I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me

 

 "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. 

 

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

 

- John 5:30-47 

 

 Following the healing of the paralytic at the pool near the Sheep Gate, the religious leaders found and began to question Jesus about healing on the Sabbath.  Jesus responded, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Following this, they became even more enraged at Christ.  Yesterday we read that Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and he will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

 

  "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."  The divine will is common to the three Persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- for all fully share the same divine nature, my study Bible explains.  When the Son is said to obey the Father, this refers to Christ's human will, which He assumed at His Incarnation.  According to my study Bible, He freely aligned His human will in every aspect with the divine will of the Father; so are we called to do likewise.  

 

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"  My study Bible asks, how could Christ's witness ever be untrue?  It cannot, it says (see John 8:14).  Here Jesus is anticipating their argument, and speaking the thoughts of the Jewish leaders (he does the same in Luke 4:23).  In Jewish tradition, a valid testimony requires two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6).  Here, Jesus doubles that, and offers them four witnesses to confirm His identity as Messiah and as Son of God.  He first offers God the Father ("There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true"); then St. John the Baptist; Christ's own works testify of Him, which the Father has given Him to do; and finally the Old Testament Scriptures, through which Moses and others gave testimony to Him.  

 

 Jesus repeatedly invokes the concept that human beings do not grant the honor that He seeks.  Indeed, even testimony "from man" is not something He receives ("Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved").  He is establishing first that it is the honor of God that He values and that has meaning as a true measuring stick of value and goodness.  This is a teaching that applies to each of us as well.  In the penitential psalm of David cherished as  paradigm for all of us, we read, "Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge" (Psalm 51:4).  The psalmist affirms that it is only God who will and can be judge; and here in today's reading (and yesterday's, above), Jesus affirms that He, indeed, is judge, for the Father has given judgment into His hands.  So, therefore, honor is not defined through the opinion of "man," that is, of other human beings, but through pleasing God.  Nonetheless Jesus offers four witnesses to His identity as Messiah, as Lord.  They are St. John the Baptist, who testified about Him as the Lamb of God, and prepared the people for Him (see John 1:29, 36).  St. John also testified as witness to the event of Christ's Baptism and the revelation of the Holy Trinity at that time, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit (John 1:32).  For Christ, all value and judgment comes from God, thus St. John the Baptist's mission and work as prophet, from God, is valuable, honest, and true witness.  Next He names the works that He does as witness, for these are given to Him by the Father to do.  Therefore His "signs" all point to God, affirming that He is the Christ.  Jesus says, "I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?"  In other words, if they truly loved God, they would recognize these works of God in Him.  But they only receive honor from one another, and not from the only God.  Therefore they cannot truly see what He is, who He is, nor even the One to whom all of His signs (His "works") point.  Finally, Jesus speaks of Moses as witness to Himself as Messiah and Lord:  "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"  Let us bear in mind that all of these religious leaders revere Moses and the Scriptures that come through Moses.  But Jesus is saying that even Moses' writings, which reveal Himself, they do not truly believe, because they haven't the love of God in them.  Jesus' language teaches us something powerful about psychology, that those things we honor and love determine how we view the world, and even what we are capable of recognizing as good, and of intrinsic worth.  This is truly essential understanding of the heart.  For, as He says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  The layers of the heart are indeed veiled, and complicated, but the soul has a depth of orientation that can and will surprise us at times.  It is Christ the judge who can see this in us, even when we are unaware of the depths of our hearts ourselves.  His words verify that we need to seek first that kingdom of God, our depth of relationship, for that sets all else in proper order, including how we view the world and our relationships in it.  We should also take note that, in the Church, historically, we understand the Old Testament in light of the New:  for here, Christ Himself tells us that those Scriptures speak of Him as Lord.  Let us seek Him with our whole hearts, for only His judgment is the righteous one we need.

 

 

 

 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life

 

Christ Pantocrator ("Almighty"), 6th century, St. Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai, Egypt

 

 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  

 

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  

 

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  

 

"No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  

 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

 

- John 3:1–21 

 

On Saturday we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. 

 

 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  My study Bible notes here that Nicodemus believed Jesus was from God, but his faith was still weak, as he was afraid of his peers.  So, he came to Jesus by night.  However, after this conversation his faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51), and in the end he will make the bold public expression of faith (together with another member of the ruling Council, St. Joseph of Arimathea) of preparing and entombing the Lord's body (John 19:39-42).  My study Bible also tells us that according to some early sources, Nicodemus was baptized by St. Peter and consequently removed from the Sanhedrin and forced to flee Jerusalem. 

