“I saw what looked like fire and a light all round like a bow in the clouds… It was something that looked like the glory of the Lord.”
Ezekiel 1: 27-28
The vision of the prophet Ezekiel startles us with the Lord’s awesome splendour. The glory of the Lord appeared like fire and brilliant light. Ezekiel was overwhelmed by the contrast between God’s holiness and his own sinfulness and insignificance.
On the first day of the Creation story, as told in the Bible, God created light. This is a theme which is mentioned several times throughout the Bible. In the first letter of St. John we read: “God is Light: in him there is no darkness” (I John 1:5).
Jesus came as a ‘light’ into the world. When he was departing from the world he reminded his followers, “You are the light.” Paul likens his personal conversion to the creation of light at the beginning of time.
The story is told of a little boy who was very anxious to know more about God. He was in a boat on a fishing trip with his grandfather. As the sun begins to set, the grandfather stops fishing, turns his full attention to the beauty unfolding before their eyes. On seeing the peace and contentment of his grandfather’s face, the boy thinks for a moment and then asks hesitantly: “Grandpa, I wonder if you can tell me something I’ve been wondering about for a long time. Can anybody ever really see God?” The old man does not even turn his head. A long moment slips by before he finally answers. “Son,” he responds quietly, gazing at the setting sun, “it’s getting so I can’t see anything else.”
In Kenneth Grahame’s book, ‘The Wind in the Willows’, the Rat and the Mole are in awe at the approach of dawn, sensing that some august Presence was very, very near. The Mole asked Rat if he was afraid, to which Rat replied, “Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never!”
Prayer
Lord, save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thorn bush is aflame with your glory.