Gospel Reading
Matthew 16:13-17:13
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,“Who do men say that the Son of man is?”14 And they said,“Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? 27 For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”17 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. 3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 And Peter said to Jesus,“Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”5 He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. 9 And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them,“Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead.”10 And the disciples asked him“Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”11 He replied“Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things; 12 but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands.”13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. (Revised Standard Version)
See also: Mark 9:2–13, Luke 9:28–36
Other Sunday Readings
Wisdom 7:25-8:4
Solomon describes the nature of Wisdom. Just as God is love, is beauty, is Mercy, is Peace, he is Wisdom. We use these words to describe his attributes, but they are not qualities he possesses (he does not have Beauty), rather they belong to his very nature as God (he is Beauty). Wisdom, therefore, is a reflection, an image of God (vv. 25-26, see Colossians 1:15).
God invites us to live with him (7:28). As Solomon loves and seeks Wisdom, the Lord seeks us, his Church, his beautiful Bride (8:2, see Matthew 9:15, 25:1-13, John 3:29, Ephesians 5:22-32).
Questions
- In these verses we are reminded of being transfigured, becoming like God. What other attributes, qualities of God do you see in these verses? How have you experienced these attributes of God?
- What is about Wisdom that uniquely brings us into friendship with God? (7:27, see John 15:15)
- How do these verses shed light on the event of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ? (7:29-30, see Sunday’s Gospel reading)
- Do you think Solomon was aware that he was writing about the nature of God, or did he only have earthly wisdom in mind? Is there a difference, or such a thing as earthly vs. divine Wisdom?
- Despite the flaws and stains of the Church, God is enamored with our Beauty. In what ways does the Armenian Church reflect the Wisdom (7:28), Purity (7:25) , Goodness (7:26), Light (7:29), and Beauty of God (8:2)?
Zechariah 14:16-21
Previous to these verses, Zechariah prophesies about the “Day of the Lord” a clear description of the Messianic Age, the coming judgment, and the final reconciliation.
And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one. (14:9)
In its immediate context, the remnant of Israel who will survive the exile are to worship the one Lord by celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths in Jerusalem, a feast associated with the renewal of Yahweh’s covenant and the deliverance of Israel by his hand (v. 16, see Leviticus 23:33-43, Nehemiah 8:16-18, Matthew 17:4). If they do not come to Jerusalem to worship the King, they will suffer the same fate as the enemies of Jerusalem (vv. 17-19). In fact, Zechariah warns Egypt and all nations that do not come to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast (v. 19).
Questions
- Does it seem excessive that God’s judgment will come simply to those who “do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts?” Consider the standard throughout the Old and New Testaments by which God’s judgment would take place. Is it the kind of sin (murder, violence, gossip, laziness), or that we frequently worship other gods, replacing the one true God with counterfeit idols that are destructive and sever communion with Life, Wisdom, Light, Love, and Truth? How can we be confident that we are safe from judgment and destruction? See John 4:21-24. (vv. 17-19)
- The Old Covenant and feasts are not replaced with what the Church is now doing instead, rather the Church is a continuation of the Old Covenant now fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the New Covenant. How is the Feast of Tabernacles, and therefore, the still relevant warning not to celebrate it, fulfilled in Christ? See John 1:14, I Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19.
I John 1:1-7
St. John opens his letter recalling his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is this same God “from the beginning” (v. 1) that John and “we” the Apostles claim to have empirically experienced. Once again, he begins his letter with the incarnation, the tangibility of God, the union of divinity and humanity embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. As a result of witnessing and experiencing the Incarnation, he and the Apostles have the authority to further testify and preach (vv. 2-3).
Haghortootyoon (Arm.) or Koinonia (Gr.), i.e. fellowship (v. 6) means sharing or participation. It means union. What it does not mean is the socializing between fellow believers as important as that may be. This union with God and with one another, or communion, is possible because of the Incarnation of Christ. We experience this communion through the Church liturgically and sacramentally when we share the holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the eucharistic meal. We share this communion when we love one another, when we confess our sins to one another (v. 9). In other words, St. John invites us into the very Incarnation he and the Apostles experienced so that our joy may be complete (v. 4).
But we are so sinful, how can we approach such a thought? Or maybe we can experience this communion and joy while freely living in sin. Or perhaps sin doesn’t even exist or matter. St. John addresses this erroneous thinking and makes it clear that the Cross was necessary to overcome our shame and that the blood of Jesus cleanses us, and only his blood cleanses us. He invites us to face reality and confess our sins, because the promises and power of Jesus is much bigger than our shame. So choose to walk in the Way of light and not in the darkness of error and sin. Forgiveness and love is the way of the Kingdom, the way he is setting the world right again, and Jesus, the King, invites us to follow his lead.
Questions
- St. John makes it clear that they knew Jesus, they sensed and experienced him. They saw, heard, touched Eternal Life. They were friends with the Eternal One. (v. 1) How would you describe eternal life? See how John describes Jesus in these verses. List the promises in this chapter and meditate on them. Consider confessing your sins to another person you trust, perhaps a priest.
