by Fr Gabriel-Allan Boyd
If you’ve ever helped raise a child, you’re aware of a simple fact. While part of us might grieve a bit when our child grows out of various stages of cuteness...no one ever really wants their child to become a 25-year-old with an 8-year-old’s level of emotional immaturity. Change is a necessary part of becoming an adult. Nevertheless, even in adulthood, most of us are glad we’ve grown beyond some of the things we believed and did when we were in our twenties. Likewise, change—maturing—is also a central part of the Orthodox Christian life (transfiguration, or transformation). While God doesn’t change (“I am the Lord, and I do not change.” Malachi 3:6), we are asked by God to enter life in such a way that we are constantly being changed into the likeness of Christ. Saint Paul reminds us, “So all of us who have had that veil removed, seeing and reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His same likeness, from one glory to the next through the Spirit of the Lord.” ~ 2 Corinthians 3:18). Therefore, the Church invites us to continually be changed to become ever more filled with His light, learning to see who God is through the eyes of one who has put-on Christ. And we are also asked by the Church to constantly change our way of seeing God’s creation…as we learn, more and more, to also see it through the eyes of Christ.
It speaks to the heart of this event in Jesus’ life, where we celebrate the Feast of Transfiguration. There Jesus took His three closest disciples, Peter, James & John, to the top of a high mountain (Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). As they stood there looking at Him, suddenly, they saw Him in a way that they’d never seen before. There before their eyes was Christ the Lord…His face shining with the brightness of the sun and being clothed entirely in light. Standing next to Him were two major Old Testament saints, Moses & Elijah. Then Saint Peter, being so totally stunned by what he saw, made an impulsive suggestion that the disciples should immediately begin building three sets of lodgings for the Lord & Moses & Elijah to live in. Interrupting Peter’s proposal, a voice coming from a brilliantly lit cloud that suddenly surrounded them all, said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased…listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces in a complete state of awe. In the icon of the Transfiguration, Saints Peter, James & John are so totally gobsmacked that they fall all over themselves as they are overwhelmed by God’s glory. This is why some of the Church Fathers referred to this feast as a “little Theophany” (a visible manifestation of God) because, like the feast of Theophany, where Christ is baptized on January 6th, all three Persons of the Trinity are also revealed here in the Transfiguration…God the Father spoke from Heaven, God the Son was revealed in the brilliance of His glory in the company of the saints, and the God the Holy Spirit was revealed in the glorious cloud that engulfed them all. We call this the Transfiguration of our Lord, but we have to ask ourselves an important question. Was it really Jesus who changed in these moments, or did something else happen here?
Saint Paul tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Thus, it couldn’t have been Him who changed, but rather, by God’s grace it was the disciples’ interior sight. Christ was finally revealed to them as what He has always been…“the same yesterday and today and forever.” It was the Lord’s Transfiguration of His disciples—for them to finally be able to see who He really was—at least as much as they could endure in those moments.
So also, we’re asked to begin to see creation differently, hence the reason why we bless (to set apart unto God) grapes and the first-fruits of our gardens on this day...changing the way we see that harvest. The truth is, all of creation is revealing God’s glory, if only our eyes were given the ability by God’s grace to see it. The Transfiguration (the revealing of God’s glory) is happening all around us. Scripture reminds us of this over and over again. “The whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory” (Numbers 14:21). The Psalmist, David declares, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.” The Wisdom of Sirach states: “The light of the sun shines down on everything, and everything is filled with the Lord’s glory” (42:16). The Book of Baruch discloses: “The stars shone from their appointed places and were glad; He called them, and they said, ‘Here we are!’ They shone with gladness for Him who made them” (3:34-35). Or Psalm 66: “Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name: give to Him glorious praise! Say to God, ‘How glorious are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies cringe before You. All the earth worships You; they sing praises to You, sing praises to Your name’” (1-4).
The Orthodox liturgical tradition reminds us of these phenomena happening all around us, as each Vespers includes David’s declaration from the Psalms, “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures” (Ps 104:24). Pay close attention, to the words within the Divine Liturgy, as the Church is constantly trying to make us mindful of this way of being…of blessing everything by setting it apart unto God. How many times during the liturgy do we proclaim, “…let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God ”? Yet, how often are parts of our lives segmented off, as if they belonged to some purpose other than God’s. Throughout the life of the Church, we’re asked to remind ourselves over and over about this way of being...of setting ourselves apart unto God’s purposes…and setting the things around us apart unto God’s purposes…because through this, God gives us life. God’s entire created universe is constantly appealing to us to open our eyes, to behold and to participate with the endless proclamation that God’s glory is being revealed all around us all the time.
Sometimes we have immature responses to seeing that glory. We don’t quite know what to do with it. When Saint Peter saw Christ in His glory talking with Moses and Elijah, the first thing he thought of was to suggest building three tabernacles (or shelters) for them...honoring each of them equally...a little like the way we give equal time and focus to other things in our own lives. But the Heavenly Father’s voice interrupts at that moment, bringing our focus back to our Lord’s glory, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” Are you listening to Him today, or is your daily focus devoted to more immature things? Our Lord invites you to step into a greater glory.
