Be Renewed!

A Sermon for the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

He was transfigured before them (Jesus): and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as light (Mt 17:2)

At this time we remember and celebrate the glorious Transfiguration of the most pure flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Transfiguration took place before three earthly witnesses—the apostles Peter, James, and John. Jesus Christ, as was His custom, went up the mountain to pray to His heavenly Father, as a man. While He was praying, His Divinity suddenly shone through His body: His face became bright as the sun, and His garments—from the inner light of His Divinity and from the light of His body—became white as light, so white that no bleacher could ever make them so white. Moses and Elijah appeared, the ancient great prophets; they spoke with the Lord. And what did they speak about? They spoke of the sufferings that the Savior of mankind was to endure for our salvation in Jerusalem. And they spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem[1]. The apostle Peter, seeing the Lord and the prophets in such glory, said to the Lord: Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, we will make here three booths (tents): one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came from the cloud: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him[2]. The voice was from God the Father. Hearing the divine voice, the Lord’s disciples fell to the ground and were greatly afraid. The Lord came to them, touched them, and said: rise, and do not be afraid. They lifted their eyes: there was no one there but Jesus Christ. As they were coming down from the mountain, the Lord told them to tell no one of the vision until He should rise from the dead.

So then, imagine, beloved brethren, the glorified appearance of the Lord’s most pure flesh, which shone like the sun on Tabor—and linger, linger over this heavenly vision; as you picture it, exult in your spirit and rejoice: this is our human countenance that has shone in such glory, in the closest union of its being with the very being of God the Word. Exult and rejoice in this hope: that if you are obedient to your Lord in this fleeting life and follow His divine commandments, He will one day transfigure your bodies with that same glory, so that they will be conformed to His glorious body; the Lord Himself assures us of this when He says that the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the heavenly Father[3]; and so does the holy apostle Paul, who says that the Lord will transform our lowly body so that it will be conformed to His glorious body[4]. — But why did the Lord transfigure Himself in glory on Mount Tabor, and only before three of His disciples?

Brethren! The Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer for us and to be so mocked and abased beforehand that, if His disciples had not been confirmed by various signs or wonders in their faith in Him as the Son of God before His sufferings, they could have been scandalized concerning His person, fallen away from Him, and scattered, each in his own direction. It was necessary to assure them by some astonishing wonder that He is truly the Radiance of the Father, Light from Light, the Son of God, coming of His own will to suffer for us. As such a wonder, among other things, the Lord chose the transfiguration of His body on the mountain, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments flashed like light, and God the Father Himself spoke from the cloud: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him[5]. Thus the disciples of Christ were prepared in advance, by the transfiguration of the Lord, not to be scandalized by the sufferings and death of their beloved Teacher and Lord. – As for why the Lord was transfigured before only three disciples, this is for the reason that, according to the law, three witnesses were enough to establish any truth.

Brethren! The Lord also bequeathed afflictions and sufferings in this world to all His followers: In the world you will have tribulations[6], He said to His disciples before His sufferings: If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him renounce himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me[7]. So bear uncomplainingly all the afflictions that God sends you. But do not be afraid of suffering and affliction, for they will lead you to eternal joys in the heavens; just as the Lord, after His own sufferings and death on the Cross and His resurrection, entered into the eternal joy of the Kingdom of Heaven according to His humanity as well. As gold is purified and made bright in a crucible, so the human soul, in the crucible of affliction and suffering, is also purified and made bright. This is why the Lord left to His followers, as their portion in this adulterous and sinful world, afflictions of every kind; they serve as a great good for the sufferers themselves and as a pledge of their future eternal blessedness. Your sorrow will turn into joy[8], says the Lord. – Who of the saints, beginning with the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ herself, blessed above all, and up to the last righteous man, did not grieve in this life, and did not enter the Kingdom of Heaven through grief? No one. All entered the Kingdom of glory through many afflictions. – Thus spiritual afflictions transfigure us, purify and brighten our souls. And here is yet another reason why the Lord, who was coming to His voluntary Passion for the sake of our salvation, was transfigured in glory. He wished to show to all His followers, who were to suffer for Him, that their sufferings would lead them to heavenly glory, that they themselves would shine like the sun in the Kingdom of the heavenly Father[3].

What else does the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord oblige all and each of us to do? It obliges all of us to be transfigured inwardly. There is no need to explain how necessary it is for each person to transform and change himself for the better; let each only look impartially into his own heart, look at his thoughts, desires, intentions, undertakings, words and deeds, and it will at once be evident how necessary it is to set about immediately the transformation of his heart. What do our hearts contain almost every day and hour? The Lord Jesus Christ, who knows all the secrets of human hearts, says that out of the human heart come evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetous greed, injuries, wickedness, deceit, shameless deeds, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, folly[9]. And indeed, each of us who is attentive to himself cannot fail to admit that his heart almost constantly begets sinful abominations: weakness of faith, doubts, self-love, coldness toward God and neighbor, malice, condemnation, gloating over others’ misfortunes and ill wishing, envy, pride, arrogance, disobedience, false shame, contemptuousness, an attachment to earthly life and an insatiable greed for earthly goods, often joined with wrong done to one’s neighbor (that is, greed for money, for foods and drinks, especially wine and all manner of sweets, and also for shameful deeds; an attachment to fine clothes and glittering adornments); laziness, especially in the all-important work of salvation, and idleness with all its idle occupations, such as card-playing, smoking tobacco, dancing, and reading books full of idle talk; idle chatter and foul language, and so on. Until now hardly any of us has thought, even very little, and some not at all, about the things above, but all our thoughts have been about earthly things, and we have had within us not the Spirit of Christ but the spirit of this present world; we have cared for the body and despised the needs of the soul; we have prized what is earthly and corruptible and neglected what is heavenly and eternal; we have been full of self-love and had little, very little love of God and brotherly love. Who, then, will deny that each of us must set about immediately the transformation of his heart and his life, which have until now been contrary to the Gospel?

So then, brethren and sisters, to the glory of the Lord Who was transfigured on Tabor, calling His grace to our aid, let us begin today itself to transform the dispositions of our hearts and our vain life. Let the difficulty of this transformation daunt no one. The grace of God is all-powerful – let us ask it of God without ceasing; let us say: Lord! without You we can do nothing[10]; do You Yourself direct our steps toward the doing of Your commandments. Let us not forget that the kingdom of heaven is gained by efforts, and only seekers who exert effort gain it[11], according to the words of the Lord Himself. Let him of little faith labor to acquire faith, diligently reading the word of God and the lives of the saints; let him who is cold in love toward God and his neighbor ask God for love, for every perfect gift, and all the more the most perfect gift of love, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights[12] – and let him exercise himself in love; let the proud and haughty man lay aside his pride and haughtiness and with all his heart apply himself to humility; let the malicious and contemptuous man lay aside his malice and contempt and look upon all and upon each one with respect and love; let the envious man part with his envy; the miserly man – his miserliness; the lazy and negligent – their laziness and negligence; the idle man – his idle pursuits; the lover of money – his love of money; the drunkard – his drunkenness; the glutton – his gluttony; the thief – his thieving; the fornicator – his fornication; the vain man – his vanity; everyone – every evil.

When we conduct ourselves in this way, then, as Christ’s true followers, we shall worthily celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ. Then, having been transfigured and illumined in soul upon the earth, we shall be illumined like the sun in the kingdom of the heavenly Father[3]. Amen.