Context 
A few months ago I wrote a chapter on human rights from a Christian perspective, for a creative interreligious project. There were also contributions from a Jew and a Muslim. What I discovered in the course of my writing was how much Christian reflection on human rights depended on our fundamental understanding that human beings have been created ‘in the image and likeness of God’. It is this that gives us our essential dignity, which in turn is the basis for our intrinsic rights as human beings. The transfiguration of Christ can be understood at many different levels: but certainly in his transfiguration Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is visibly modelling for us the essential nature of humanity as created in the image and for the glory of God. Glimpsing the transfigured Christ offers a reminder of the dignity of all human beings – not just en masse, but each in their unique particularity (the prayer below seeks to capture this idea).
Over the last couple of weeks the ‘other’ (than Brexit!) story that has grabbed the news headlines seems to be that of Shamima Begum (and now her new born son). Some of Shamima’s comments have been unhelpful, but I believe that the attempt to deprive her of her UK nationality is in reality a contravention of her human rights. She too is a unique person created in the image of God, and our Christian tradition requires us to treat her with that dignity.
Reflection
Close reading of Luke’s account of Christ’s transfiguration significantly focuses us on the ‘face’ of Christ. The wonderful book by Anselm Grun: Jesus, the Image of Humanity – Luke’s account, speaks of Luke’s Gospel as follows: ‘In Luke’s stories the face of God shines out on us in the man Jesus. If we look at this picture we will be changed by it. Redemption comes about by reading the story. If I read it with all my senses, if – as Martin Luther puts it – I creep into the text, I will emerge from the text transformed. I have encountered the figure of Jesus, and this now shapes my figure.’ By looking closely at the face of the transfigured Jesus, we ourselves begin to be transformed.
There was an Old Testament tradition that it was too dangerous to look on God – the New Testament however offers us the gift of looking on God in the face of Jesus Christ. Yet the corollary is that by looking we are expressing our willingness to be transformed/transfigured ourselves. 2 Corinthians 3.18 offers an interesting problem of textual interpretation: it is not absolutely clear whether Paul is speaking of us ‘beholding’ or ‘reflecting’ the glory of the Lord. I believe that the ambiguity is deliberate – we can only ‘behold’ if we are willing also to ‘reflect’ and ‘mirror’ to enable the circle of transfiguration to extend ever more widely.
As the lectionary suggests, it is helpful to read the account of Jesus’ transfiguration alongside that of Moses in Exodus 34.29-35. In Exodus 33-34 the theme of ‘face’ is also important. In Exodus 33 Moses has asked (fairly insistently!) that God’s ‘face’ (translated ‘presence’ in the NRSV) should travel with the people. In the next chapter he himself becomes the answer to his own prayer – as his shining face reflects God’s presence. It is a model to hold before our own eyes.
Prayer
The shouts are too loud
they so often deafen my ears.
War, famine, destruction, death –
the sufferings of the world glide past my soul.
I have heard too much to care.
But then you, O God,
you stand in the midst of the world's woe,
and the shapes of those who suffer are no longer faceless,
for you have bequeathed to them your own face,
their pain is etched with the lines of your passion.
And I shall proclaim:
I had heard, but now I see.
The people are too many,
They blur together in my imagination,
Races, colours, faiths and languages -
their shifting kaleidoscope dazzles my vision
I am made giddy by their infinite variety.
But then you, O God,
you are the still point round which all revolves,
in you both light and shadow find an equilibrium:
you paint into life our many-peopled world,
your love refracts us into a rainbow of hope:
And I shall proclaim:
I had heard but now I see.
by Clare Amos, originally published in From Shore To Shore – Liturgies, Litanies and Prayers from around the World, USPG, 2003.
Questions
- What do you think the face of Jesus was like? How would you feel if his face was directly looking at you?
- How important for you is the concept that the dignity of human beings is derived from being created in the image and likeness of God? What implications does this have for how, as Christians, we seek to serve our fellow human beings and for our understanding of current events in society?
All-age activity
The poet George Herbert is celebrated especially on 27 February. Herbert’s wonderful poem, ‘Love bade me welcome’ speaks of our hesitation to look on God due to a sense of unworthiness – and Love’s response. The poem works well presented as a dialogue between two speakers – and ‘semi-acted’.
Young people
Gather together a collection of face and pocket mirrors and arrange the group so that, with the help of the mirrors, the group ‘grows’ by faces being reflected and re-reflected. That is an ‘image’ for how as Christians we are to ‘mirror’ Christ.
After working most recently for the Anglican Communion Office and the World Council of Churches, in her ‘retirement’ Dr Clare Amos is currently Honorary Director of Lay Discipleship in the Anglican Diocese in Europe.
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