“The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them as the face of an angel.” [and later, upon his death by stoning] “But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘I can see heaven open’ he said ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ “ —Acts 6:15, 7:55-56 (Jerusalem Bible)
(scripture passages from the King James Version, with occasional references and notes from the Jerusalem Bible)
Many of us have known someone who seems to glow with the radiance of goodness and light. If so, we can identify with the story of Stephen. It is one of those Bible passages which resonates with me, for it has the ring of truth. Jesus himself tells us in Matthew 6:22-23 (KJV): “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Then there are the halos, a characteristic feature in the painting of icons. These, I am convinced, are not just products of the imagination; they radiate as a manifestation of the human aura. This has been the subject of scientific observation: UCLA researcher Thelma Moss is best known for using kirlian photography to view the auras of living organisms. You may investigate more if you wish.
We can discover similar Bible passages through the Bible as parallels to Stephen’s story. The Transfiguration (in Mattew 17:2) is a further witness: “And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” (and Mark’s version in 9:3) “And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.” Luke 9:28-35 expands the story with additional details connecting it to Old Testament accounts: “And behold, there talked with him two me, which were Moses and Elias [Elija] who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him…While he [Jesus] thus spake, there came a cloud…and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.”
We also read of the face of Moses which shone as he descended from the mountain and spoke to the people, and others. Exodus 34:30 reads “And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.” Here, in verses 34-35 in the Jerusalem Bible version: “Whenever he went into Yahweh’s presence to speak with him, Moses would remove the veil until he came out again. And when he came out, he would tell the sons of Israel what he had been ordered to pass on to them, and the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he returned to speak with Yahweh.”
The Psalms apply this radiance of God. Psalms 4:6 implores God, lift up thou the light of thy countenance upon us”, and in 67:1 “cause his face to shine upon us”. Psalms 80:7 reads “cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved [JB “safe”].”
It would be strange indeed if this phenomenon were not supported by the scriptures of other spiritual traditions, for universal truth rarely occurs in a vacuum. An ancient witness to this state is found in the Upanishads, here in Chandogya 4:14:2: “Your face my dear, shines like a Brahma-knower’s.” This is a repeat of an earlier passage, in 4:9:2:“…you shine like a Brahma-knower”. An explication may be found in Chandogya 3:13:7-8 with the title:“The ultimate exists within oneself” [Sanskrit, in atman]:. “Now, the light which shines higher than heaven, on the backs of all, on the backs of everything, in the highest worlds, than which there are no higher—verily, that is the same as this light which is here within a person. There is this seeing of it—when one perceives by touch this heat here in the body. There is this hearing of it—when one closes his ears and hears as it were a sound, as it were a noise, as of a fire blazing. One should revere that light as something that has been seen and heard. He becomes one beautiful to see, one heard of in renown, who knows this—yea, he who knows this!”
Here, again from the Upanishads, is Maitri 6:36-37,“The Inner Soul in the material world furnishes the individual’s and the sun’s existence”: “As the existence of a lamp is because of the combination of wick, support, and oil, so these two, the self and the bright (sun) exist because of the combination of the Inner One and the world-egg [the Hindu version of the creation story]. Therefore, one should reverence with Om that unlimited bright power.”
In another Sanskrit scripture, the Srimad Bhagavatam reads: “Suka, the son of Vyasa, came into that assembly. Suka, though only sixteen years of age, was old in knowledge and wisdom. His form was of an ineffable grace and beauty. His face flowed, and his eyes shone as if from gazing into the infinite. He had no caste mark on him, nor any clothing. Indeed, he could roam about free as the birds of the air, for he was truly a knower of Brahman.”
We can find further accounts of light in the scriptures of Buddhism. The shining of the Buddha is described in the Dammapada, verse 387: “By day shines the sun; by night shines the moon; in regalia shines the king; in meditation shines the arahat [a perfected person in Buddhism who has attained nirvana (enlightenment), gained deep insight into the nature of existence, and destroyed all mental afflictions] but the Buddha in his glory shines at all times, by day and by night.
