What It Means to See God

First and foremost, seeing God is experiencing God.  Seeing is an encounter with the Holy who is other, wholly other.  In Hebrew "holy" means "separate," and in Isaiah God is described three times by the seraphim, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts."  Make no mistake about it, whether Isaiah is dreaming, in a trance, or wide awake, he is encountering a transcendent God who is high and lofty and whose size is so gigantic that even the hem of God's robe fills the temple.  It's a spectacular vision of God and God's company of heaven who sing this hymn of praise, "Holy, holy, holy."

Peter too experiences something transcendent, something above and beyond the normal, when he sees the miraculous catch of fish.  At first he just saw a teacher who sits down to teach, just like a rabbi would.  So as far as Peter knows, his boat has been comandeered by a wandering teacher.  But when Jesus is through speaking, he tells Peter to row out into the deep and let down his nets.  Peter must have snickered to himself - he had been fishing all night, and what does a rabbi know about fish - but something compels him to do it.  And as the nets begin to stretch, then break, and as the boat begins to sink from the weight of the fish, that compulsion turns into revelation.  Peter no longer sees a rabbi.  He sees the Lord. 

You have probably experienced something similar - maybe with a therapist or good friend, suddenly gaining a deeper understanding of your life and looking back and realizing how true it has been all along.  You just missed it.  And all you can do is, literally or metaphorically, fall down.  Might it be so with God?

Secondly, seeing God means seeing yourself.  When Isaiah sees God he cries out, "Woe is me; I am lost.  I am a man of unclean lips."  Peter falls down in the hull of the boat and confesses, "I am a sinful man."

I wonder why that is.  Why, if God is so wonderful and loving, is the response to fall and cry out about your unworthiness?  I don't think it's because God wants us to feel bad about ourselves.  I think it's because catching a glimpse of the enormity of God is like seeing the night sky without any light around or realizing how truly loved you are - it takes your breath away.  It reminds you of how small you are, how fragile your goodness is, how quickly you forget how much bigger this world is than your solitary life, or how cavalierly you can treat this person who has loved you so fiercely and unfailingly.  Might it be so with God?