Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

© 2024, Dr. Tamilio

I am currently rewatching the documentary Surviving Death on Netflix.  It is a provocative, six-part look into life after death.  It examines near-death experiences, mediums, reincarnation, and those who have passed on communicating to us from beyond the grave.  Parts of this series are gripping; parts will make you say, “This is hogwash.”  A few years ago, we spent one of our 6-week Bible study sessions discussing near-death experiences, particularly the one recounted in the book Proof of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander.  If you ever read that book, you know that Dr. Alexander (a celebrated neurosurgeon) describes his own near-death experience in November 2008 caused by bacterial meningitis.  One of the things that Dr. Alexander emphasizes is that human language cannot possibly encapsulate what he saw, heard, and felt when he was basically dead.  He describes colors, for example, as being far richer than any colors we see on this plane of existence.  The angel that guided him through this experience communicates with him by thought as opposed to speech.  How can Dr. Alexander describe that to someone else so that he or she fully understands his incomparable experience?  He can’t.  Words fail.  He tries, confessing that he will spend the rest of his life trying to find the words to give people a glimpse of what he witnessed.

Much of what we call “sacred” or “divine” works that way.  You have to experience God to know God.  God is not some hypothesis, postulation, or theorem you learn by reading about Him.  Yes, reading helps, especially the Bible, but who or what God is and how you envision God goes beyond even the Scriptures.  Words, even God’s Word, does not fully encapsulate God.  God transcends language and thought.  What we end up having to use are metaphors.  We can try to describe the characteristics of God: for example, God is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good, and such.  Or we can use Apophatic theology, which seeks to describe God by describing what God is not.  This is sometimes referred to as negative theology.

This only proves the point.  Trying to describe God is virtually impossible.  Did not God tell Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live”?  But there are ways that we can catch a glimpse and come to some understandings, however slight, of the Imago Dei (the image of God).

I am currently writing a lengthy article in which I argue that surrealism may provide us with the best way of imaging God, because God goes far beyond logical, human understanding.  Although many see surrealist art as bizarre, its effect lies in the feelings it invokes in the viewer.  So, you may not understand a painting by Salvadore Dalí, for example, but the feelings you experience while viewing it are both real and revelatory.  They give you insight into what the artist is trying to convey.  Today’s reading from Mark is a perfect example of this.

Here we have the story of the Transfiguration.  Accounts of the Transfiguration appear in the other two synoptic Gospels: Matthew and Luke.  Jesus metamorphosizes in front of his inner circle of disciples: Peter, James, and John.  Luke writes, “the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white” (9:29).  Matthew says that “his face shone like the sun” (17:2).  Mark says that Jesus’ “clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them” (9:3).  Among its many meanings, look at what is happening here.  God appears in a semi-visual form — his most dramatic appearance in the New Testament other than the Book of Revelation.  M. Eugene Boring reminds us that the term “’ Transfigured’…literally [means] ‘metamorphosed.’”[1]  Essentially, that is what happens in this passage.

But notice something.  The transformation that occurs is glorious.  Jesus’ face radiates.  His clothes become whiter than anything they’ve ever seen.  They aren’t terrified.  They don’t run away.  They want to stay there and bask in the glory they see.  Peter even says, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.  Let us put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  Many sermons (even ones I have preached in the past) focus on the fact that the disciples do not want to descend the mountain.  They want to stay there and bask in God’s glory forever.  Who wouldn’t!  But they must descend; they must go into the word and continue the ministry of Jesus Christ.  But let’s stick with what they see for a moment.

What they see defies logic.  It is surreal.  However, it evokes feelings unlike any that these three disciples have ever had.  This is similar to what Eben Alexander claims: there are no words to explain the experience.  It is beyond language, thought, experience, and even imagination — at least our typical imagination.  This is where the surreal comes into play.

Lately, when I pray, I do not come to God with a to-do list.  You know, “These are the people I want you to heal, O God.  This is what I want the outcome of my efforts to look like, O Lord.”  Not that such prayers are wrong or inappropriate, but, lately, I haven’t been “saying” anything.  I have tried to clear my mind and to be open to what God is going to say or reveal to me.  Some say that this is more akin to meditation than prayer.  Either way, being open to God and what he might say means you cannot have any preconceived notions of what that will be, or even what God will be like.  Try it sometime.  Pay close attention to what you feel, what you see, and even what you hear.  Maybe you’ll get a message that is as clear as day.  More likely than not, though, your mind will be flooded with all kinds of ideas, colors, shapes, and perceptions.  Your heart will experience a variety of emotions.  What you experience may make total sense.  It may also leave you utterly confused, at least initially.

The point is, you cannot control God or the way that God will speak to you.  It probably will not be in some well-crafted, logical language.  It will be more visceral.  It will evoke all sorts of feelings in you as opposed to just thoughts.  Again, God is beyond all human constructs, including language and even reason.  Let it wash over you.  Let it consume you.  How you end up feeling will bring you closer to the sacred than simply understanding what you experience.  I have come to truly believe this.  You probably won’t understand such an encounter with God — at least not at first.

Peter, James, and John did not know what they would encounter when they climbed that mountain that day.  Scripture cannot adequately describe it because there are no words.  However, just as Jesus was transfigured before them, they, in turn, were transformed.  Allow yourselves to be transformed.  Allow God to enter your life in surreal ways to give you something greater than reality, something that lies in the realm of the spiritual, something that conveys the deeper beauty, the surrounding presence, and the indescribable love of a Triune God that transcends all bounds.  Let it transform you — your heart, your mind, and your spirit.  Let it lead you into true reality, an abundant reality.

Try it.  You won’t be able to describe it, but you’ll know it is real.  In fact, nothing else will come close to it.  Amen.

[1] M. Eugene Boring, “Matthew,” from The New Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes, vol. 8 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 363.