We certainly know God is not stuck in one place. We know there’s no one designated site to worship God. Yet, this isn’t the case for both Jews and Samaritans. A major disagreement between them is over where God chose the dwelling site. The question at stake is “Where is God to be worshiped?” For Samaritans, it’s Mt. Gerizim whereas for Jews it’s Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. So, the meat of this quite feisty, contentious, and even humorous encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in the lesson today centers around where God is and how God is worshiped according to Jesus.
God’s presence is God’s kingdom as we heard from last Sunday’s lesson in which we were introduced to another encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus. Jesus in today’s lesson goes further than the location of God as he denies both Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Zion as God’s dwelling place and thus frees God from any limitation created by humans. No one person or site owns God. No monopoly on God. As God is boundless, our worship of God can become boundless. God can be present and worshiped anywhere anytime. Unlocking God may help Jesus to redefine God as the Spirit or the Breath. This may be the reason why those who see the presence of God and live in the kingdom of God can and should be born of the Breath. What used to be from dust to dust is now from breath to breath. Recollect the moment when the risen Christ breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22) Receive the Breath of God! How are we then to worship God who is the Breath? Let me rephrase this question. How are we to live with God who is the Breath so that God’s presence is real in our lives, not just in one specific place? Jesus tells the Samaritan woman, “...those who worship him [God] must worship in spirit and truth.” What does worshiping God in spirit and truth look like? This sounds like an instruction for proper worship yet is difficult to decipher what it actually means. What do “spirit and truth” mean? Let’s keep in mind that these are the words translated into English from Greek. “Spirit” is from pneuma, πνεύματι, and “truth” is from aletheia, ἀλήθεια. “Pneuma” can be translated as breath or wind. For our case, let’s go with “breath.” For aletheia, we take a literal approach. To translate it as truth is an interpreted choice because there’s no English word that means the same as aletheia. Its literal meaning is “un-forgetting” as a faculty of memory which is not merely remembering but intentionally holding something in mind and awakening to that which one cares the most. With this newly adopted translation approach, Jesus’ instruction of boundless worship based on the boundless presence of God becomes like this: “...those who worship God must worship in breath and unforgetting.” Let’s polish it a bit and simplify it: “Worship God through your breath with unforgetfulness.” In this approach, what matters is two-fold: 1) paying attention to the breath as the Breath of God coming in, which is how God is present bodily, and 2) discerning what to un-forget. The first one is about changing our perception of breathing, not merely as the air coming in and out of the lungs but the Breath of God communing with us and giving us life. In both physiological and spiritual senses, every cell of the body is sustained by the breath. The second principle of worship requires discernment. The act of un-forgetting is to discern what to keep in mind, what to recall, and remember intentionally. We recollect from the past skillful and unskillful actions to act in the present skillfully. While using our own breath as an anchor to be present to God’s presence, our act of worship which is beyond time and space is to continue skillful actions and avoid unskillful ones. This may be what St. Paul means by “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17) and “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) In this worship of God through breath with unforgetfulness, we live in the kingdom of God where all become anointed like the risen Christ. May we un-forget our breath through which God invites us to God’s presence and kingdom. According to the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus in the gospel lesson today, the mystery of being born again seems to be decoded! Look, being born again is not a physiological event so no mother should suffer for 9 months. It’s rather simple that one is to be born from above, born of the Spirit. Wait, didn’t we just say the mystery of being born again is decoded? What does being born from above or born of the Spirit mean? Jesus’ response to Nicodemus’ question complicates the issue more. It may be worse that this being born again becomes more confusing and seems to go nowhere.
