Transfiguration 2020

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

That greeting, glory to Jesus Christ, is said

routinely before any sermon by many priests.

But I think it is particularly appropriate today

to say that. Glory to Jesus Christ. Because the

two themes of today's feast day of the Transfiguration

are revealed in the Troparian and the Kentuckian.

The themes are, number one, the Transfiguration

of Jesus on Mount Tabor. The Transfiguration,

it's commonly interpreted by the scriptures and

by the fathers. that the glory of Jesus' divinity

was shown forth through his glorified humanity.

And the brightness was so great that the disciples,

Peter, James, and John, fell on their faces in

the presence of the divine glory. Before I say...

Well, as a background to this feast, notice that

very often when an encounter with God takes place,

it takes place on the mountain. We see this most

prominently in the Old Testament where Moses

received the tablets of the law, the commandments

from God on Mount Sinai. And there again, the

theme of the divine glory is so great that Moses

could not behold it. But even before Moses, I'd

call your attention to two other events. Number

one, Noah, and when his ark landed on dry land,

traditionally the ark rested on Mount Ararat.

And the other evening, coincidentally, I was

watching a special on the educational channel

about Armenia and the Armenian people. And as

Orthodox people, their church leads such an important

part of their life, both Armenian Americans as

well as the Christians in Armenia. And the view

of Mount Ararat was positively... breathtaking.

I've never seen it, only in pictures and on programs

such as this. Another thing about mountains,

so I think this is a little bit more hidden,

is remember, let's see, Noah is in chapter 5

through 9 of Genesis, and in chapter 11, we have

the account of the building of the Tower of Babel.

And this is when the pagan Mesopotamians wanted

to construct a tower which would reach to heaven

to see God. Of course, a futile impossibility.

And the story of God confusing the tongues is

a polemic against false pagan religions that

wanted to come into communion with God through

that artificial way. And the Tuparian, of course,

basically said, the Kentuckian, rather, for the

Feast of Pentecost says this, when the Most High

came down, he confused the tongues and divided

the nations. But then when he sent the Spirit

upon the disciples and human beings, generally,

he called all men to unity. So we have in the

Old Testament Mount Sinai, the reception of the

law, Mount Ararat, and New Testament, of course,

Mount Tabor, where today's event takes place.

And then when Jesus ascended into heaven on the

Mount of Olives in the Garden of Eden, in the

Garden of Olives, where Jesus so traditionally

went to pray by himself and to be in communion

with the Father. Also, I wanted to mention, in

addition to that tower of Babel, that we visit

Mexico very often, and I'm fascinated by Mayan

culture. And the Mayans have these temples built

of stone where this is a form of their trying

to commune with God. It looks very much like

the Tower of Babel or the ruins of the Mesopotamian

ziggurats, they're called. So that's a traditional

human impulse to come into communion with God

on a mountain. Revelation of Jesus' glory, his

glorified and divinized human nature, is what

awaits us. This event is so important that all

of the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark,

and Luke, relate the account of the transfiguration,

and they're almost identical in what they say

about this event. And then, as so often happens,

things that Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention are

not mentioned by St. John in his gospel. And

you'd think offhand, first of all, wow, he was

one of the three, Peter, James, and John. Why

wouldn't he mention the transfiguration? Well,

a standard response is that John was aware. of

the contents of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and

he didn't repeat all over again many times what

was in the three first Gospels, the Synoptic

Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. However, they

point to the prologue, the very beginning of

St. John's Gospel, where John says, the Word

was made 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. So bingo,

that seems to many people to be a very clear

reference to Jesus' glory revealed at his transfiguration.

Four verses later says, no man has seen God at

any time, but only the only begotten Son in the

bosom of the Father has declared him. So all

four Gospels, one way or another, either directly

or indirectly, speak about the transfiguration.

Moses and Elijah are presented. in the icons,

because they were present at the Transfiguration.

And then also, as undoubtedly you know, Moses

and Elijah represent the two elements of the

Old Testament. The law, Moses, which he received

on Mount Sinai, and the prophets, Elijah. And

the law and the prophets point to Jesus. The

whole Old Testament is Christ -centered and Christ

-focused on the coming of the Messiah. Moses

and Elijah were there. The disciples were there.

They saw his glory. Then the other theme is the

preparation for the crucifixion. As it says in

the Tropar, that, let's see. Well, let me read

the Tropar and the Kentuckian to refresh your

memory, because really, the Troparian and the

Kentuckian just say it all. They say it all.

Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ

God, revealing thy glory to thy disciples as

far as they could bear it. Let thine everlasting

light shine upon us sinners through the prayers

of the Theotokos. Glory, O giver of light, glory

to thee. And the Kentuckian. Thou was transfigured

on the mountain, O Christ God, as thy disciples

beheld thy glory as far as they could see it,

so that when they beheld thee crucified, they

would understand that thy suffering was voluntary

and would proclaim to the world that thou art

the radiance of the Father. And I think it's

not a liturgical coincidence. It was planned

appropriately that 40 days after Transfiguration,

we have the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy

Cross. Again, 40 days is sort of that sacred

number. So today is a day for us and for the

church and for all human beings and all creation

to give glory to God because he has shown us

what we will become in the kingdom of heaven,

in the transfigured universe where God is all

in all and we will behold his glory. God grant

this to each and every one of us at the conclusion

of the age. Glory to Jesus Christ.