 

 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  In the Greek of the Gospel, the word "again" in the expression born again can also mean "from above."  Both meanings are essential (as often happens in the Gospels), as it is a reference to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13).  My study Bible comments that this heavenly birth is baptism and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  This new birth is only the beginning of our spiritual life, and its goal is the entrance into the kingdom of God.   In Nicodemus' response, we see that he misunderstands, and asks how a second physical birth is possible.  This is a frequent occurrence in St. John's Gospel, my study Bible points out, and Christ uses such opportunities in order to elevate an idea from a superficial or earthly meaning to a heavenly and eternal meaning (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  

 

 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."   Jesus refers here to Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit given at chrismation (born of water and the Spirit).  That which is born of the Spirit describes a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit; this is adoption as a child of God.  The wind blows where it wishes is a play on words in the Greek.  The word πνευμα/pneuma means both wind and Spirit.  My study Bible comments that the working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  In the same manner, the Spirit moves where He wills and He cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas. 

 

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"   My study Bible cites St. John Chrysostom, who comments that earthly things refer to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These are earthly in the sense that they occur on earth and are given to creatures, not that they are "unspiritual."  But the heavenly things referred to here involve those ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father; they relate to Christ's eternal existence before all time, and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world.  A person first must understand the ways in which God works among humankind before one can even begin to understand those things that pertain to God Himself. 

 

 "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  My study Bible explains that Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  It says that this miracle-working image prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  As believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  It says that just as the image of a serpent was the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself. 

 

 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  In this frequently quoted verse, we're shown the reason why the Son must be "lifted up"; that is, crucified.  Here Jesus declares God's great love which is not only for Israel but for the world.  This single verse, my study Bible says, expresses the whole of the message of St. John's Gospel, and even of salvation history. 

 

 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."  My study Bible notes here that while Christ came to save and not to condemn, human beings have free will.  So, therefore, we can reject this gift, and to become condemned by our own rejection.  

 

If we take a look at a specific words in today's reading, we may explore ideas that give us hidden glimmers of meaning.   We perhaps attain another kind of insight from Jesus' words.  Jesus explains, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."  The root of the word translated as "condemned" is κρίνω/krino.  This word can mean condemned, but its more common meaning is to "judge."   It's the same word used in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus teaches, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" (Matthew 7:1-2).  So, perhaps one important meaning we can also take from Christ's words in today's reading is that the one who rejects Christ is in fact rejecting Christ's judgment (and guidance) in favor of his or her own instead.  This can work in so many ways; how often do we judge ourselves more harshly than the merciful Christ would?  Or perhaps the reverse is true, we excuse our own actions when in fact we should be finding and making the changes that Christ would ask of us.  In either case, it's the judgment of Christ that is rejected, and so a person is in fact judged by his or her own judgment, rejecting God.  It's an important aspect of meaning in this word to consider, for when we reject Christ's judgment, then whose in fact are we preferring?  And how does that judgment we make in so doing reflect upon us?  In fact, it is a rejection of the reality of existence, and of creation, for we create our own fantasy otherwise.  Whether too harsh or too comfortable, we miss the mark and we fail to come to Christ.  This is another sense in which we might "love darkness rather than light," for without Christ our understanding is darkened, partial, ignorant of the truth He would offer.  In all things, we are directed to Him.   Such a teaching is contained as well in the image of Christ being raised on the Cross, and its similarity to the bronze serpent on a stick raised by Moses in order to heal the Israelites from the poison of the serpents that bit their ankles.  So long as they kept their eyes on that raised sign, they were saved from the poison.  It is, in some sense, similar to the story of St. Peter walking on the water, requesting of Jesus that he be able to walk to Him.  So long as St. Peter stayed focused on Jesus, he was able to do so, but when he looked away at the wind, he became afraid and started to sink.  Jesus said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" See Matthew 14:22-33.  So our faith in Christ is a matter of focus and attention, but that includes following ("Follow Me"), acting in accordance with that faith.  This means for us that we seek Christ's judgment (for this is discernment) in all that we do; we seek His guidance.   In that oft-quoted verse from today's reading, Jesus teaches, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  But we don't often examine what it really means to believe, to have faith.  Both "belief" and "faith" in the Gospels are translated from the same word.  It more closely means to trust.  To believe, then, in this famous quotation of John 3:16, is not simply to agree with an idea, and nor is it an intellectual calculation.  It means to live in accordance with what Christ teaches, to follow Him, to live by His code and become part of His body, His family by adoption.  In the common understanding of the ancient world, to be a part of a nation, a group, an "ethnos" in the language of the Bible, was to follow a common code; it was not about heredity in the modern sense in which we understand DNA and lineage in this sense.  If we put all of these concepts together into one body of teaching, we come to understand a bigger picture of what belief actually is.  It is following Him. our full attention on Him at all times, His light and teachings and commands guiding us -- and moreover it means to put our trust in Him to the extent that we trust in His judgment before our own.  Perhaps Jesus Himself sets the greatest example to us all when He teaches, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:38).  For so we are to trust in Him.  So much so, that we live a new birth in the Spirit so we may be adopted as children and grow to be more like Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am willing; be cleansed

