NOTES for Mat 17:1-9

This episode of the Transfiguration of the Lord has inspired many theologians, preachers, and icon painters. The fact that Christ revealed His glory to the disciples is a very important moment in the relationship between God and people. God once again confirms what He said through the prophet Amos, that He does nothing without revealing His secret to people. In this miracle Jesus allows the disciples to see His face transfigured by eternal glory, so that afterward they would have the possibility of recognizing Him in the Resurrection. It is not His fault that the disciples fell on their faces. And the appearance of Elijah and Moses speaking with Christ allowed the disciples to understand better Jesus' words: "To God all are alive" (cf. Luke 20:38).

In addition, here God repeats His testimony about the Son, the perfect Son of the perfect Father. The perfection of fatherhood is in the Father's love for the Son. The perfection of sonship is in the Son's obedience to the good will of the Father. Therefore all the Father's favor is revealed in the Son; in His life God's will for all of us is disclosed, and from this follows: "Listen to Him"

This direct testimony of the Heavenly Father on Jesus Christ contains difficult words to comprehension and translation “en o eudokesa”. English Translation “in whom I am well pleased” is far from the perfect translation. The closest to the Greek original translation is also not perfect. Not much better than the Latin “in Quo Mihi bene conplacui” (“in Whom I have found contentment”), which is closer to European translations. Apparently, no translation gives the meaning of the word Omnipotent with sufficient intelligibility.

So, what God wants to tell the disciples of Christ about Jesus before ordering them to listen to Him? Each variant of the translation offers its own shades. Western translations imply that the Son is the only one who obeys the will of the Father, who observes, “His commandment,” as Jesus Himself says in the Gospel of John. This is important because only with Him we can bring to pass the commandment of the Father.

The English translation implies that the grace of the Father is given to the world and us in Jesus Christ and only in Him. Father’s love is expressed in the fact that He gives Him to us, as Jesus Himself says, in the Gospel of John again. But besides that, English translation also implies words which come to the foreground with special brightness: “This is My beloved, Whom I love,” or, in other words, “This is My Son, My Love”. It is important here that the very love of the Father dwells in the Son and from Him it comes to us. Venerable John Damascene calls Christ “hypostatic love” – using this technique, after Damascus we can call Him “hypostatic Love”. And then you can try to refer this verse with the following words: “This is my beloved Son, My Love – listen to Him [and obey]”.

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.

As the Savior says at the end of the preceding chapter, some of His disciples will see the Kingdom come in power before their death. This word is fulfilled several days later, when three of them see His transfiguration on the mountain. In what, then, does the Kingdom of God revealed to them that day consist? They see, insofar as they are able to receive it, a Man clothed in divine glory, a Man of whom God Himself says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”... That is, there stands before them a Man over whom God can rejoice rather than grieve, a Man who has fully accomplished God's purpose for Him—or, to use modern language, an ideal, true man, the God-man. In what else can the Kingdom of God consist for us, if not in becoming like God and becoming what He wants to see us be? On the mountain of the Transfiguration, God who became Man shows us the path and the goal of our earthly existence.