Waking Up
The Second Sunday of Lent
Daily Reading: Luke 9:28 – 36
Focus Passage:
Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. (Lk. 9:32)
Eastern Orthodox Christians value this story of Jesus’ transfiguration, noting its central place in the gospel narratives. You can make the case that Jesus spent the first half of his ministry headed toward this mountain, where he “went up” with Peter, John and James. When he came down the mountain, he began the deliberate move toward Jerusalem, betrayal, trial, and crucifixion.
My own spirituality has been shaped by an understanding of the story which comes from the Eastern Orthodox tradition.
This interpretation of the transfiguration says that the real miracle in the story is not that Jesus’ appearance changed and that his clothes became bright; rather, the real miracle in this story is that the disciples “became fully awake” and saw Jesus – finally! – as he really was. For a moment, their eyes were opened to see him as he was all the time.
“When they became fully awake, they saw his glory.” When the disciples woke up, they didn’t see Jesus as they had seen him previously. They fully saw Jesus’ glory, humanity, divinity, and essence.
In other words, the disciples finally glimpsed the inner light that illumined his life 24/7. Previously, though, they had missed it. They had slept through it.
The “sleep” of the disciples, therefore, becomes a metaphor for spiritual drowsiness. It speaks to our inattentiveness, the way we sleep-walk through life, dull and unaware of the things around us and within us which are most real.
Disciples, the very inner circle of Jesus, could live and walk and eat with Jesus, giving him their very lives, and after all those months and years still not notice what was most real about him.
According to the story, Orthodox Christians claim, the spiritual life is about waking up, about seeing what is real, seeing what is at the heart of life, seeing to the inner essence of things, people, and events. We see Jesus in ourselves, in others, and in the created world. We see Jesus “as he is.”
We are all asleep to some degree. The Gospel invites us to wake up, so that the blind see, the lame walk, the lost are found, and the wounded are healed.
We are invited to a deeper level of spiritual awareness, a God-consciousness that transforms our lives and in the process transforms the world.
For Reflection:
In truth, we can’t see what we can’t see. Blindness, in the spiritual world, begets blindness. So we wake up slowly. We begin to see incrementally.
Spiritual practices are the training ground for waking up. Fasting clears space for seeing. Regular silence and solitude give us uncluttered ground to awaken to what is real within us, in others, in the world, and especially about God.
Today give some time to silence or solitude. Or reflect on your Lenten practice of fasting. How is your practice helping you to see now that you are ten days into Lent? What patterns have you seen within yourself since Ash Wednesday? In what ways have you found yourself more perceptive as you have fasted?
Daily Reading: Luke 9:28 – 36
Focus Passage:
Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. (Lk. 9:32)
Eastern Orthodox Christians value this story of Jesus’ transfiguration, noting its central place in the gospel narratives. You can make the case that Jesus spent the first half of his ministry headed toward this mountain, where he “went up” with Peter, John and James. When he came down the mountain, he began the deliberate move toward Jerusalem, betrayal, trial, and crucifixion.
My own spirituality has been shaped by an understanding of the story which comes from the Eastern Orthodox tradition.
This interpretation of the transfiguration says that the real miracle in the story is not that Jesus’ appearance changed and that his clothes became bright; rather, the real miracle in this story is that the disciples “became fully awake” and saw Jesus – finally! – as he really was. For a moment, their eyes were opened to see him as he was all the time.
“When they became fully awake, they saw his glory.” When the disciples woke up, they didn’t see Jesus as they had seen him previously. They fully saw Jesus’ glory, humanity, divinity, and essence.
In other words, the disciples finally glimpsed the inner light that illumined his life 24/7. Previously, though, they had missed it. They had slept through it.
The “sleep” of the disciples, therefore, becomes a metaphor for spiritual drowsiness. It speaks to our inattentiveness, the way we sleep-walk through life, dull and unaware of the things around us and within us which are most real.
Disciples, the very inner circle of Jesus, could live and walk and eat with Jesus, giving him their very lives, and after all those months and years still not notice what was most real about him.
According to the story, Orthodox Christians claim, the spiritual life is about waking up, about seeing what is real, seeing what is at the heart of life, seeing to the inner essence of things, people, and events. We see Jesus in ourselves, in others, and in the created world. We see Jesus “as he is.”
We are all asleep to some degree. The Gospel invites us to wake up, so that the blind see, the lame walk, the lost are found, and the wounded are healed.
We are invited to a deeper level of spiritual awareness, a God-consciousness that transforms our lives and in the process transforms the world.
For Reflection:
In truth, we can’t see what we can’t see. Blindness, in the spiritual world, begets blindness. So we wake up slowly. We begin to see incrementally.
Spiritual practices are the training ground for waking up. Fasting clears space for seeing. Regular silence and solitude give us uncluttered ground to awaken to what is real within us, in others, in the world, and especially about God.
Today give some time to silence or solitude. Or reflect on your Lenten practice of fasting. How is your practice helping you to see now that you are ten days into Lent? What patterns have you seen within yourself since Ash Wednesday? In what ways have you found yourself more perceptive as you have fasted?
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