 

 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 

 

 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

 

- Matthew 7:28-8:4 

 

In our recent readings, the lectionary has led us through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  Yesterday we read Christ's final "sayings" in this Sermon.  He taught, "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'  Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rains descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall."  

 

 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.   Authority will be a great and grave subject that comes up repeatedly in the ministry of Jesus Christ.  One having authority indicates a person having authority in themselves, rather than quoting famous rabbis or other teachers, as did the scribes.  He is neither a Levitical priest nor a member of a ruling family, nor is He a Pharisee.  Throughout the Gospel, it is important to remember that Jesus comes from humble beginnings, and His knowledge and learning is astonishing in this context, in addition to the authority with which He speaks.

 

  When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  My study Bible comments that the biblical law concerning leprosy is found in Leviticus 13; 14.   In Deuteronomy 24:8 we find the command regarding the purification of lepers and leprous houses, a duty entrusted to the priests.  My study Bible explains that leprosy was considered to be a direct punishment for sins, and as lepers were unclean, they were not permitted to live in the community or worship in synagogues or the temple.  To touch the unclean was forbidden (Leviticus 7:21), but nevertheless Jesus touched the leper; this shows His compassion, and also that He is not subject to the Law but over it.  My study Bible further comments that to the clean, nothing is unclean (see Romans 14:14; Titus 1:15).  

 

Jesus' healing of this leper immediately following the Sermon on the Mount gives us an important illustration of His Gospel.  First of all, there is a transformation of understanding the laws about leprosy.  Let us note that Jesus is still very careful to observe the Law in telling the healed leper to show himself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded.  As He has said in the Sermon on the Mount, He has come to fulfill, and not to destroy, the Law and the Prophets.  But importantly, this works also as a testimony to them.  Moreover, Christ makes the distinction that His gospel is meant to heal; the whole purpose of all that He does and all that He has come into the world to be and to do is to offer us healing, which is the true essence of salvation.  All of His medicine for the world, including His Body and Blood of the Eucharist, is meant as medicine, healing us from what ails the world.  In this there is not, therefore, "clean" and "unclean" but only that which needs healing, rectifying, purifying through His Incarnation.  Jesus Himself will "become sin" for us, dying on the Cross as one despised and cast out of community (2 Corinthians 5:21).  But as in His Incarnation, Christ meets even the greatest suffering, shame, and abominations of this world with His divinity and humanity combined, He is healing of all of it.  Whatever He touches, indeed, becomes healed, even destroying death by experiencing human death.  The mystery of this transforming paradox is put this way by St. Paul:  "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:13).  The teaching of St. Gregory of Nazianzinus, so central to Christianity, tells us regarding the Incarnation, "That which is not assumed is not healed."  He continues, "That which is united to God, that will be saved.  If half of Adam fell, also half will be taken up and saved.  But if all [of Adam], all of his nature will be united [to God], and all of it will be saved" (Letter 101 to Cledonius).  Jesus' touch teaches us that all that He has come into the world to do is to heal whatever He finds, whatever is broken, in need of redemption or restoration.  As His own life became subject to the worst the world (and the evil of the world) had to offer, so He had touched all parts of human life and experience, and He offers through this depth of "touch" the healing to all of us, no matter our own darkness or shame.  But just as the healed leper was told to show himself to the priest, so we must come to Christ with all that we are for His healing and His "touch."  For this we are given even His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, so that we may unite to Him in this touch, as St. Nazianzinus teaches.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them

 

 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.  His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.  And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.  And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.  Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.  And they asked Him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  Then He answered and told them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things.  And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?  But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."

