The Last Sunday after the Epiphany (Fr. Guiliano)

​“We have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

St Peter lays out the Christian attitude toward life and the Holy Scriptures. We are living in a dark place. We cannot see or understand everything around us. In this situation, this present darkness, the Holy Scriptures are a light. They reveal what is around us. They help us to find our way. They help convey to us the presence of God, until that final day when his light and presence will be undeniable, visible, and glorious: “when the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

How can we have such confidence in the Scriptures? It seems like a big claim for them. They’re not always easy to understand; they can make for strange reading.

The answer is Jesus. St Peter had such confidence in the Scriptures and in the Christian Gospel because he was there on the holy mountain with Jesus and with James and John, as they witnessed his transfiguration. Christ’s face shone like the sun. His clothes became dazzling white. The great prophets of old, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. And even as Peter attempted a feeble response to the glory of this divine vision, he heard a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

From that moment, those three disciples would be forever changed. You could not erase such an experience from your mind. Before, there were doubts, questions, uncertainties; there was darkness in the world and darkness in the heart. Afterwards: conviction and light. It wasn’t light enough to banish all darkness. Not yet. But it was light enough to point out their path, following the Lord on the way to the Cross.
 
The revelation of Jesus Christ gave strength to those early apostles. The vision of his glory and divinity helped them through the pain that was to come, as they saw him suffer upon the cross. It prepared them for his resurrection. And it told them to trust the prophetic message that they knew in the Scriptures of Israel. They would read them differently in the future. They would see them in relation to Jesus, just as they saw Moses and Elijah speaking to him.

That moment on the mountain was so powerful, so formative. It set the course for the apostles’ future. Still, I sometimes think about how there were things it did not do for them. It did not provide total clarity; they didn’t suddenly know everything they needed to know. They were still human and fallible, still stumbling through life like every person.

That experience also did not free the apostles from suffering or from most of the difficulties of human life, even when they were graced to work miracles. The opposite was often true.

For example, there’s a poignant story in the 3rd and 4th chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. I’ll set the scene. It is after Pentecost. The Spirit has descended upon the church, and one day, while heading to the Temple for prayer, Peter and John healed a lame man along the way. The man was freed and leaping for joy; the crowd was confused and amazed. It seemed a moment of victory, with the power of God visibly at work. But the response of the reigning authorities in Jerusalem was not positive. They imprisoned the apostles and threatened them with violence. It would have been easy for them to despair. Instead, they testified to Jesus. “We cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” The vision of God had transformed them. Despite setbacks, suffering, and difficulties, they kept to the way of God.
 
This is a good message for us this morning: linger here and be transformed. For today is the Last Sunday of Epiphany. Lent is coming. As a church, we will enter into a season of “fasting, prayer, and self-denial.” We will recall the story of Jesus, going out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. We will remember the story of Elijah, fasting and praying. We will remember Moses and the people of Israel, wandering around the desert of Sinai. And we will recall that we are called to be like them.

For we are in the desert of the world. We are in a confusing and often dark place. We have our own challenges and temptations to contend with, and we live in communities that need the light of God.
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So linger here. Wait with the apostles. Pray to God that you might see Christ. Pray to see him appearing in glory and revealing the light and meaning of the Holy Scriptures. Pray that you may hear the heavenly voice saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved.” And then, when you have been strengthened, go down from the mountain into the darkness of this world in the company of the Son of God.

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