- What does it mean “that our joy may be complete?” (v. 4) See elsewhere where St. John refers to complete joy: John 15:11; 16:24; 17:1. Is this something we have experienced even if we are unable to articulate it?
- Describe what it means to walk in the light. To walk in darkness. The presence of one excludes the presence of the other. What are some concrete ways we can continually ensure we are full of light so that darkness is excluded? (vv. 5-7) How does John say we are on the right track? And what does this remind us about our own progress and effort? (vv. 5-10)
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Background
The Feast of Transfiguration (Պայծառակերպութիւն, Այլակերպութիւն) is one of the five principal (տաղաւար) feasts of the Armenian Church. Although a three-day feast (an innovation of St Nersess Shnorhali), the season of Transfiguration begins on the fourteenth Sunday following Zadeeg and ends on Sunday preceding the Feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God.
Jesus takes three of his disciples up a mountain, (traditionally, Mt. Tabor) to reveal to them his glory, a revelation of the Holy Trinity (the Father’s voice is speaking while the Holy Spirit is present in the form of a bright cloud). A mountain is highly symbolic of God’s presence and divine revelation (see Genesis 22:2, Exodus 24:13-17, Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Isaiah 2:3, Matthew 5:1-2f., John 6:3f.).
Jesus is Light
What is our perception and experience of Jesus? Do we become so accustomed to his appearance that it becomes commonplace, taken for granted? Are we in need of a reminder that in him is light, that he is Light? St. John reminds us in his first epistle, “In him is no darkness at all,” and “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (I John 1:5,7)
How do we experience his light without necessarily seeing it corporeally? Jesus came specifically to share himself with us, his divine life: “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” (John 1:9). Is our gaze so fixed on the person of Christ and are we walking so closely with him that he is the prism by which we experience moments of transfiguration, by which we reflect God’s love to others, by which we count it all joy when we meet various trials, and by which we disperse his light to the world?
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)
St. Gregory of Narek beautifully and poetically sums up the event of the Transfiguration in one of his festal litanies:
With inexpressible mystery you revealed your Divinity today on Mount Tabor to your holy apostles: to Peter and the sons of Zebedee. And the Father from above acknowledged his beloved Son. And in accordance with the word proclaimed by Moses and Elijah, you became known (to them) as Ruler and Lord over life and death. As they witnessed the overwhelming sight of your splendid transfiguration, terrified by your light and divine radiance, they fell to the ground half dead.
Who today revealed the inexpressible and incomprehensible mystery of your Trinity and One Divinity foreknowingly on Mount Tabor to your holy apostles and prophets, the radiance of your Divinity to us transients, even after them. (trans. Abraham Terian)
The Light Who Illuminates Us
The transfiguration of Christ (his changing of appearance in a radiant, glorified manner) is considered a “theophany” in which Jesus is revealed as divine, as God himself, the second person of the Holy Trinity (see also the baptism of Christ: Matthew 3:13-17). St. Peter, not knowing what to say, suggested that they build three tabernacles, or dwellings (associating the event with the Festival of Booths during which tabernacles or “booths” served as symbols of God’s dwelling), but the voice of God interrupts Peter saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
Jesus, who is God, dwelled among us…
The dwelling (տաղաւար) of God is the person of Jesus Christ, and everything that preceded the Incarnation of Jesus, i.e. the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah), points to and is fulfilled by him. Our eighth-century Church Father, Stepanos Siwnetsi, affirms this in his Gospel commentary: “The Gospel and the law and the prophets were united and became one.” When Moses and Elijah disappear, the disciples saw no one but Jesus.
John, who witnessed the transfiguration along with Peter and James, writes in the first chapter of his Gospel,
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (vv. 9, 14)
We are being transfigured
Once again, Jesus is the dwelling of God, the true light, the light who illuminates us. We, as his disciples, as his Church, are to be transfigured, changed to appear like Christ by sharing in his divine life which comes through the sacraments of the Church (Baptism, Holy Communion, Crowning, etc.), by living a life of repentance and holiness (II Corinthians 3:18), by becoming a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11).
John also writes in his first epistle (1:5-7), imaginably reflecting on that unforgettable, divine moment on the mountain that day, something which should remind us to remain in communion (fellowship) with Jesus, what could easily be one of the many messages of the Feast of Transfiguration:
God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
The Transfiguration of Christ is a glimpse of the life we have, here and now, when we enjoy true fellowship with him. The life of the Church is about communion, it’s about being enlightened, that is, knowing God. To be a disciple is to share the transfigured, divine life of Christ, to be changed by it and to radiate it to the world.
Radiating the Light
As a parish community, as individuals, are we walking in the light? Would we describe our community as being ever transfigured, or like Peter, do we interrupt the glory of God with our own flawed understanding of what God is trying to do in our midst? Are we truly listening to Jesus as the Father instructed us on that mountaintop?