 

- Mark 9:2-13

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?"  So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ."  Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.   And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.  He spoke this word openly.  Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.  But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.   For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power."

 

  Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.  His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.  The event described in today's reading is known as the Transfiguration (Μεταμορφωσις/Metamorphosis in the Greek).  This is a theophany, meaning a manifestation of God.  In particular there is the manifestation or appearance of the divinity of Christ, through a display of what is understood in Orthodoxy as His uncreated, divine energy -- appearing as dazzling light.  St. John writes that God is light (1 John 1:5); so His shining, exceedingly white clothing such as  no launderer on earth can whiten them, demonstrate that Jesus is God.  In some icons this color is shown as beyond white, tinted blue-white, meaning an ineffable, inexpressible color of spiritual origin.

 

And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.  Here is the presence of the kingdom of heaven; Moses and Elijah give us the reality of the communion of saints Hebrews 12:1), always present, and they communicate with Jesus.  They are both immediately recognizable (where we know and are known; see 1 Corinthians 13:12).  In Peter's confusion and fear, as he knows that the Feast of Tabernacles is the Feast of the Coming Kingdom, he suggests the building of tents or tabernacles for them as was done at that feast (symbols of God's dwelling among the just in the Kingdom).  My study Bible comments that Moses represents the law and all those who have died, while Elijah represents the prophets and -- as he did not experience death -- all those who are alive in Christ.  My study Bible says that their presence shows that the law and the prophets, the living and the dead, all bear witness to Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of the whole Old Testament.  

 

And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.  The bright cloud recalls  temple worship and the cloud that went before the Israelites in the wilderness, which my study Bible calls the visible sign of God being extraordinarily present.  The Father's voice combines with the Spirit in the brightness of the cloud and the dazzling light around Christ, while the identity of Christ revealed as beloved Son to manifest the Holy Trinity.  

 

  Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.  What they have seen is true and real, but throughout St. Mark's Gospel so far, Jesus has emphasized the need to keep the messianic secret until the proper time it can be revealed.  Note the mystery; they question what the rising from the dead meant.  

 

 And they asked Him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  Then He answered and told them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things.  And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?  But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."  Now the disciples are prepared to understand that Christ is referring to St. John the Baptist.  When He says that Elijah has also come already, He indicates that Malachi's prophesy of the return of Elijah (Malachi 4:5) refers to one coming "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17), rather than to Elijah himself.  

 

The Transfiguration comes to us as a manifestation, a "showing forth" of Christ's true identity.  This occurs in a kind of symbolic language, a language of light, of sound in the Father's voice, of vision and recognition in the appearance of Moses and Elijah.  And all of these things occur in the presence of witnesses, the three who are known as the pillars among His disciples, and that, too, happens for an important reason.  Not only will they remember this experience during the time of the horrific events they will live through during the Passion and Christ's crucifixion and death.  But they are those who tell us for posterity, and this, too, occurs for an important reason.  For our earliest Christian ancestors, and for the first millennium of the Church, this experience of Transfiguration was an important factor in understanding the whole purpose of Christ's mission into our world, and how exactly we come to be saved.  This is because this notion of transfiguration, of metamorphosis, to use the borrowed Greek word in our language, is the effect of grace upon us.  Most powerfully, throughout the course of the history of the Church, the words of our early Church Fathers and theologians have come to us indicating that God became human, so that we human beings could become [like] God.  This doesn't happen merely through a kind of deductive reasoning, or simply asking ourselves, "What would Jesus do?" or any other sort of purely imitative behaviors.  It happens first of all because of the Incarnation.  Divinity has touched human flesh and human experience, and this becomes a part of our world, a part of the fabric of the created world, where even in His Resurrection and Ascension, human flesh may rise and ascend with Him, and thus humanity.  This is opening the doors to salvation.  Through grace, and our cooperation with that grace, through the workings of the Holy Spirit, the Helper and Counselor sent to us by Christ and the Father, we also are given a kind of blueprint for our lives, a transformative, transfiguring grace, so that we may grow in the fruits of the Spirit.  These fruits become evidence of our own metamorphosis, our own transfiguration, so that we are changed as people, and we become more compatible with the Kingdom and its reality, preparing the way for us to dwell in Christ's many mansions.  We, like Christ, are able to bear the Kingdom into the world, and share the light placed in us, and magnified through the work of grace, and our acceptance and cooperation with that grace.  The Transfiguration shows us who Christ really is, but it also gives us the unseen reality that is always there whether we know it or not.  The light of God is with us, and it is within us.  God's love and mercy always awaits our attention and acceptance.  But because of the Transfiguration, we have a sense of what that is and means.  Let us always remember the light of the world, our true Light, and where it comes from.

