I began this series of posts with a post on The Transfiguration of Jesus, a one- time event found in the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus was seen in a state of glory with Moses and Elijah. The Transfiguration of Jesus is about seeing Jesus in a new light. Since I have been defining transfiguration as an evolutionary process in which a person becomes a whole being, his or her true self, the question becomes whether Jesus underwent such a transfiguration as has been described in these posts on the mystic journey.
Ironically, it is difficult to know the human Jesus as a Christian. There is so much belief invested in beliefs about Jesus that his humanity is all but lost. For example, what is a perfect person, if not a perfectly flawed person? What could a sinless person know of sin's effects on other humans?
Yes, there is much theological speculation as to the who, the what, the how, and the why of Jesus, and much of that is expressed in mythic terms throughout the canonical gospels. Understanding that, however, can lend itself to understanding Jesus's mystic journey as expressed by early Christians.
EMMANUEL
Jesus is given a transfigurative name change before he was even conceived, Emmanuel - God with us. The mythic encounter between Jesus's mother, Mary, and the archangel, Gabriel, is to ensure that the reader of Luke's gospel understands Jesus's divine and human nature. In Matthew's mythic account, we are given the same message from Joseph's perspective with the added dimension of Jesus being from the royal lineage of David as underscored by the tale of the three wise men.
The Gospel of Mark begins Jesus's transfiguration at his baptism by John the Baptist with God naming Jesus his Son. The Gospel of John casts all of these events as the divine Christ, the Word by which everything came into being - The Word made flesh and dwelling among us - Emmanuel.
The Synoptic Gospels hint of Jesus transfiguring into his divine persona by virtue of his baptism which led Jesus into the familiar turf of what I have been terming as Pause; his forty days in the wilderness. While Jesus meets John the Baptist in the Gospel of John, he is not baptized by him nor is he sent into the wilderness. There is no need, since in John Jesus's transfiguration is about taking on our humanity, our flesh. Subsequently, there is no Transfiguration of Jesus story told in John. In John, Jesus becomes one of us for the sole purpose of being what John the Baptist described as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." As such, it is easier to trace Jesus's mystic journey in the synoptic gospels than in John.
PAUSING IN THE WILDERNESS
Most scholars believe that Jesus was in his early thirties when he started his ministry. Apart from very sparse information about Jesus's early childhood found in Matthew and Luke, we virtually know nothing of Jesus before his ministry. I would suggest that Jesus's sojourn in the wilderness is similar to Israelites' and Elijah's sojourn there. It covers his initial formation into his transfigurative identity, Emmanuel.
The wilderness is treated in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as a metaphor for what I have been describing as Pause in the mystic journey; a period of formation consisting of an event or events which precede and prepare a person for transfiguration. Jesus's temptation in the wilderness impresses me as symbolic event in which he confronts the demons of his life; the temptations, lusts and desires that we all encounter and have to deal with through much of our lives. It's a daily struggle that the Gospel writers compact into one event.
In daily life, I suspect that Jesus grew up as normal human, dealing with everything that growing up entails - failures, successes, testing the limits, learning to respect authority, etc. I don't doubt that Jesus was an exceptionally bright and extremely intuitive person, but no human is just that. Even the brightest and the most intuitive, if honest, will admit to failure and failings.
The good and the bad in our lives make us who we are, and Jesus, being human, could not have been an exception to that rule, no matter how his followers and the early church fathers wanted him to be. Gaining control of personal temptation meant he was vulnerable to temptation and was indeed tempted. One cannot recognize the trap of temptation without having fallen into it on more than one occasion.
His moment in the "wilderness," however, was only one part of Pause in Jesus's life. The other part involved kenosis, the emptying self of selfishness. Kenosis can only occur when one's personal faith and integrity is sufficient enough to be open to the other, and Jesus’s baptism by John was his first recorded step into the waters of kenosis, his first step into recognizing and realizing who we humans truly are; children of God.
In this sense, Jesus's entire ministry reflects a state of Pause. He encounters many people in diverse situations that shaped his perspective of the world. His encounters with the sick, the marginalized, the resident alien, and the ultra-religious tested and strengthened his integrity and his faith in the God he claimed not only as his Father but also as our Father. All life is formative. Where there is breath, there is, at the very least, the potential for formation and growth.
MOMENTS THAT GAVE JESUS PAUSE
The mystical journey is an evolutionary experience. We evolve as we transfigure.
In observing the story of Jesus's journey, we encounter not just one transfiguration but several moments that can be described as transfigurative; moments which give Jesus pause and broadened his perspective.
Three stories about Jesus being given pause by foreigners come to mind: the story of the centurion,[1] the story of the Syrophoenician woman,[2] and the story of the ten lepers.[3] There are others, but these three openly display moments that gave Jesus pause; that transfigured his perspective of the world; that led him to see the bigger picture of God's love expressed in the diversity of humanity.
In all three of these stories, we see the link between faith and integrity. Faith allows our true, our whole selves; our integrity to emerge as seen in the story of the Roman centurion's love for his slave that allowed him to approach Jesus at the risk of rejection - his humble integrity in expressing faith that if Jesus said his slave would be healed, it would be done, in the story of the Syrophoenician woman standing up to Jesus's expected rebuke to say that dogs eat the crumbs off their masters' table – expressing a faith that not only withstood being insulted but also demonstrated an integrity that sliced through it in order to see her daughter healed, and the Samaritan leper who had the integrity of his faith to express heartfelt gratitude for being healed. These were eye opening moments for Jesus that gave him pause; that amazed him and transfigured his view of humanity.
