2 Peter 1:16-21: "16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
This mornings reading is from the Epistle for the Transfiguration of our Lord, the last Sunday after Epiphany. Next week begins, for those using the ancient and proper lectionary, what is known as Pre-Lent. It is a time of preparation for Lent. The Lenten season is comprised of three cycles: Pre-Lent, Lent, and Passiontide (which starts on Judica, the fifth Sunday in Lent). Pre-Lent is made up of three Sunday that prepare us for our penitential and catechetical journey during Lent. These three Sunday involve call, instruction, and enlightenment. People are called into the vineyard, that is the Church, by our Lord's Word, which is portrayed by the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Then they receive catechesis, that is, instruction in the doctrines and practices of the Church, that is portrayed by the parable of the sower and the seed. Having been called, that is invited into the Church, and having been catechized, that is, instructed, we receive enlightenment, that is, our eyes of faith, blinded by the darkness of sin and despair, are opened to see the glories of our Lord God. This is portrayed in the healing of the blind man, Bartemaeus.
So we have three Sundays which lead us into and prepare us for the reflection upon our sin and our struggle with sin throughout Lent. When we reach Passiontide, then we set our eyes on the cross, that is the Passion (which is why this season is called "Passion"tide.) But these three cycles of Lent cannot take place unless we have what takes place today within the Church Year, that is, the Transfiguration of our Lord.
St. Peter was there, and He relates in his Epistle that he was an eyewitness that our Lord Jesus was indeed the God/man; He was God incarnate in man's flesh. From St. Peter's words that this was not "cunningly devised fables" we can assume that there were those, perhaps even within the Church, who thought this transfiguration narrative was a little too far-fetched. There are those today who think the same thing, even those who claim to be a part of the Church.
St. Peter tells us that he saw it with his own eyes. If we cannot believe an eyewitness, who can we believe? But St. Peter goes on to say that the purpose of our Lord Jesus revealing Himself in such a fashion, was not just to put on a show, nor to scare the disciples to death, although, they certainly were afraid as the Gospel from St. Matthew tells us. No, St. Peter tells us that the reason for Christ's transfiguration was to confirm the prophetic Word.
The prophets of the Old Testament continuously preached and proclaimed that the Messiah would come. That our Lord God would come to save His people with His own hand. Granted this prophecy was veiled in unclear language, but in His transfiguration, our Lord shines the eternal light on all of holy Scriptures so that we can see clearly when reading the Old Testament prophecies that they were referring to our Lord and Saviour Jesus.
Our Lord spreads this light, this eternal light of His Word, into our hearts, full of darkness and sin, and in so doing, He enlightens our hearts, and removes the darkness of sin, so that we may become children of light. Furthermore, having this light shined on our dark hearts full of sin, we can see clearly that these prophecies of our Lord, and for that matter, all of holy Scripture, were not written by men, but by God Himself.
St. Peter, too, writes to us by the hand of the Holy Spirit. It is His Word, he simply uses St. Peter, and all the prophets, evangelists and apostles who wrote holy Scripture, to write it down in their own language. And this leads us to another point, for we often hear the accusation, that such and such a part of holy Scripture is "our interpretation." The Blessed St. Peter dispels even this erroneous thinking, for he tells us that "no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation." What does that mean? It means that not only does the Holy Spirit give the very words and thoughts that the holy men of God wrote in His holy Word, but He also is the One Who provides the interpretation.
This is why our Lord Jesus spent three years with His disciples teaching them all that holy Scripture prophesied about Him. It is no wonder then that the Early Church is some places adopted a three year minimum of instruction in the Word of God (other places had two years). It wasn't until they had spent three years learning God's Word that they could then submit their names to become a member of the "fideles", that is, the "faithful ones." This particular catechesis took place during the forty days of Lent, which is why Lent has always been marked by catechesis and instruction. During these forty days, having already learned fully holy Scripture, got to hear the tenets of the faith. It was instruction in the Creed, that is, the Nicene Creed. And they didn't even get to hear the Creed until they had a week or so of catechesis.
These holy things were so guarded by the early Christians, that the Lord's Prayer was not even taught to them until there was only a week or two left before their Holy Baptism on the night before Easter. This was done for several reasons, one, they took seriously the saying of our Lord that one should not throw pearls before swine, in other words, the mysteries of the Church should not be given to just anybody, but should be revered as holy things. Two, making someone a Christian, at that time, meant not only making them an enemy of the devil, but also an enemy of the state. If someone who was not ready, someone who was not willing to endure the requirements of the Church, was allowed to be told all about the holy mysteries, and then had been captured by the state and tortured, it was believed that this weak individual would give them all up, and the individual church, and the Church at large would suffer.
But, the third reason, was the most important, that was that they did not want any "private interpretations." This was especially important in a day and age when the written word was not a common thing, and that the mysteries of God, and the teachings of the Church, were handed down, for the most part orally. And, we can see from history that this was successful, for when the time of open persecution by the government was ended, and these teachings began to be written down, and the true confession of the Church was recorded in the words of the Nicene Creed, we see that what they believed was the same as what the Apostles taught them. This is almost two hundred years later. The truth was preserved by the work of the Holy Spirit working through the men of God who were in charge of catechesis and instruction in God's word.
This is how we today, know whether our church teaches the Word of God in its truth and purity, because it teaches what the Apostles taught, it teaches what St. Peter taught, because they were taught by our Lord. It also teaches what the Early Fathers taught. And one can easily start to see errors in church bodies where they have left these teachings, and have devised cunning false teachings that only sound right to the untrained ears.
Only those churches teach the truth which place our salvation solely on the shoulders of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is found in Him alone, even the Heavenly Father attests to this, not only in this Epistle of St. Peter, but also in the holy Gospels, both here at the transfiguration, and at His Holy Baptism. Salvation is not found in man or anything that he does, but solely in our Lord.
So today, the Blessed St. Peter sets us on the straight path, and preaches our Lord Jesus as the One and Only Saviour of mankind. He alone is the One Who transfigured Himself on the Mount, and He alone it is Who reveals Himself as God incarnate in our flesh. As the Heavenly Father testifies, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased. Hear Him!"
May God be with you!
Deacon Dulas
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