The Feast of the Transfiguration is without doubt a turning point in the gospels.  Three privileged members of the 12, St Peter, St James the Great and St John the Theologian are granted a revelation of the divine nature of Jesus Christ the Messiah. This revelation took the form of a vision of the Uncreated Light of the Godhead shining and burning in the face of the Lord and even glorifying his clothing. To seal this revelation our Lord appeared in the company of the prophets Moses and Elias, representing the law and the prophets, which had long promised that the Messiah would come. Father Christopher dealt with these two Old Testament figures in his sermon on the Feast on Thursday. Today I wish to draw our attention to the three men who were present in the flesh at this great and wonderful event, the saints Peter, James and John. Why do we find these three amongst the 12 on this and other occasions privileged to discover aspects of Christ in advance of the rest?

The Church is not a democratic institution; in fact it is not even an institution. The Church is the company of all those who have been called and baptised into the body of Christ which is identified as that body which continued to partake of the Apostles teaching and fellowship, both in the breaking of bread, the Eucharist and the prayers (Acts 2:41-42). Within that body from time to time there are bound to be some who are more spiritually advanced in Christ than others. The love of all men, women and children for our Lord is not the same. Sin hinders some; ignorance or laziness hinders others. Some have a deep love for Christ, others are shallow or inconstant in their love and service. Such is the teaching of the Parable of the Sower where the seed of God’s Word, Christ himself, only grows strongly to harvest in soil that is deep, rich and fertile. Peter, James and John, even above the rest of the 12, certainly brought to Christ deep, rich and fertile soil. Their love was strong; their passion for Christ deep and unwavering, their service tested but eventually found true. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew this as only God would know and so He granted them, in advance of the rest, a disclosure of his divine nature transfigured in all aspects of his humanity.

We may suppose that Peter, James and John were also transfigured on the Mount not with a light of their own but with the reflected glory of the Uncreated Light of the Godhead. However, what is on the outside, this Light, eventually penetrated deeply within them and transformed them forever. We might explain this using an analogy. Although we should always protect our skin in the sun, nonetheless sunlight is good for us; in fact it is essential to our health. Between 90 and 95% of the vitamin D that we need comes from direct exposure to sunlight. It is this beneficial radiation through the skin which helps to manufacture this essential vitamin in our bodies. How much more so then is the Uncreated Light of Christ necessary not only on the outside of our person so to speak but deep within. On the Mount, Peter, James and John learned that it was not sufficient merely to bask in the radiance of Christ; they had to take that light within themselves. Baptised in water they may have been but now they realise that they must also be baptised in the Holy Spirit.  This will come to pass when at Pentecost, after enduring the bitterness of Christ’s death and being stunned by his resurrection, they will be filled with the same fire from heaven. The Transfiguration is, therefore, celebrated as an anticipation, a promise of the fullness of salvation that will break forth upon the world when the Church is born from the seed of Israel, not just for the Jews but for the Gentiles and all the nations of the earth.

Before we leave Peter, James and John, we might reflect that each apostle brings something to the table, something that we can learn for our own faith in Christ. St Peter is present on the Mount because of his great love for Christ; thrice tested in the courtyard when he denies Him but then confirmed after the resurrection on the beach when he confirms his love for Christ another three times. St Peter will go on to grow, develop and change spiritually as he continues to serve Christ in the Church. He will learn that the love of God is for all people not just his own. He will come to understand why his fellow Jew, St Paul, must take the gospel to all nations. He will found not only the Church of Antioch but also with St. Paul, the Church of Rome. In that city he will be crucified upside down for the sake of Christ and that will become the supreme moment of his own glorification as a Christian martyr. St James the Great is present possibly because he was the first apostle to be martyred, by King Herod Agrippa in A.D. 44. Together with his brother St John the Theologian, he was called “Boanerges” by Christ, a “son of thunder.” Perhaps St James shows us that a passionate commitment to Christ and engagement with the mission of the Church, an active apostolate, will not be stopped even by death, and this also is essential for the Christian life. His brother, St John the Theologian, also present at the Transfiguration, brings something else: a spiritual depth, a purity, a clear vision of the glory of Christ and the universality of His love.  These insights, this wisdom in the Holy Spirit will eventually lead him to write a preface to his gospel in which he unites the Greek and Hebrew Christian worlds by showing that Christ is no less than the word of God, the Logos made flesh. Such wisdom does not come to anyone without a truly deep connection with Christ. This came to St John when he opened his heart fully to the Saviour on the Mount as he beheld his glory.

Now this is what these three wonderful apostles bring back from the Mount of the Transfiguration, but what about us?  Are we there with them?  Do we see Christ as He truly is?  Are our hearts open to be transformed by a passionate engagement with Christ and his Kingdom?  Are we, the baptised, continually open to fresh outpourings of the Holy Spirit in our lives?  Are we truly seeking to receive the cleansing fire and radiant brilliancy of the indwelling Uncreated Light of the Godhead within us, as St Gregory Palamas and all the Fathers from St Paul onwards have taught us?  These are huge and challenging questions and I guess that many of us from time to time at least would prefer to shelve them; but we can ill afford to do so.  Too much is at stake both in our own lives and in the world to do anything other than hasten to that Transfiguring Mount in our prayers and surrender ourselves to Christ’s service.  As Our Lord Himself taught us in His Sermon on the Mount: “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 5:16)