"JOY OF THE LIGHT", A Christian Contemplation"

JOY OF THE LIGHT
Remove the Cloud of Unbelief

A Commentary by Constance Vanides

"...and (Jesus) was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light." (Matthew 17:2)

Surgery was over. The cloudy lens of my right eye had been painlessly removed. In its place the ophthalmologist had skillfully inserted a clear plastic lens and covered the eye with a bandage.

The next day the bandage was removed. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I timidly opened my eye, staring at the eye chart almost in unbelief! Its dark letters against the bright white background stood out so sharply! I could read them down to the perfect vision line!

What a contrast with the unclear vision I had been experiencing! I had hardly noticed over the years my eye gradually clouding over, vision becoming dimmer. Blurred sight had become my "norm." I didn't know what I was really missing.

How like my spiritual eyesight this was. Just as my physical eyes knew only partial vision, so I had never known the brightness of the Lord's light. His truths were dimmed and cloudy in my understandings. Until, at last, I sought God for that something more. I was given "spiritual surgery" to open my blinded Spiritual eyes to the truth of Jesus as the "Light" of the world!

"Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart."

"I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." (John 12:46)

I believe Jesus took Peter, James and John to the Mount of Transfiguration to visibly show them the light of who He really was. Someone has described this event as showing a "change of the outward so that it matches the inward reality." Such brilliance almost defied description.

"His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them."

"And as He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening." (Luke 9:29)

My own experience with physical light was in seeing the brightness of God's creation. The light of day was dazzingly bright. Colors shown with the vibrancy I discovered back when I'd first begun to wear eyeglasses to correct nearsightedness, at the age of eleven! Each detail of God's creation had now come alive again with sharpness!

I tested my new-found sight on the variegated Piñata climbing rose in my garden, which attracted my attention with its intensity of color, from light yellow to sunny bright yellow, to brighter orange, orange-red and ending at red, all in one rose bloom! It's as if the entire creation opened up to me like new!

Cataract surgery can physically remove cloudy vision, for which I am truly grateful, but only Jesus can open the Spiritual eyes of one to show forth His glorious truths.