Main news for 13 December 2021

“Elias truly shall first come...” This would seem to be a statement founded on knowledge of Scripture. Yet for some reason it does not enable people to recognize the coming of Elijah in the deeds of John the Baptist. Apparently the issue is that there are different kinds of knowledge of Scripture: knowledge according to the letter and knowledge according to the spirit.

It is noteworthy that Satan also quoted Scripture when he tempted the Savior. “The devils also believe” (James 2:19). This means that demons too can profess everything a good person professes. Yet there is some essential difference. It is immeasurably important for all of us to grasp what that difference is and understand it truly and deeply. For one of our most painful experiences is to encounter people among our brothers and sisters in faith who are in fact terrifying.

If Elijah and John are compared according to the letter, they may indeed seem to be two completely different people. Elijah kills pagan priests; Elijah is all storm and fire. We need only recall how Jesus' disciples James and John ask Him whether, like Elijah, they may call down fire to destroy the ungodly (Luke 9:52-56). John the Baptist, although he certainly speaks stern words of rebuke, nevertheless washes everyone who comes to him. This means that he grants forgiveness and acts through mercy, not violence. These two men would seem to be complete opposites. And yet Christ says that Elijah comes in John...

But consider the spirit of these two men. Clearly they are related and brought infinitely close by their very prophetic nature, with all its anguish over betrayal of God. Something else also unites them: both are human beings, no strangers to the torment of doubt. Elijah asks to die (1 Kings 19:4), while John too, awaiting death, suffers the agony of despair and doubt. If Jesus is not the One, then he must fight for his life, arrange an escape, and so on; if He is the One, then John must accept death. In essence, it is the same question of life and death.

It is noteworthy what Elijah says when he asks to die: “Take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” Such humility may be compared with the humility that moves John when he says, “whose shoes I am not worthy to bear” (Matt. 3:11). The self-understanding of both prophets can be joined in a single formula: “I am only human.”

Christ was transfigured while remaining human, but by opening to the disciples a small part of His divinity, He gave them the opportunity to touch another reality, incomprehensible to all those who are used to living by the rules of the earthly world. The light shown on the mountain of the Transfiguration was not given to the disciples in all its strength and power; they would not have endured that. Even what the disciples were given to see made such a strong and overwhelming impression on them that the disciples were very afraid. And yet they, human beings, were allowed to share in this light.

Peter's words about the three booths and about how good it is to be here are natural: they deeply reflect the inner state not only of Peter, but also of many of us when we first encounter staggering manifestations of the spiritual world. In such moments we risk forgetting everything and wanting only one thing: to remain where we feel good. But spiritual joys are not given so that we may passively enjoy them. Having given the disciples this strengthening, Christ goes back down with them into the world, where they, and we, still have much work to do.

The most important encounters between God and humanity took place on a mountain peak: Moses received the law, and Elijah heard the breath of the Spirit. Now Jesus ascends the mountain in order to begin, in Himself, the transfiguration of humanity: from the sickness of fear and hatred to divine light.

Below, on level ground, disappointment and rejection always awaited the prophets: Moses saw the golden idol, and Elijah saw apostasy and persecution. Jesus comes down in order to go to meet His suffering, death, and resurrection, so that the transfiguration of the beloved Son would not stop with Him, so that everyone could follow His path, become a beloved son or daughter of the Father, and live by His light. On this day we can enter into this bond between God's light and Christ's cross, which opens the way to the universal Resurrection.