Here is the account of another Buddhist hero, Thera Ananda: ”While residing at the Pubbarama monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse 387 of this book, with reference to the Venerable Ananda. It was the full moon day of the seventh month when King Pasenadi of Kosala came to visit the Buddha. The king was then resplendent in his full royal regalia. At that time, Thera Kaludayi was also present in the same room sitting at the edge of the congregation. He was in deep mental absorption (jhana), his body bright and golden. In the sky, the Venerable Ananda noticed that the sun was setting and the moon was just coming out, both the sun and the moon radiating rays of light. The Venerable Ananda looked at the shining splendor of the king, of the thera, [a senior monk, here the Buddha] and of the sun and the moon. Finally, the Venerable Ananda looked at the Buddha and he suddenly perceived that the light that was then radiating from the Buddha far surpassed the light shining from the others. Seeing the Buddha in his glory and splendor, the Venerable Ananda immediately approached the Buddha and burst forth, “O Venerable Sir! The light that shines forth from your noble body far surpasses the light from the king, the light from the thera, the light from the sun and the light from the moon.” To him the Buddha spoke in verse as follows: By day shines the sun; by night shines the moon; in regalia shines the king; in meditation shines the arahat; but the Buddha in his glory shines at all times, by day and by night.” This recalls Psalms 104:1-2 where God himself is described as one “Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment….”
Can this state be duplicated in our day and age? It is perhaps more prevalent than we may realize. One contemporary example stands out. The “Western Avatar” Adi Da Samraj (Franklin Jones, 1939-2008) provided a detailed explanation of his childhood experiences which led to his later revelation and spiritual mission. Called “the Bright”, he describes it in his spiritual autobiography, The Knee of Listening. “As a baby I remember crawling around inquisitively with an incredible sense of joy, light and freedom in the middle of my head that was bathed in energies moving freely down from above, up, around and down through my body and my heart. It was an expanding sphere of joy from the heart. And I was a radiant form, a source of energy, bliss, and light. I was the power of Reality, a direct enjoyment and communication. I was the Heart, who lightens the mind and all things. I was the same as everyone and everything, except it became clear that others were unaware of the thing itself.”
In further writings, he states, “The ‘Bright was (and Is) a fully (Divinely) Awakened Spiritual State, in Which the Divine Love-Bliss-Energy . . . is centered in the heart and the head, and circulates throughout the Circle of the body-mind (by a pattern of frontal descent—from above the total crown of the head—and subsequent spinal ascent, or return)” It is the “self-illumined quality of the living consciousness of the man of understanding [Sanskrit: vijnana], the God-Light, the reflected and eternal Light of the Heart or Real-God. The Light of consciousness and of manifestation. The Light of the mind and of all things or forms. The unqualified Light that is above and surrounding the head. The Creative Source of the conditional worlds.”
Just as the account of Stephen’s countenance moves from his own appearance to his vision of the glory of God and Jesus, the brightness which may achieve its potential in the human form exists in the manifestation of the Divine Person. Our Bible gives us two stunning examples. The first is that of the prophet Daniel, laying the groundwork for the one “like a son of man” [Hebrew bar nasha] who, as the JB notes state, is” mysteriously more than human.” He comes “in the clouds of heaven” and comes “to the Ancient of days” being brought “near before him.” Daniel is then led into his presence where this son of man, the name used by Jesus himself in the gospels, is “representative and exemplar of the ‘saints of the most high’, applied perfectly to Jesus.” His dominion is a universal one inclusive of “all people, nations, and languages” which shall neither pass away nor be destroyed.
A second, closely related vision appears in the first chapter of Revelation, verses 13-16, where John’s vision is one “with a golden girdle”, whose “head and hairs were white like wool, and white like snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire.” His feet, also, were “unto fine brass” [JB “bronze when it had been refined in a furnace”] and the sound of his voice was “as the sound of many waters.” Finally, connecting similar references in this and other traditions, his countenance was “as the sun shining with all its strength [JB “force”].” Jerusalem Bible notes interpret this being as the Messiah, with a robe as his priesthood, his golden girdle his royalty, white hair his eternity, his burning eyes to probe minds and hearts, feet of bronze his permanence, and voice the fear inspired by his majesty. What awe and terror there must be to look upon such an awesome being!
We can be encouraged and supported in our spiritual journey by realizing that this eternal state may be duplicated in us, extending to the vision of God. How can it not fill us with inspiration and hope? May we catch the divine vision. May we share in it. As proof, may it reflect in our faces. Amen.
Divinepersonhood 