FAITH, INTEGRITY, AND THE CROSS
We are not born with faith and integrity. We are born with its potential. Faith and integrity evolve as we encounter and meet the challenges life brings. This is true for every human, and it was true for Jesus also. By the time of Jesus's short ministry the readers of the gospels can assume that Jesus had great faith and integrity. One could say that Jesus displayed a purity that bordered on profanity; that his disciples saw in his ready acceptance of the marginalized the divinity they claimed proved him to be God's Son, while his detractors saw a blasphemer, who consistently violated the Sabbath, and an agent of the devil, by his willful association with who they considered the impure elements of humanity.
For me the most poignant moment of Jesus's tale is when he is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is the most significant moment of Pause in Jesus's journey. Like Jacob, Jesus finds himself alone at a defining crossroad that is a struggle with his self. The gospels only hint at this by their portraying him in a state of anguished sweat.
The question for Jesus was no longer "Who do people say that I am," but rather it became a personal question, "Who am I?" The reason for his anguish is that Jesus was faced with a choice. Jesus could have avoided capture. He could have fled Jerusalem under the cover of darkness or he could have stayed and face his enemies, let go of the question and let God provide the answer, "Not my will but yours."
"Not my will but yours" had been Jesus's mantra all along as exhibited in his ministry. I imagine him saying this every time he went off by himself to pray. Common Christian theology has interpreted this mantra as signifying that God wanted Jesus to sacrifice himself on the cross in order to forgive the sins of the world because Jesus ends up being crucified. It stands; therefore, that his death must have been God's will.
I see another way to interpret these events; one that does not involve God willing Jesus to die. Death is a fact of life including Jesus's life. The statement, "Not my will, but yours" is an expression of Jesus's faith and integrity; a faith and integrity that allows for kenosis, an emptying of self to allow the other access. What it does for Jesus is to stay put, be who he is, and, like Jacob, meet what comes. To do otherwise would have undermined his integrity and faith: How could he love his enemies, if he ran from them? How could he risk losing his life in order to save it?
The choice was made when he turned to face his enemies and asked them, "Who do you seek?" John 18.
Faith and integrity would lead Jesus to a cross.
TRANSFIGURING THE WORLD
"Who do you seek?"
When left by themselves these words, within the context they were said, take on a deeper meaning. Indeed, the sub textual question could be worded as, "What are you seeking?" Paradoxically, what Jesus's detractors were ultimately looking for - an end to the chaos of trying to maintain their traditions - could be found in who they were looking for. The synoptic gospels present this paradox differently; they have Jesus asking, "Have you come with clubs and swords as if I were a bandit?" [Mark 14] In other words, what were they seeking?
For the most part, Jesus does not offer a defense for the offenses he was accused of. When they accuse him of blasphemy; of intimately identifying himself with God as God's Son (The Messiah), Jesus does not deny it.
How could he deny it? He saw God as his Father, indeed, saw God as the Father of us all. If that made him the Messiah, then he was Messiah.
Perception and perspective are rarely changed by words alone. Experience is the greatest catalyst for how we see and understand our world. The experience of witnessing the horrible suffering and execution of Jesus as a means of maintaining religious and civil order ironically became the epitome of a civil religion in a state of chaos; a religion so wrapped in fear and self-preservation that it could not perceive, much less fathom, the pure humanity of Jesus's teachings that were rooted in its own scriptures. The paradox of Jesus's death is that his words, his teachings take on life - come alive.
Jesus's excruciating death is magnified by the spiritual silence he experienced. Life was not only leaving him, but he felt abandoned by God. "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani," Jesus cried out.
Where was God? Why was his life ending this way? This shouldn't be happening, but it was.
Those standing near the cross asked if he is calling to Elijah.[4] Jesus was not calling for Elijah, but rather, whether consciously or not, Jesus was recalling Elijah's wilderness experience after being drained of his will to go on.
Like Elijah, Jesus experiences in the silence God's most profound presence. In the silence that was embracing him, Jesus looked on this world, and saw it through the eyes of silence, the eyes of God.
"Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing."
With those words, Jesus transfigured our world. We are offered a totally different perspective of it and the depth of God's love for it because of this act of forgiveness. In the end, Jesus enters that silence as we all must for it is the destination of our journey on earth.
TRANSFIGURING JESUS
Mystically speaking, this life is not an end in itself but rather a Pause in the mystic journey that must come to an end. Transfiguration is at the end of every Pause. In Jesus's tale, we witness this transfiguration as the resurrection.
Words fall short in describing this awareness - this awakening that Jesus's disciples experienced at the time. The empty tomb and the mysterious appearances of Jesus are so real that they are claimed to be physical proof of Jesus being alive as the writers of the Gospel of John try to depict, but Jesus moved on, as he must, as we must. This fact is expressed in story of Jesus's ascension.
What remains of Jesus in our pause on our mystical journey, this life, is the essence of Jesus expressed in his teachings - the teachings that underscored we are all on the same journey as the children of God. As mentioned above, in his death, Jesus's teachings took on life.
The apostle Paul, who experienced Jesus in a vision, transfigured the meaning of Jesus's death and resurrection as a cosmic event we're all involved in. For Paul, Jesus is the Christ, a term he redefines as having cosmic implications that transfigures the Church as the physical Body of Christ on earth.
Paul provides what is perhaps the best explanation of the resurrection in his first letter to the Corinthians.[5] There he clearly associates faith and integrity as hinging on Christ's resurrection: "If Christ is not raised, our preaching is nothing, and your faith is vain." He later differentiates that Christ was sowed a physical body and raised a spiritual body. This is a far cry from the claim that Jesus was physically raised from the dead. Paul didn't see it that way because Paul didn’t experience the risen Christ that way.
For Paul, the spiritual is far more real than the physical - a truth that underscores the mystical journey we are on.
* * * * * * * * * *
In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bossom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,
While God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
Julia W. Howe
Until next time, stay faithful
