Millions of Americans were united in sharing a once in a lifetime experience on Monday, August 21. We stood on hilltops with crowds of strangers and sat in packed stadiums from Oregon to South Carolina. Lawn chairs, blankets, and pick up truck beds held thousands more individuals wearing tinted glasses, staring as one at the crescent shaped sun. Dennis and I were among them.
We drove long hours, sat in traffic bottlenecks, and waited our turn to cross the river. Once released, we drove to Providence, Kentucky, found a hilltop field, donned our glasses, and watched the spectacle. Like so many we were unprepared for the breathtaking beauty of the sun’s glory, the corona. We gasped, enraptured by the sight.
Two thousand years ago in another field across the world a similar sight of glory in the sky produced awe and wonder. But these viewers also responded with fear. An angel appeared and stood before unsuspecting shepherds. “And the glory of the Lord shone around them all.” Angels come from God’s throne room, from the presence of God Who is light. His glory, which shines like the sun’s corona, surrounded that angelic appearance. Now that I’ve seen the sun’s glory I can only imagine how much greater the glory of God must be. Jesus, by His work on the cross, proved Himself to be much better than angels who do God’s bidding.
-If the sighting of angels, who don’t possess glory on their own, elicits fear, awe, and wonder in us mortals, how much more glory will we see when we see Jesus face to face?
-Matthew tells the story of Jesus going to the top of a mountain where He was transfigured, “and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.” Talk together about Jesus’ face shining like the sun.
-If you saw the total eclipse and the sun’s glory, or photos of it, do you think seeing Jesus will be like seeing the eclipse? Will it be better?
