[Sermon composed for the Sunday broadcast at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Phoenix AZ (https://www.stmarysphoenix.org/online) for Quinquagesima Sunday, February 14 2021, the Last Sunday of the Epiphany Season.]
✠ In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
…and the bands of angels go before Him
with every power and dominion,
the many-eyed cherubim,
and the six-winged seraphim,
veiling their faces, and crying aloud the hymn,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. (Cherubic Hymn, Liturgy of St. James)
The topic of the Uncreated Light is one of the lynch-pins of modern Orthodox thought and practice. In this school of thought it is one of the uncreated works or energies that are co-eternal with God’s eternal being. While the West, particularly in Scholastic thought, had been uneasy with the concept of energies, it has warmed up to concept of Divine energies in recent years, particularly when Pope John Paul II publicly announced his respect for Eastern Theology and introduced a new suite of mysteries of the Rosary, the Luminous mysteries, focusing on the Uncreated Light and of which one of them is the mystery of the Transfiguration.
In the history of humanity’s encounter with God the Uncreated Light poses a bit of an issue. The energies of God are intense and full exposure to them is harmful, even lethal to mortal organisms. In response to Moses’ desire to see God, we read in Exodus chapter 33: And the LORD said to Moses, “…you cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live.” (Ex. 33.17a,20b) Israel and Israel’s priests are forbidden to come within the Holy of Holies because of God’s presence within. So a big curtain, the Temple Veil shields human-kind from the immolation brought about by the Uncreated Light.
The residue of that Presence of the energies of God can be supposed to have made the Ark of the Covenant dangerous to touch directly. Case in point, the poor unfortunate priest Uzzah found this out to his ruin; when King David had the Ark transported to Jerusalem and Uzzah steadied the Ark at one bumpy point of the journey with his hand, he dropped quite dead in the process. (1 Chron. 14.9-10)
Even prolonged exposure to the Uncreated Light when heavily shielded has consequences. We learned this also from Exodus (Ex. 34.29-35); as a result of this exposure Moses sustains a physical transfiguration either reflecting or storing then releasing the Uncreated Light like a capacitor or battery. Even this reduced secondary glare is uncomfortable for the average Joseph, and so Moses’ face, like the Holy of Holies, must be veiled regularly. St. Paul even goes as far to say that we erect veils within our hearts to shield them from the overwhelming fire of God’s Uncreated Light (2 Cor. 4.3-6).
So, what we have here is a real, inescapable, and physically necessary separation between humans and God. In God is Light and Life, and in Him we see Light, but an unshielded experience of Him is like being at ground-zero in a thermonuclear blast or being dropped into the centre of a star.
But then we have Jesus’ Transfiguration.
In our Gospel reading today, we hear that Jesus is on Mt. Tabor and suddenly becomes radiant with the Uncreated Light. As part of the Holy Trinity this Uncreated Light is as much part of Him as it is of the Father and of the Holy Spirit. Because in Him Humanity and Divinity are so perfectly united the Uncreated Light transfigures Jesus’ organic body instead of destroying it. The Veil is pierced, that Veil between the material plane and the eternal plane, the Veil that keeps the Uncreated Light from burning Creation to a crisp. The Veil is pierced, but a cloud is still there to protect creation. The Veil is pierced, but the disciples with Jesus are still shielded from harm. We read that they become heavy with sleep, and what is this but protection for their mortal senses from going on overload? The Veil is pierced between this life and the life that is to come so that Jesus can prefigure with Moses and Elijah his fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. The Veil is pierced, and the disciples hear the Father clearly as they hear each other.
So, while the Veil is pierced, Jesus Christ, the Eternal Logos, filled with the Uncreated Light, discusses with Moses and with Elijah what must happen shortly in Jerusalem and how it integrates with both the Law and the Prophets. Jesus must suffer and give up His life in order to fulfil the Covenant of the Law. Jesus must suffer and give up His life in order to enact the Will of God as proclaimed by the Prophets. During this exchange the Uncreated Light is pouring forth and three mortal men witness it and live to tell the tale.
Not that they were unaffected. We read that they are somewhat addled by the experience for a time and it takes a while for them to “come down from the high” as it were. St. Peter’s wits were addled enough that he proposed building dwellings there on the mountain for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, not realizing that this was a rift in the Veil and that it soon must close. Perhaps, the import of the conversation was lost on the disciples, or they didn’t catch all of it, or they still needed more time to process. Regardless, the experience is so intense, so addicting, that they wish to prolong it. After all, St. Peter exclaimed, “Master, it is good for us to be here!”
The Veil is pierced, but then it is drawn shut again and the disciples are alone with Jesus on Mount Tabor. Likely still buzzing from the experience, we can imagine them bouncing off the cliff walls like pinballs. Before returning to regular life down below, though, Jesus must debrief his disciples like any operative after a covert mission. In this Gospel account of St. Mark’s, Jesus specifically told them to say nothing. In the words of St. Ephrem the Syrian this was to prevent them from looking like fools, blurting out things that they did not understand yet and would not understand until these events unfolded in their entirety. St. Peter showed that he still didn’t get it yet and Jesus wanted to make very certain that nothing was to be said until St. Peter got the whole picture, and that required another veil to rip.
The Temple Veil. That Veil that protected Israel from the Uncreated Light from bursting forth from the Holy of Holies and consuming all in its path. That Veil rendered unnecessary now that the Uncreated Light is merged with human form. That Veil no longer separating human-kind from God after the Resurrection of Jesus.
In Jesus humanity once again experiences the Uncreated Light. We can experience the Uncreated Light in our prayers as we proceed toward sanctification in our journey. We can experience the Uncreated Light in the Sacraments of the Church. As we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ the Uncreated Light acts upon us. As we receive the Holy Spirit in our Baptism and Confirmation the Uncreated Light kindles a fire within us. When we rise on the Last Day, we shall be bathed in the Uncreated Light.
Will we be able to withstand the Uncreated Light? When it burns away our sins, our shortcomings, our selfishness, our pettiness, will there be anything left? Will it be our joy for eternity along with the treasures we have laid up in heaven? Will it be our salvation but leaving us with nothing laid aside? Or will it be our Hell of Fire, if we have rejected Him and spurned His Grace? When that final Veil is removed, will it be for our eternal salvation or condemnation?
Here we turn again to Jesus, the union of humanity and the Uncreated Light. It is no mistake or empty claim that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In Him is our salvation, in God’s grace is our ability to bear the Radiance of His Presence. In union with Jesus we partake in the union of humanity and the Uncreated Light. Apart from Him how can we hope to with stand it?
To close, I would like to quote the Kontakion of the Feast of the Transfiguration:
On the Mountain You were Transfigured, O Christ God,
And Your disciples beheld Your glory as far as they could see it;
So that when they would behold You crucified,
They would understand that Your suffering was voluntary,
And would proclaim to the world,
That You are truly the Radiance of the Father!
✠Through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, Saviour save us.
Amen.
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