Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore brethren, give diligence all the more to make your calling and election sure, . . . .”
The late Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI of recent memory, once wrote that the Transfiguration “’is not regarded merely as one event among many, . . ., but rather as the recapitulation of all things; in it are brought together the Cross and the Resurrection, the present and the future of creation.’” Indeed, our Eastern Orthodox hymnody bears this out as do the Sacred Scriptures. The Transfiguration is a unique event in our Lord’s earthly life and an incomprehensibly profound Mystery that not only has to do with Him – Who He is and what He is – but it also has to do with us who have come to believe in Him – who we are in Jesus Christ and what we are to become in Him. Every Divine Liturgy we confess the Faith of the Church that we have made our own, that this Jesus came down from Heaven “for us men and for our salvation,” that though He is, in fact, incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, which is to say, He is true Man, He is nevertheless, “Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father; by Whom all things were made; . . . .” (Nicene Creed).
The Transfiguration of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ is not a transformation, that is, He is not made into something, but rather it is the divine revelation of Who He is in His being – “’the Son of the [true and] living God’” (Mt. 16:16) – just as St. Peter confessed forthrightly when he and the other Disciples had been asked by Jesus, “’But who do you say that I am?’” Jesus is not made into something or someone He is not, but rather reveals Himself in all the fullness of the glory of God Whom He is in the flesh of man: Son of God and Son of Man. He manifests the glory of the coming Kingdom and how that glory will transform those who believe in Him and are embraced by the glory of God, just like the called and chosen three He initially took with Him up the mountain to pray benefited by and participated in the glory of God (Mt. 13:43; 16:27-28; Lk. 9:28-36).
The account of our Lord’s most glorious Transfiguration is mentioned only four times in Sacred Scripture: once in each of the three Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and once by St. Peter in his Epistle read today. Peter uses the Transfiguration as confirmation that the apostolic witness, the apostolic Gospel, the apostolic hope, the apostolic Faith, the apostolic Church, is not founded on “cunningly devised fables,” but instead on “eyewitnesses of His majesty.” Another eyewitness, St. John the Theologian, begins his First Epistle thusly,
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life – the Life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that Eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested to us – that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship [communion] with us; and truly our fellowship [communion] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 Jn. 1:1-5).
We cannot help but imagine that as this mystic Apostle wrote these words, he had the Transfiguration in mind. What Jesus Christ is by nature, we are called to and predestined for by grace (Rm. 8:29-30). Indeed, we were all created for the glory of God – made in the image and likeness of God – to bask in the glory of God and to manifest it, to delight in it and to relish it – a glory from which we have all fallen short because of sin and death (Gn. 1:26-27; WS 2:23-24; Rm. 3:23). We are created for communion with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. This is what makes our joy full and complete. “God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
Earlier in this first chapter from St. Peter’s Epistle from which we have taken today’s reading, the Apostle tells us that God Himself through His beloved Son has “called us to glory and virtue” which are godly things. Not only has He called us – each and every one of us gathered here today – but that He also through “His divine power has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” What God calls us to and has elected us for, He provides the means to obtain. We are not left on our own to fend for ourselves or to figure things out. Rather, to us has been given “exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, . . . .” (2 Pe. 1:2-4).
If we want to “partake of the divine nature,” if we yearn to attain the glory of God, if we long for Life Eternal and the fullness of joy that divine communion brings, then we must follow the Light, Jesus Christ, just as surely as Peter, James, and John followed Jesus up the mountain (Mt. 17:1-9). “’I AM the Light of the world,’” says our Lord. “’He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of Life’” (Jn. 8:12). “’While you have the Light, believe in the Light,’” Jesus says to us, “’that you may become sons of Light’” (Jn. 12:35-36).
This is how St. John the Theologian in his opening chapter to his Gospel understands Jesus, the Word of the Father made flesh: “In Him was Life, and the Life was the light of men. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [overcome] it.” Jesus Christ, the Word of God the Father, is the true Light that enlightens every man coming into the world. To those who receive His light He gives divine grace to become sons of God and sons of the Light, who are born of God. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and Truth. . . . And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace” (Jn. 1:1-18). The glory of God transforms us so that what the Son of God is by nature, we mortals are called and elected to experience by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
And because of this, the Apostle in today’s reading urges us to diligence, to be diligent. “[U]sing all diligence,” he says, “add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance [self-control], and to temperance patience [perseverance], and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity [love]. For if these things be in you and abound . . .,” says the “rock,” Peter, “ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Therefore brethren, give diligence all the more to make your calling and election sure.” In other words, in the words of St. Paul, we are to diligently “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling,” which is continually made ours through faith in Jesus Christ (Pp. 2:12-13). We have been baptized into the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God. Now, work out His Death and Resurrection diligently. Be fashioned and formed by the Crucified One; be transformed and transfigured by the Light of His glory and power and majesty.
The Apostle, facing his own exodus from this world (Lk. 9:31; Jn. 21:18-19), that is, the putting off of the tabernacle of his mortal body, seeks to do due diligence to his flock, by “always putting us in remembrance of these things,” to stir us up lest we become lazy about our souls and haphazard in the piety of God, thereby exposing ourselves like defenseless lambs to the stalking, ravenous lion prowling about, “seeking [souls] whom he may devour.” We are to diligently “resist him, steadfast in the Faith” by diligently adding to our faith all the virtues earlier prescribed (1 Pe. 5:8-9). If we do these things, the Apostle assures us, we will never fall. “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
“Therefore brethren, give diligence all the more to make your calling and election sure, . . . until the day dawns and the day star arises in your hearts, . . . . ”
Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
VIGIL PROPERS: PROPERS:
Ex. 24:12-18 2 Pe. 1:10-19
Ex. 33:11-23; 34:4-6, 8 Mt. 17:1-9
3 Kg. [1 Kg.]:19:3-9, 11-13, 15-16