 

 

 

 

How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

 

 "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. 

 

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

 

- John 5:30–47 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus answered and said to the religious authorities who questioned Him after He healed on the Sabbath, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

 

 "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."  My study Bible explains here that the divine will is common to the three Persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- for all fully share the same divine nature.  When the Son is said to obey the Father, this is a reference to Christ's human will, which He assumed at His Incarnation.  Jesus freely aligned His human will in every aspect with the divine will of God the Father, and so we are called to do likewise.  

 

 "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"  My study Bible has a lengthy note on these verses.  First, it asks how Christ's witness could ever be untrue?  It cannot (see John 8:14).  Rather, my study Bible says that Jesus is anticipating the argument and here He is speaking the thoughts of the Jewish leaders whom He's addressing (He does the same thing in Luke 4:23).  In Jewish tradition, my study Bible explains, a valid testimony requires two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6).  Here Christ offers four witnesses to confirm His identity as Messiah and as Son of God.  First is God the Father (verses 32, 37-38).  Then there is also John the Baptist (verses 33-35).  Finally, there are His own works that He has done (verse 36), and the Old Testament Scriptures, through which Moses and others gave testimony (verses 39-47).  

 

What is this that Christ says about honor and its importance to us?  On some level, all human beings -- and even animals -- want something that is called honor.   We can consider honor to mean reputation, or status, or fame, or renown.  Somehow it conveys our presence to others and the way others think of us, where we have significance in a society or a group.  The honor we receive back from others influences also the ways that we think of ourselves.  For this is the way that our minds work.  Even for groups of animals, status within the group is essential to function.  In verse 44 of today's reading, Jesus asks, "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?"  This word that is translated as "honor" is usually translated as "glory" in the Greek.  It is δόξα/doxa.  So, considering this word, we can see its relation to reputation, renown, status among a group or society.  It is the word from which we derive the term doxology, a hymn of praise to God.  So Jesus is putting to these men a kind of challenge, to consider where they think their honor or glory comes from.  Does it come from God?  Or does it come from human beings?  Is their greatness something derived from impressing others, or from following God?  If our own notions of honor are sought by pleasing God, then where do we think our "glory" comes from?  If we look only to the world and ignore our relation with God in what we do, then where does our glory or honor come from?  In some way, this question exemplifies and underscores all that is contained in the Gospels, in the story of Jesus Christ and His ministry of salvation for this world.  For where does our honor or glory come from?  The Cross itself (and Christ's Crucifixion) exemplifies this very dichotomy, this contrast in where we think our honor or glory lies.  For in going to the Cross, Christ gave us the starkest example of One who sacrificed all worldly honor and glory for the honor and glory bestowed by God, and in so doing, He "trampled death by death" as the Orthodox Paschal Troparion declares.  As St. Paul put it, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).  St. John the Baptist, in his rigorous asceticism and radical humility, also exemplified a life lived for the glory of God only, without regard to worldly honor.  One could say that the very definition of a saint is of a person who gives all for their love of God, whatever that means in their lives.  To seek honor or glory from the only God is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).  This is from the command known as the Shema, after the first word in Hebrew (meaning "hear"); it is the Jewish declaration of faith.  It is also called the first great commandment by Christ (see Matthew 22:36-40).  It is this commandment to which Jesus' question appeals in addressing these religious leaders.  Where does their honor or glory come from?  How can they understand Him and what He says if they do not truly love God?  He says in all earnestness, "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?"   Today we can ask ourselves the same question. Where does our honor come from?  Where is our glory?

 

 

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit

 

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. 

 

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from  God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  

 

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  

 

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?   No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

 

- John 2:23—3:15 

 

On Saturday we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

 

  Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.   St. John's Gospel gives us three Passover feasts between the Lord's baptism and His Passion (see also John 6:4; 11:55). This teaches us that Christ's earthly ministry lasted three years.  