But don’t rush yourself to be disappointed with Jesus. He’s a good friend! He not only gives a fantastic clue to this mystery of being born again but also unpacks more about his gospel message about the kingdom of God. For these two reasons, today’s gospel lesson is an excellent guideline to deepen our spiritual practice of contemplation. (You might be saying, “This guy again talks about meditation!”) Please kindly bear with me and hear me out! Let’s talk about Jesus’ clue to decipher the mystery or myth (?!) of being born again. His answer to this subject matter is straightforward. To be born again is to be born from above and of the Spirit. Our question is then what it means to be born from above or born of the Spirit. This expression or phenomenon of being born from above becomes a problem when we cannot answer for ourselves and others when asked and also when we don’t know what that really is. When we aren’t so certain about whether we’re born of the Spirit or not, how can we share and live the gospel of Jesus? You can’t without having a first-hand experience for yourself. But again, don’t rush to be disappointed with yourself. You got me. I can be a good friend at times! I can help you remind you of your own experience of being born from above with the clue our wonderful friend Jesus provides in the gospel lesson. But I need to retranslate this clue for us to have a better understanding of what he means by being born of the Spirit. Let’s look at John 3:8: “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” I will retranslate this in a much more literal way: “The Spirit breathes where she wants, and you hear the voice of hers, but you do not know where she comes from and where she goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The Spirit breathes into you which is where she wants. You can listen to the breath that is coming in and going out though you have no idea where she originates. This is the breath that the Spirit is breathing into you. Close your eyes right now and listen to the sound of the breath. Listen again until that mere sound of your breath becomes the voice of the Spirit. To listen well to that very silent voice, it’s always good to find a quiet place. The more you try to pay attention and listen more to the voice of the Spirit, the more you become alert and heedful of the presence of God. Being fully mindful of the breath that the Spirit is breathing into you is to be born of the Spirit. Jesus is indeed right to say no one can see or enter the kingdom of God unless one is born of the Spirit. We enter into the presence of God as we become aware of the breath of God who is entering us. The presence of God enters us through our breath. Breath is not the air simply inhaling and exhaling but the presence of God breathing in and out. Those who are aware of the breath energy of the Spirit are truly born from above, born of the Spirit. This process of listening to the sound also purifies our unskillful intentions and desires that lead to unskillful actions that harm ourselves and others or at least get in the way of true happiness and joy in life. We want to call these unskillful intentions and desires those being born of the flesh while those skillful intentions and desires are born of the Spirit. At this point, I want to ask you if you are certain that you’re born of the Spirit. Are you born from above? If you’re still not confident to say yes, I will say it on your behalf and take your “yes” from me when you’re ready. But for you to take it back, you will need to sit down in quietude and try to experience it yourself. As you try, may the breath of the Spirit that enters into your heart be experienced as the love that God has shown the world through Jesus’ teaching and wisdom. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Our Christian practice of worshiping Jesus is not about deifying the person from Nazareth. (If so, isn’t that against the second commandment of not making any idol?) Worship in its etymological sense is to acknowledge worth. By worshiping Jesus, we Christians mean to recognize the worth of Jesus and his ministry which compels us to follow his way of life through the crucifixion to the resurrection. We believe that this life of following the way of love according to the teachings of Jesus, deeply rooted in the inner kingdom of God, is worthy in and of itself. Think of why we are called Christians. Christians are the ones who want to become like Christ. Christians are Christ-like.
In this respect, the glorious event of transfiguration depicted in the gospel lesson today is not just about Jesus. We are also invited to envision ourselves being transfigured. As Jesus is transfigured, you are to be transfigured. As his face shines like the sun and his clothes become dazzling white, your face shines like the sun and your clothes become dazzling white. In the place of Jesus, we stand with Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt, and also with Elijah who was the only figure ascending to heaven alive. Through Jesus, we experience freedom from spiritual, mental, and material enslavement as well as the ascension of the human mind by allowing the Holy Spirit to breathe Heaven itself into the body. Then, we hear the voice from the cloud of unknowing, “You are my child, the Beloved; with you, I am well pleased…” The transfiguration event takes us back to the baptism of Jesus in which we hear the same voice declaring, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) Transfiguration and baptism point to the same thing: transformation. As baptism signals transformation that is to develop through one’s life with love as a means to that end, transfiguration reinforces the same task we choose to pursue. Transformation is God’s vision personally taking place in us. What kind of transformation are we then talking about? Is this some kind of supernatural transformation? Is it realizable? Is God’s vision something that remains in a heavenly realm? Is it more like an empty slogan? When Peter, James, and John become disoriented by the scene of the transfigured Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah and hearing the voice from heaven, Jesus comes and “touches” them. This touch grounds them back to the earth, back to their reality. Don’t gaze upon the heavenly realm but keep their feet on the ground. The transfigured Jesus is not untouchable. Being transfigured is not to be taken metaphorically in an abstract sense. It ought to be real and concrete, which is not limited to Jesus himself but is open to all. For this reason, I would like us to look at the Greek term, “metamorphosis,” which is translated as transfiguration. Metamorphosis, according to the dictionary definition, is “the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages.” It’s usually applied to an insect or amphibian. For us human beings, this metamorphosis is a maturing process of spiritual life. As aging makes us more aware of the force of gravity that is pulling down all our muscles with its acceleration of 9.8 m/s^2, maturing is to deepen a sense of spiritual gravitas. This spiritual deepening process of metamorphosis is bodily. It works better with aging. As we notice our body becoming closer to the force of gravity, despite the fact that our culture is anti-aging, we gracefully sit in it. There comes a sense of humility, so human and humus. Thus, the divine mystery of human life is fully enacted in us. Parker Palmer shares his wisdom on aging: “Age brings diminishments, but more than a few come with benefits. I’ve lost the capacity for multitasking, but I’ve rediscovered the joy of doing one thing at a time. My thinking has slowed a bit, but experience as made it deeper and richer. I’m done with big and complex projects, but more aware of the loveliness of simple things: a talk with a friend, a walk in the woods, sunsets and sunrises, a night of good sleep.” (Parker Palmer, On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old) Don’t look up to the sky for your transformation. Look down within. Metamorphosis begins with our aging body. Slow reaction time creates a gap to discern what actions can be skillful or not and to act accordingly. Contemplation as a practical tool to deepen our transfiguration process helps us see this gap more clearly. The more we practice, the clearer we see the gap, in which we gain wisdom and insight from God. It’s never too late to get on this maturing process. Get on it here and now with your body. You’re already being transfigured with the help of the Holy Spirit. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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