Superman Transfigured - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

Have you ever felt like someone saw you for who you really were? How beautiful that is to feel that when someone really knows you and sees your glory, It's overwhelming and beautiful, isn't it? But there's a difference, of course, between Superman and Jesus. And it's not just that Jesus isn't a superhero, he's, you know, our Lord and Savior. It's not just that. The reality is that Superman will never be one of us no matter how much he disguises himself. His true identity is other than Us. And so all we can really do is stand back in awe of this superhero and say, wow, look at those things that he can do. I could never lift a car above my head. I'm not bulletproof. Isn't that amazing? But Jesus is not disguising himself as human. Jesus is human. Jesus is one of us. The powerful thing about Jesus is that he's not God disguising himself as a human to sort of just make it palatable for us to look at him. Jesus is God completely and totally connected to humanity, married to us forever, such that when we see Jesus, we do see the glory of God, but we also see the glory of our own humanity fully present in that space.