Seeing things from the other side

Real seeing - Jupiter and Saturn

I remember the first time I looked through my telescope at two of the great planets. Jupiter and Saturn were both in the sky on a dark, really clear night. Even with the naked eye, you could pick them out. They were bright - not twinkling, like the stars around them, steady points of light in the black sky. But through even quite a small telescope they were transformed.

With Saturn, I couldn’t see any real details, but the shape was clear - the shape of the incredible rings around the planet. Not just a point of light, not even just a circular dot - and with Jupiter I could see just a bit of the colours of the clouds on its surface, and the bright dots of some of its many moons going round it. Now of course I’ve seen photos of both those planets many times, with far more detail than I could see through my little telescope. But this was different. This was light coming straight from planets hundreds of millions of miles away, right into my eyes. This was real in a way that even the best high-resolution photos aren’t. This changed how I’ve seen those two little dots in the sky ever since.

Transfiguration

That day on the mountain, Peter, James and John saw Jesus in a way they’d never seen him before. Not only did they see him up there alongside two great heroes of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah, they saw him outshining them. He was dazzling white, radiant in glory.

It was overwhelming. They didn’t know what to make of it at the time. Peter, like always, tried to do something. He wanted to build shelters, dwellings for these three great figures, to capture and continue the moment. Mark seems to suggest that it was just the first thing that came into his head; ‘He did not know what to say, for they were terrified’. Then a cloud came over them, and they heard the Father’s voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’

Then it was over; and as their vision recovered from the blinding light they saw Jesus, just as he’d been before they went up the mountain. And he told them to keep this to themselves. For now, at least.

Seeing from Heaven’s side

So what actually happened? What had they seen?

Well, there’s been a lot of debate down the centuries about exactly what the significance of that moment was. There are many theories, but my instinct is this. On that mountaintop, Jesus’ closest friends were given a glimpse of how Jesus looked from a different angle. They knew him well as their friend, their rabbi, the carpenter from Nazareth. But just for an instant they saw him as he looked from heaven’s point of view. From the other side of the line between earth and heaven, blazing with the light of love, the light of holiness, the light of the presence of God. Perhaps when the angels watched the life of Jesus unfolding on earth, they always saw that beacon of light walking, blazing along the roads of Galilee - but to the people Jesus met, the light shone gently in a smile, a healing touch, a forgiving word. Just for an instant, Peter, James and John saw the other side of Jesus. They saw him as God sees him.

God’s angle on those around you

Have you ever looked at people around you and wondered how they look from heaven’s point of view? How does God see your friends, your family - the people who inspire you and the people who annoy you? He sees them with a clarity that we can’t imagine; he knows each of them better than they know themselves. He sees who they truly are. And one thing we know is that he sees them with love, as people made in his own image, with the life he breathed shining at the core, whatever muck and mess has got in the way.

Could you see people from God’s angle? To look for his likeness in them, at least in something about them? To value them, love them - as he does? When someone serves you in the supermarket; when you pick up your child or grandchild from school; in a conversation at work; at home with those nearest to you - ask yourself for a moment, ‘How does God see this person?’ And see how that changes how you feel about them. How you act toward them.

God’s angle on you

And take it a step further. How does God see you?

It’s often said that wisdom comes when we know ourselves. I’d go further, to say that true wisdom comes when we not only know God, but also see ourselves as he sees us. To see ourselves without illusion, without hiding from ourselves, let alone those around us, the bits of ourselves that we don’t like or the bits of ourselves that we do like but want to keep secret. Wisdom brings us to see ourselves with absolute clarity, and to know with the same clarity that we are loved.

That can be a source of great strength and freedom. Because seeing ourselves with absolute honesty and clarity gives us the drive to change, to be the person we want God to see. And seeing ourselves truly as loved gives us the security to change.

A spiritual telescope

So if it takes a telescope to see a couple of dots in the sky as giant planets, how do we see ourselves and one another from a different angle?

Well, first, ask God to show you. It might be easiest to do this first as you look back at the day; perhaps pick one meeting with someone that stands out, and ask God to show you what it looked like from his point of view. Then slowly, without judging yourself or the other person, just replay the scene, watching from God’s angle. See what you see, and how it makes you feel.

And look constantly at Jesus - how he lived, how he treated people, the value he gave them, the time, the love, the acceptance. And ask him to help you to see people as he did. Then it might become easier to treat them as he did.

And don’t forget to look at yourself with the same loving clarity. Ask God to show you yourself as he sees you; and know first and last that you are his child, for whom Jesus gave his life. His love gives you the security to risk getting to know yourself better. And to become, step by step, a better version of yourself.

Here in the city, even with the telescope I can’t see Jupiter and Saturn with the same clarity. But I remember. And when I see them as bright dots in the sky I see them differently to how I did before.

Once you begin to look at people from God’s point of view, you may well find that they never look the same again. Even when you’re looking in the mirror.

Amen.