The
Prophets and Apostles Are Our Witnesses
Homily
for the Transfiguration of the Lord (5 August 2015)
2
Peter 1:10-19 Matthew 17:1-9
When Jesus went up on Mt
Tabor and was transfigured, revealing His Divine Nature while still in His
human body, He had two sets of witnesses:
Moses and Elias, the greatest prophets of the Old Testament, and Peter,
James, and John, the leading disciples of the New Testament, the first called,
after Andrew, to follow Him.
In the Old Testament, God
spoke to Moses and Elias, but never showed His face to them, appearing in a
burning bush, speaking from a cloud or wind, allowing His back to be seen.
In the New Testament,
Jesus was always present in His human body with Peter, James, and John, but had
never before revealed His Divine Nature to them.
So the Transfiguration of
Jesus on Mt Tabor completed God’s revelation for both the Old and the New
Covenants.
In addition, the presence
of Moses and Elias added to the solemnity and authenticity and believability of
the event for Peter, James, and John.
They saw the most trusted witnesses in the history of the people’s
relationship with God, appearing with Jesus to verify His actions and to
testify to the words of God the Father:
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
This is what St Peter is
talking about in his letter, which we read today, when he says, “We did not
follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of His majesty. . . . So we have the prophetic message more fully
confirmed.”
We know that our faith is
true, because it has always been handed down in the Church by witnesses in an
unbroken line, going back to the Apostles and Prophets. It’s not a story made up to be entertaining
or to gain control over people or land or money. It is simply God’s true story, revealed by
God and in God, and testified to by our ancestors in faith, who encountered God
with awesome and terrifying directness.
(Just look at the ikon of the Transfiguration, with the figures of
Peter, James, and John tumbling terrified down the mountain, for evidence of
the awesomeness of this encounter with God.)
And what message does God
give us in this event of the Transfiguration?
Both Matthew and Peter pass it on to us:
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
The message is simple, and
essential for our daily life:
1. Jesus Christ is the beloved Son of God (which
makes Him also God).
2. God is well-pleased with Jesus. God the Father has full confidence and
satisfaction in the work of Jesus—His preaching, His teaching, His willing
sacrifice of Himself for our sins, His glorious and life-giving Resurrection
that gives us eternal life.
3. Finally, the Father tells us, “Listen
to Him.” Jesus is our teacher, our
guide, our Lord, God, and Savior. We
have to learn His will and do it. Every
day. For our whole life.
We know this message is
true. The Prophets and the Apostles are
our witnesses. When we believe God’s
truth and live it, we also will be transformed, transfigured to reveal God’s
love and glory in us, always drawing us into perfect union with the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, to whom we give thanks and praise and glory now
and ever and unto the ages of ages.
Amen.
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