Post-feast of the Transfiguration; Holy Confessor Emilian, Bishop of Cyzicus (815)
Dormition Fast.
Read
1 Corinthians 14:6-19; Matthew 20:17-28
Two days ago we celebrated the Transfiguration, and continue singing the hymns of the feast until August 13. In particular, the kontakion can shed light on the Transfiguration’s meaning: “You were transfigured on the Mount, O Christ God, and Your disciples saw Your glory as much as they could; that when they saw You crucified they might know that You suffered willingly, and might proclaim to the world that You are truly the brightness of the Father.” The Transfiguration, which in the gospels always comes after Jesus’ first prediction of his passion, helps us understand the meaning of Christ’s crucifixion as voluntary, at the centre of God’s plan to defeat sin and death.
Today’s gospel also helps us understand how Jesus’ disciples (that’s us) should put the meaning of the cross into practice in our own lives. The sons of Zebedee clearly don’t get it: even though they saw Jesus transfigured, they still see Jesus’ kingdom as essentially political, and they want power according to the standards of this world. But Jesus’ gentle rebuke to them, and to the rest of the arguing disciples afterwards, reminds us how they, and we, are supposed to react to the news of the Transfiguration. God’s glory is going to be revealed in weakness and through service, and that includes our weakness and our service. It’s by being servants that James and John, and we today, most closely align ourselves with the victory of the cross and resurrection that we celebrate in the Transfiguration.