 

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from  God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."   My study Bible comments that Nicodemus believed Jesus was from God, but his faith is still weak at this point, as he is afraid of his peers and so came to Jesus by night.   After this conversation, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51) and finally making the bold public expression of faith of preparing and entombing Christs body (John 19:39-42).  Nicodemus' memory is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on the third Sunday of Pascha (Easter) together with the Myrrhbearing Women and Joseph of Arimathea.  My study Bible reports that according to some early sources, Nicodemus was baptized by St. Peter and was consequently removed from the Sanhedrin and forced to flee Jerusalem. 

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."   In the Greek, the word translated again can also be understood as meaning "from above."  It therefore clearly refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13).  This heavenly birth, my study Bible explains, is baptism, and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  It is simply the beginning of our spiritual life, with its goal being entrance into the kingdom of God.  

 

 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Nicodemus misunderstands, and questions the possibility of a second physical birth.  This is frequently a pattern in St. John's Gospel (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  Jesus uses such opportunities to elevate an idea from a superficial or worldly meaning to a heavenly and eternal one. 

 

 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  The birth of water and the Spirit is a direct reference to Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given at chrismation, my study Bible comments.  To be born of the Spirit is to participate in adoption as a child of God.  It is not a matter of ethnic descent, nor natural birth, nor by our own decision.  To become a child of God is a spiritual birth by grace, my study Bible says, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit.  It's accomplished and manifested in the sacrament of Holy Baptism (see also Titus 3:4-7).  Jesus' teaching includes a play on words. The Greek word pneuma/πνευμα means both wind and Spirit.  The working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, my study Bible explains, is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  So also, the Spirit moves where He wills and cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas. 

 

 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?   No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."  According to my study Bible, St. John Chrysostom comments that earthly things refer to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These are "earthly" in the sense that they occur on earth and are given to creatures, not that they are not spiritual.  The heavenly things involve the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, my study Bible says. They relate to His eternal existence before all time (with the Father and the Spirit) and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world.  It notes that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among human beings before one can even begin to understand things that pertain directly to God Himself.  

 

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from the deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  This miracle-working image prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross, my study Bible says.  It notes that as believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  Just as the image of a serpent was the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself. 

 

 John's Gospel dives more deeply into the mystical reality which Christ brings into the world in today's Gospel reading.  We have gone from the beginning of Christ's public ministry with the baptism of John the Baptist, to here, in which Christ begins to explain what it is to be "born again" or rather, "born from above," meaning to be born of the Spirit in Christian Holy Baptism.  Just as Jesus must use "earthly" language to describe spiritual realities, so we know that the Incarnation is the powerful plan of salvation in which God the Logos comes to us in human form, and gives us gifts which enable us to participate in the kingdom of heaven even as human beings in our world.  Once again, we observe the reality of Christ that He brings into the world as something which is "hidden in plain sight," even as He seeks to explain to Nicodemus the Pharisee, who comes to Him by night to learn from Him.  Here is one more gem hidden in this Gospel, that of the story of Nicodemus himself.  For we do not expect, those of us who have perhaps becomes a little too used to the stories we hear in Church, that there is at least one among the Pharisees, and perhaps many more, who were actually believers in Christ.  We're told that besides Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea also figures prominently in the story of Jesus, and both of these significant men among the Sanhedrin, the ruling Council.  Notably, it is St. John's Gospel which tells us the fullness of this story, despite the fact that the term "the Jews," so often used in this particular Gospel to indicate the religious leaders, has been misconstrued throughout history.  It is also St. John's Gospel that will tell us, "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43).  Let us endeavor to read carefully as we continue, for there is so much hidden in plain sight.  It's all too easy to miss, and to generalize.  Just like the mysterious wind that blows where it wishes, the Scripture gives us glimmers of light and reveals things we don't expect.  But let us praise the Gospel in the truth and light it brings to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living

 

 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

 

- Matthew 22:23-33 

 

On Saturday we read that the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceive their wickedness, and said, 'Why do you test Me, you hypcrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  they said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

 

  The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.  My study Bible comments here that Christ confirms there will be a resurrection, but not of the kind these Sadducees are imagining.  They consider the resurrection as a continuation of earthly life (including earthly marriage), and so they mock this doctrine with an absurd scenario.  But they're ignorant of the Scriptures, which reveal a complete transformation of life in the resurrection, and therefore make their questions irrelevant.  Moreover, they also fail to understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God even when they are physically dead.  It's the clear teaching of Christ, my study Bible adds, that the souls of the faithful who have left this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection. 

