Sermon for the Feast of the Transfiguration (Vartavar)

We’re joined here by a beautiful representation of our culminating group of our first ever summer camp here at St. John. I have to say it was an exceptionally beautiful experience for us all over the past seven days, as this program did begin last Sunday, to watch the journey that we were all on from day one until today. There were many of our children who could not be here today, unfortunately, but I have to say that by the blessings of the Holy Spirit, we saw some amazing things happen over this past week, and I want to encourage you all to speak to our children and our counselors and staff and find out more about how you can support this program in the future.

However, kids, today is our culmination day, and it brings us to the thing that we’re celebrating today. Can somebody tell me what it is that we’re celebrating today? Does anybody remember? We are celebrating the Transfiguration today. Now that’s such a really long word, even in English. The Feast of the Transfiguration. That’s right. Thank you, Mane. It was when Jesus went up on a mountain with three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, and he revealed his full self to them.

Now, anybody remember what that meant? What did his full self look like? Like a ball. Like a fireball? That’s an interesting comparison, but it was really bright. Sophia — that’s right, he was so bright like the sun, but he was actually a person. That’s a beautiful way to describe it. Let’s start from the beginning real quick. What happened was Jesus had been traveling with his disciples and he’d been teaching them very important things about himself, and eventually they got to a place where he asked Peter, James, and John to go up this mountain called Mount Tabor. And then they climbed up the mountain together. How many of you guys have climbed up a mountain before? Yeah? Gone hiking? Kind of gone hiking? Really, Karin? You went hiking too? You went on a really long, tough walk? Bane, you’ve been hiking before?

So they went on a really long hike to go up this mountain. And I’ve been to that mountain before. It’s pretty high. And it’s also very hot most of the time. So he took his disciples up to the top of the mountain. So they went up to the top of the mountain, and when they went up there, they saw, just like Mane said, this really bright light. Now, that bright light wasn’t a different Jesus. It was the same Jesus, okay? One of our church fathers said that he didn’t show them a different part of himself. He showed them the part of himself that they usually don’t see, okay? He revealed the fullness of himself.

Like this past week, for so many of you at camp, I got to spend every day with you. And during that time, I got to see parts of yourselves I don’t usually get to see on Sunday morning. And that was really fun. I got to know you better by seeing the whole you all day, every day. That made me so happy. But the disciples spent all day, every day with Jesus, and they still couldn’t see all of him. And he had to show them, okay? And when he showed them, they were so surprised. They were so surprised, even they got a little bit afraid, because it was something they’d never seen before.

Now, you guys did a lot of things this week that you’ve never done before. One of the things that they did this week on Friday, we had Badarak. All of these kids were here on Friday, and they participated in a whole Badarak with us. And I asked how many of them had been in a whole Badarak from beginning to end. And most of them had not. And it was such a beautiful experience to have that moment with them for the first time. And I told them that if they can do it, and they were fantastic, just like they’ve been in church today, then that means everybody can do it. Right? And we did have a lot of fun doing Badarak together.

Now, he went up there, and then, do you remember at the beginning of camp, we talked about Jesus’ baptism? Who remembers talking about Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of camp? Does anybody remember what God said? Extra credit, bonus question. What did God say at Jesus’ baptism? Mane, you had your hand up first. Thank you, Mane. Actually, it was John, but you got the rest of that completely right. He said, “This is my son, my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” Now, when we read about today’s event, God says something else. God says, “This is my beloved son. Listen to him.” He says, listen to him.

Do you think that we heard Jesus this week at some point? Did we listen to Jesus at some point this week? What do you think, Grigor? When did we do that? Every time we came into church, we heard Jesus. Because we read the Bible every time. Thank you. It’s a beautiful answer, Grigor. That’s true. We heard Jesus every time we came into church and we read the Bible. And we also, what did we do? We prayed together.

Does anybody else remember a time when we heard Jesus over the past week? Sophia’s saying she feels like she heard Jesus, but she’s not exactly sure what he said. And I know exactly what that feels like, Sophia. I know exactly how you feel. And do you know what? That’s okay, because that means that we’re learning how to hear his voice, and that’s what comes first. After we learn how to hear his voice, then we can start to understand what he’s telling us.

Grigor? Really? Well, that’s beautiful. I don’t doubt you. I know I heard Jesus this week when we saw our saints. Every day this week, we met a different saint. One of our kids dressed up as one of our Armenian saints and came out and told us their own story. And when I heard our children telling us the story of our saints, I felt like Jesus was talking to me too, saying we’re all part of this family in Christ together, and it doesn’t stop, it keeps going.

Now, they climbed up the mountain, and they saw Jesus become really bright, and they also saw two very important people next to him. Who remembers the people that were next to Jesus? Perfect answer — that’s right, Elijah and Moses were standing next to Jesus. And oh my gosh, we could talk about that for days. Why were they there? How did they get there? And what does that mean? Moses was there because he had the commandments, and then Elijah was there because he was a prophet, and he told everybody about God. That’s right. That’s very good. That’s why they were there with Jesus.

But you know, here’s the thing that I want you guys to consider today as we conclude. In the end, what happened? Where did they go? They went back to heaven. That’s right. The way that that story concludes is, when the disciples saw them again, only Jesus was left. It was just Jesus. Everything went back to the way that it was before. Jesus didn’t look so bright anymore as he did in that moment, and Moses and Elijah were gone. Things went back to normal. They saw the truth of Jesus, and then, for them, things went back to normal.

But what changed? Were things normal again after that? No. Why not? Because they found out Jesus’ secret, and that’s the exact word to use. What they found out — I was just speaking about this in Armenian, Grigor, maybe you didn’t know that — what they found out and what they confessed was that Jesus was our Savior. And after they learned that Jesus was our Savior, and they said it out loud, nothing would ever be the same again. So even though things went back to normal, they were still changed.

And when you guys leave here from church today, things will go back to normal. We won’t have Bible camp every day anymore, but we’re all going to still be changed because we learned really important things about Jesus.

Sophia asks: Why did he only take those three disciples? Why would he just do all twelve? Well, that’s a good question. I asked myself when I was doing altar server practice with all the boys at camp this week, and I thought maybe I should have brought three instead of twelve because it would have been a lot easier to manage. I think I had an important lesson to learn from Jesus in that moment. Well, to answer your question, Sophia, there’s something very special about those three disciples that we can’t get into right now, but it’s important for us to remember that when Jesus makes a choice like that, there’s always a reason for it. There’s always a good reason for it.

They kind of wanted to order pizza for him, if I’m being honest with you. That’s the way they took the situation. They were like, let’s set up a picnic and some tents and things and have a party. But that wasn’t why they were supposed to be there. They were supposed to be there to see something and learn something. So you guys are going to have a party today after church. We’re going to have treats and everything like that. But that’s not why you came. You came here to see Christ.

Thank you so much. I love spending this past week with you guys. Sophia asks about why we don’t see his physical body — that’s a very good question, Sophia, and I can tell you the full long answer after Badarak, but the reason we don’t see his physical body was because something took place called the Ascension, okay? Forty days after Jesus was resurrected, his physical body returned to the heavenly realm. I’ll tell you more about that after Badarak, because we’ve got to do what comes next.