As a community, we are called to be in communion with God and with one another, but that kind of fellowship is not synonymous with socializing at coffee hour or mingling at social events. Rather, it is the actual participation in the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. In other words, we don’t just remember the Transfiguration in our minds, we don’t just read about it in the pages of the New Testament.
When we celebrate this wonderful feast, we mystically participate in the actual event of the Transfiguration itself. Quite the mystery, but quite the reality. God becomes what we are so that we might become what he is, as St. Athanasius so notably put. We feebly offer our time, our very lives with all of its flaws, bruises, hurts, and fears, and in exchange he offers us the eternity of his Transfiguration, his Այլակերպութիւն.
What Goes Up Must Come Down
Just before the event of the Transfiguration, Jesus tells his disciples,
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?
Six days later, the disciples follow Jesus up a mountain, assuredly a treacherous, dangerous, and difficult path. Interestingly, in every account of the transfiguration event, the story is followed by a story of a boy who is ill.
God’s glory in the mundane
Peter, James, and John directly experienced God’s glory. They tasted heaven. Where could they possibly go from there? How could they go back to the ordinary world and ordinary time from which they came after such a supreme and enlightening experience? In fact, Peter wanted to stay!
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
It is a very good thing to witness God’s glory, but as Peter is making the case to stay on the mountain top, he is interrupted by the Father’s voice:
He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
So where else could they go but down the mountain? In other words, there is work to be done. Go down the mountain because there is a boy who is ill. Jesus, Peter, James, and John came down the mountain, back to the so-called ordinary, equipped to address the pain of the world – a world in which there is hurt, thieves, madness, chaos, hypocrites, and demons; but a world transfigured by Christ.
Transfigured for ministry
It was also the place of those who would betray and kill Jesus. Luke’s version of the Transfiguration story mentions that Elijah and Moses “Spoke of [Jesus’] departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (9:31) Just as Peter, James, and John were taken up the mountain to experience God in order to prepare them for future ministry, Jesus was being prepared for his death on the Cross, of course, a symbol of our own ministry.
In his first epistle, Peter writes about the connection between God’s glory, the Cross, and our ministry as the Church, perhaps recalling his experience on the mountain that day:
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (I Peter 4:12-13)
THE WAY OF THE CROSS
The way to glory in this life is the way of the Cross, through suffering, by taking up the Cross and following Jesus Christ. The Cross is not a symbol that everything is all right in the world, but that through suffering, there is hope, and carrying the Cross is the path to glory and reconciliation. Suffering, trials, inconveniences, what we consider to be trivial, mundane, and tragic has been redeemed, transfigured in the person of Jesus Christ.
This is exactly why we venerate whom the Church canonizes as saints, and it is sainthood that we should all be striving to attain as we deny ourselves and become poor for the sake of the Gospel, Jesus Christ.
Just as Jesus descended to earth and took on flesh and blood to share his glory with us (see John 1:14), he descended the mountain where he was transfigured in order to share his glory with that little boy at the bottom of the mountain who was ill. In other words, with each one of us. And now he calls us to carry the cross of self-sacrifice, to suffer out of love, to share in the Transfiguration, to follow him into the valley of suffering, but a valley also infused and mingled with God’s glory and divinity.
As the priest prays during Badarak in the opening of the Eucharistic Prayer,
As the divine master-builder building a new work, he thereby made this earth into heaven. [p. 29]
The presence of joy in everything
The message of the Transfiguration is the joy that awaits us in this life, the joy that helps us endure the cross we are called to carry. Whenever we grow weary of carrying our cross, recall the Transfiguration and pray that God will help us to see beyond the ordinary, to see his extravagance and glory in the mundane, to see his glory in the shame of the Cross, to see his divinity in the flawed humanity of others, so that we are always,
Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. (Hebrews 12:2)
What goes up must come down. We are raised up to the top of the mountain every time we celebrate Badarak. As we pray and sing we are raised to heaven where the angels join us in worship. Just before the Gospel procession, the priest silently prays:
Lord our God, you, who have established in the heavens the orders and the hosts of angels and archangels for the ministry of your glory, make now the holy angels also enter with our entrance and serve with us and glorify with us your goodness. [p. 13]
The Church is resplendently transfigured
In the beginning of Badarak, as the priest descends from the khoran and censes throughout the Church, the people sing “Parekhosootyamp” using the same word as this feast day (Պայծառակերպութիւն, Baydzaragerbootyoon) to describe the Church.
Vor kerakooyn kan zergeenus baydzaratsootser sooro zegeghetsee aryamp kov Kreesdos:
O Christ, who with your blood has made your holy Church more resplendent than the heavens.
And so we experience God’s immediate presence in Badarak whether we feel it or not, whether we intellectually understand or not. As his Church, we are resplendently transfigured when we commune with him and with one another. But we don’t remain in that place. We are told to “Depart in peace” «Yertayk khaghaghootyamp,» to carry our cross into the valley of suffering and find a little boy who is ill.
By Dn. Eric Vozzy