 

 We first of all might look at this scene in today's reading as one that exemplifies for us a type of common problem.  That is, the problem with many who criticize Christianity without first understanding its basic principles, or having only a very fragmented or uninformed knowledge about it.  Jesus here uses the elements of faith to express to these men, who form an important class of the ruling parties in Jerusalem, that they know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.   For, through the power of God, "in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven."  Moreover, the Scriptures clearly reveal this in God's word to Moses, when God revealed Himself to Moses in the mystery of the burning bush, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exodus 3:6).  So, from the story in today's Gospel passage, we may see quite clearly how even those nominally of our faith may remain ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God.  For it takes not simply a smattering of knowledge of Scripture nor even of a basic sense of what our faith declares to truly have insight and understanding of Christ and what He offers to us.  We read Scripture in a particular way, and we come to know the power of God also through a particular kind of understanding and of faith.  We might first need to understand that the Sadducees formed a particular ruling class among those who led the temple and formed the ruling Council of the Jews.  According to my study Bible, they were a type of aristocratic body, forming a high priestly and landowning class, which controlled the temple and the internal political affairs of the Jews.  For their Scriptures they held only the first five books of what we call the Old Testament; that is, the Torah or Pentateuch.  In contrast to the Pharisees, they rejected belief in angels, the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the dead.  After the destruction of the city and temple in the Siege of Jerusalem (in AD 70), they disappeared as a class.  So what we might first conjecture from both this scenario they present to Jesus, and also from what we know of their beliefs, they had a very materialistic approach to faith and their vision of responsibility to God.  That is, their focus was the Law and their inherited duties, positions, and properties.  They also were politically prudent, and and adapted to the presence of the Romans.  Today we live in a very secular culture, where it is possible to have a bare understanding of the values of Christian faith, and criticize on a mistaken or highly uninformed basis.  It's entirely possible to have Scripture quoted and distorted without this understanding or insight that comes from tradition and spiritual or theological understanding.  If we fail to accept the spiritual basis for much of Christ's and the Church's teachings, we will fail to understand Scripture and the Gospels.  Perhaps most powerfully, we will miss the transfiguration of the Cross, the power of Christ's Resurrection, and what it means to be offered eternal life.  Many people separate beliefs into a kind of "two-story world," to use a phrase borrowed from Fr. Stephen Freeman (who writes this blog), and so fail to understand the interconnection of spiritual reality and worldly reality, which is in fact the point of the mysteries and sacraments of faith, and to which the life of Christ points us.  Perhaps the most important focus we take from today's reading is how we can be distracted from true spiritual or theological understanding by an exclusive focus on rules, material life, and the power inherent in position and property.  Whatever way a materialistic perspective forms, with an exclusive focus only on the worldly and to the exclusion of the reality of spiritual life pointed to in Scripture, we will be missing a lot and lacking in understanding of our faith.  Neither will we have insight into Christ's teachings. As we head toward the celebration of Christ's Nativity, let consider the ways in which nominal belief in Christ can still fall short of the depth of beauty and the transformational power of faith, and the reality of the soul.  Wherever we are in our spiritual lives, let us seek to welcome Christ more truly into our hearts, where He can open our eyes more deeply to what is real and what matters for our lives.  For God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.  We need to consider what that really means, and all the "life" that Christ offers to fill the here and now.

 

 

 

 

He was transfigured before them

 

Transfiguration of our Lord, 6th century, mosaic.  St. Catherine's Monastery (apse of the great basilica), Sinai, Egypt

 

 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.  And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  Hear Him!"  And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.  But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."  When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.  Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead."  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.  But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished.  Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."  Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

 

- Matthew 17:1-13 

 

On Saturday we read that from the time of the confession of St. Peter (on behalf of all the disciples) that Jesus is the Christ, He began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day.  Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"  But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan!   You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to His works.  Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."  

 

  Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves . . .  My study Bible comments here that a high mountain is often a place of divine revelation in Scripture (Matthew 5:1; Genesis 22:2; Exodus 19:3, 23; Isaiah 2:3; 2 Peter 1:18).  

