspot.com
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