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The Transfiguration of Christ

Say, Thanks for sending me Father Michaels's sermon for the week - the second Sunday of Lent on the gospel reading from Matthew 17:1-9 on the Transfiguration of Christ: http://www.michaelckw.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/peeling-away-veil-of-darkness.html

I am almost at one i.e. 'in the same vein' with Father Michael today. It is all summarised in the following passage of his "The Transfiguration of our Saviour revealed his true identity to us as the Beloved Son of God, Light from Light, True God from True God. But this momentous event reveals something more! It reveals what is to become of us. The Transfiguration peels away the seemingly impenetrable veil that separates the world of the Invisible from our realm of the Visible." But rather than his conclusion that it 'reveals what is to become of us', the Transfiguration of Christ reveals what we will return to, as in the returning home of the the Lost Prodigal Son! The Transfiguration has the purpose of revealing the 'invisible' that is the 'spirit' that we are in 'eternity' in contrast to the 'visible' which is the human body that we are in 'mortality'! The revelation is also of us as 'spirit sons of God', as in light from Light, as in true 'god' from True God. In worldly parochial terms - like Father, like son! The Transfiguration is not really a transfiguration at all but just so called a transfiguration. It is like a transformation but it is not a transformation. It is simply beyond human conception and conceivability. If we were the holy threesome of Christ and Moses and Elijah, looking through their 'spiritual eyes' what or how would they perceive the foursome down on Earth of - Jesus, Peter, James and John as? What would Christ perceive Jesus as? This is beyond worldly understanding unless we are cross-dimensional or should that be transcendental dimensional. How do you transcend or cross from an eternal realm to a temporal realm in terms of perception and understanding or vice-versa? How does the eternal perceive the mortal and vice-versa? One might say that Jesus is an incarnation of Christ or an incarnate of Christ, but even this description is inaccurate. So, what we perceive to be 'incarnation' or 'reincarnation' is not incarnation but only so called incarnation or 'reincarnation' out of practical convenience and expediency, in a situation that is beyond human language or understanding. Therefore, that part about Moses and Elijah being pictured or portrayed in the Transfiguration is no more than to show us that they both (past mortals) are already there - in the kingdom of God, in the 'spirit'! It is only a revelation to us in a 'figurative' sense! In a sense, it allows us to 'figure' out what our 'eternal' spirit being is, before the beginning of time, what it is like; and yet at the same time, it is beyond human 'figuration'! In Jesus' own words, he referred to the 'reincarnation' of Elijah as John the Baptist in Matthew 17:10-13 - '10 And the disciples put this question to him, 'Why then do the scribes say that Elijahmust come first?' 11 He replied, 'Elijah is indeed coming, and he will set everything right again; 12 however, I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him but treated him as they pleased; and the Son of man will suffer similarly at their hands.' 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking of John the Baptist.' Yet this is not a 'reincarnation' of Elijah as John the Baptist as such, but is only conveniently described 'figuratively' as a 'reincarnation'! For, when John the Baptist was asked whether he was Elijah, he said the following in John 1:19-23 - '19 This was the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites fromJerusalem

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to ask him, 'Who are you?' 20 He declared, he did not deny but declared, 'I am not the Christ.' 21 So they asked, 'Then are you Elijah?' He replied, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' He answered, 'No.' 22 So they said to him, 'Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?' 23 So he said, 'I am, as Isaiah prophesied: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord. Make his paths straight!' ' From his perception as John the Baptist, he was not Elijah! But Jesus cannot tell a lie! So, it might be a 'reincarnation' from Jesus' point of view or perception but not from John the Baptist's point of view or perception! An elephant, a dung beetle and a butterfly would all have a different personal perception of what a pat of cow-dung is! One man's food is another man's poison! Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! Ponder on that, and you will get the picture. This 'matrix' of parallel dimensions of different levels or time frames, of Christ in the Spirit in Heaven at the same time that he is Jesus as Son of Man on Earth; of Elijah in the spirit in Heaven at the same time that he is John the Baptist on Earth, is incomprehensible in worldly terms! But in spiritual terms we must spiritually 'see' through our worldly 'blindness', so that we might be saved in the 'spirit'. That is what spiritual salvation is about! We have to 'let go' of our worldly being, we have to cease being the Lost Prodigal Son in the Hotel California of Sin City, we have to stop being lost in enthralment of our false worldly self-ego and our self-righteousness, we have to ascend and get off Jacob's Ladder! We have to 'transfigure' ourselves in the 'spirit'! The morale of what I am saying is that we will never see the 'spirit son of God' in us, no matter how much we appreciate what Father Michael has written so profoundly and beautifully unless we are 'baptised in the spirit'! That is what 'light from Light' means! Loving God the Spirit Father is about being a filial pious spirit son of God. We will not find peace on Earth as mortal beings, if we do not first find peace within ourselves. Transfiguration in the 'spirit' is like that! Only our 'spirit' can set us free! And this is what St. Paul meant when he said in the 2nd Reading from 2 Timothy 1:8-10 - 'This grace (our spirit son of God) had already been granted to us, in Christ Jesus, before the beginning of time, but it has only been revealed by the Appearing of our saviour Christ Jesus.' Until we are baptised in the spirit in us, until we are dead to the son of man in us, until God finds us from our 'lostness', and say 'you are my son, the beloved, (just as he said to Christ at the Transfiguration), the Lost Prodigal Son come home, enjoy my favour, I am throwing a welcome home party for you, who was 'lost' but is now 'found' ', how can we be true Christians, how can we truly tell others of our 'vision', just as Jesus said to Peter, James and John, after the Transfiguration? We are Christians individually not by choice, not by profession, not by joining the madding crowd, not by chance, and certainly not through being a worldly wise being. We are Christians through the yearning faith of the 'spirit' within us wanting to be 'free' from the exile of Adam, to repent and redeem ourselves of the Original Sin of separation from God, by going home to the Father. This is what Amazing Grace is - the journey home of the Lost Prodigal Son - that we have an eternal home to go to called Heaven - where we are no longer lost, no longer wayward! Love and God Bless! Chuan 16/3/14

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