 

. . . and He was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.  The event described in today's reading is called the Transfiguration, after this word here (in Greek, Μεταμόρφωσης/Metamorphosis).  This is what is called a "theophany," meaning a manifestation of God.  This in particular is a manifestation of the divinity of Christ, through a display of what the Orthodox term His uncreated, divine energy.  My study Bible explains that because God is light (1 John 1:5), the bright cloud (verse 5), the shining of Jesus' face like the sun, and the whiteness of His garment, all demonstrate that Jesus is God.  

 

 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  My study Bible tells us that Moses represents the law and all those who have died, while Elijah represents the prophets, and as he did not experience death, all those who are alive in Christ.  Their presence shows that the law and the prophets, the living and the dead, all bear witness to Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of the whole Old Testament.  Additionally, my study Bible says that the presence of Moses and Elijah manifests the communion of the saints (Hebrews 12:1).  Both of them are immediately recognizable and they speak with the Lord.  St. Peter understands the presence of the Kingdom, and knowing that the Feast of Tabernacles was the feast of the coming kingdom, he suggests they build tabernacles (or tents) as was done at that feast, serving as symbols of God's dwelling among the just in the Kingdom.

 

 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  Hear Him!"   Here is the Holy Trinity manifest in this theophany, for Christ is transfigured in dazzling white (portrayed in icons as whiter than white, often blue to indicate its ineffable color), the Father speaks from heaven testifying to Christ's divine sonship, and the Spirit is present in the form of a dazzling cloud surrounding Christ's person and overshadowing the mountain.   This bright cloud recalls temple worship and the cloud that went before the Israelites in the wilderness, as my study Bible puts it, the visible sign of God being extraordinarily present.

 

 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.  But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."  When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.  Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead."  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.  But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished.  Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."  Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.  After the experience of the communion of saints, of Moses and Elijah speaking with Christ, the disciples are now capable of understanding that Christ's words, "Elijah has come already" refers to John the Baptist.  My study Bible says that their eyes have been opened to the fact that Malachi's prophecy (Malachi 4:5-6) refers to one coming "In the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17), rather than to Elijah himself.  

 

The light of Christ is in some way more than light, more than the light we know.  Hence,  the blue tinge in the icon of the Transfiguration, above.  This icon is a mosaic from St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, Egypt, fittingly built atop the mountain by Emperor Justinian before 565 A.D.   That blue tint to the light signifies it is ineffable, meaning that it is not fully comprehensible to us, to human beings.  Like God, the light is considered to be God's uncreated light.  It is something that belongs to God; that is, to the One who "in the beginning" was already "with God" and "was God" (John 1:1).  This is not the light of the created natural world which comes from the sun, which we already know as dazzling and beautiful, but something beyond that.  This is the light of the Creator Himself.  This is the light of God.  The blue tint is a symbol of that light that rendered Christ's clothing "exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them" (Mark 9:3).  And it is in this light of divine origin, made manifest to an extent that the disciples are able to have a vision of God's glory, that Christ is transfigured before them.  This transfiguration is a change in appearance, but not a change in substance, for Christ's divinity is being made manifest for them to see.  This light is the light of Christ and has always been and belonged to Christ; it is the light He brings into the world even as incarnate human being.  But it is also, importantly, the light of Christ's grace that truly transfigures us.  By the grace of Baptism and all the sacraments of the Church, so we also may be transfigured, truly changed through the effects of grace and the power of the Lord, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and Christ's transfiguring mission of the Cross in our world and our lives.  So this is the true belonging that comes for us so that we may dwell within that Kingdom, just as St. Peter intuits in today's reading; this manifestation is all about the Kingdom dwelling among the just in the "tents" of those whose hearts make a place for the Lord (Revelation 3:20).  This ineffable light is the light of grace that helps us find solutions to problems that seem insoluble, that helps us to transform into those with discipline we did not have over ourselves once upon a time, that grows holiness even in the face of great evil.  When we seek to discount this ineffable reality, and "bargain" it down to something we think we can control, and solve, and define on our terms, then we miss out on the truth of God, which is so much bigger and greater than all of us.  Let us ponder this light, because it still leads us if we have faith.  It still has plans to reveal to us, visions of things we could not imagine, manifestations of that which is too far above ourselves to conceive.  In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4).  So it was true for the prophet, it was true for St. Paul, it remains true for us, and as they both affirm, it starts with love.  Let us never forget the adventure of faith, of the love of God, and the holiness Christ asks us to pursue, in this ineffable  light that comes to us through Him.