NOTES for Bar 4:21

At first glance, the prophet's words about deliverance from the hand of enemies may seem too reassuring. If everything were so simple, then, according to Baruch, people of deep and sincere faith should never have to suffer from the consequences of human malice. Everyone knows, however, that this is not so. More than that, even Christ Himself—the Messiah who came into the world to bring it the Kingdom—suffered at the hands of enemies.

How, then, are the prophet's words to be understood? Can God deliver a person from enemies, and if He can, why does He so often not do so? The Savior's earthly path may offer the best answer to this question, not because He is the God-man, but because He is free from sin.

If an ordinary person were in question, one could always say that everyone receives what his sins deserve, and it would be difficult to argue with such claims. Few people know even the measure of their own sin, let alone the sins of their neighbors. Whenever an ordinary person was involved, a thought would always creep, perhaps involuntarily, into the minds of both those asking and those answering: what if this is what his sins deserve?

In Jesus' case there can be no doubt: He certainly deserved nothing bad, because He never knew any sin. Yet during His earthly life He suffered just as any other person in His place might have suffered. No one else, of course, could have brought the Kingdom to the world, but anyone who, while doing God's work, crossed the secular authorities or religious leaders could have been betrayed, slandered, and executed on a false charge. And yet, according to His own words, Jesus could easily have avoided this if He had wished, but then the ministry for which He came into the world would have remained unfinished.

It is probably the same with each of us. Sometimes God can deliver us from enemies, whom we will inevitably have if we do anything good and necessary in this world. But at times we can be delivered from them only at the cost of work left undone, of God's work left unfinished. Then no deliverance can be expected, if we truly want to finish what we began.

Sometimes, however, it is our own sin—or rather its manifestations: malice, arrogance, and aggression—that draws our enemies to us. Then we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is precisely where repentance and turning to God can help, because with repentance and conversion a new life begins for the one who repents: life with God, who will not let him be harmed without cause.

This episode of God’s Transfiguration inspired many theologians, preachers and icon-painters. The fact that Jesus showed His glory to his disciples is actually a very important moment in the relationships between God and men. The Lord confirms what he said through the prophet Amos once again, that He does nothing without revealing His secret to people. In this miracle Jesus allows his disciples to see His face transfigured by eternal glory, He gives them opportunity to know Him after His Resurrection (it’s not his fault that the disciples fell on their faces). And the appearance of Elijah and Moses conversing with Christ helps the disciples to better understand Jesus' words “to God all live” (cf. Lk 20:38).

But moreover, the Lord repeats here His testimony about the Son – the perfect Son of a perfect Father. The fatherhood’s perfection is in the Father’s love to the Son. The perfection of sonship is in the Son’s obedience to the Father’s good will. Therefore all the father grace is revealed in the Son, God’s will about all of us is revealed in His life, these words “listen to Him” result from this.

Today's reading is best read from the end. The prophets truly longed to see the Messiah's coming, to see the demons overthrown, to see the coming of the Kingdom and the restoration of Jerusalem. And what did they see around them? Ceaseless wars and devastation, the grief and suffering of God's people, exile and death. They saw the Temple destroyed and, like all the people, were handed over to their enemies. They explained why this had happened, and their voice was not always heard. Yet the most important thing for them was not the sin already committed, not the fact that the people had turned away from God and were suffering for it. For the prophets, the most important thing remained that God wants to be with people, reaches out to them and will surely come, because He is faithful to His promises. And if He promised His Kingdom on earth, then so it will be. What, then, should someone do who has turned away but repented, who weeps because he failed to remain faithful? For such people the prophet Baruch offers a prescription: “As your resolve was to go astray from God, increase it tenfold in order to return and seek Him.”