6-Aug-18

Gospel Mark 9:2-10
Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John,
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.
As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.
Reflection:
"Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John,
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves."
At the time of today's gospel, Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem to face death at the hands of the Jewish leaders. He did so certain that He would defeat death and rise again.
However, His three closest apostles, Peter, James and John, had no understanding of someone being resurrected, or coming back to life after death.
Jesus knew that when He was dead they would be lost, like sheep without a shepherd.
"Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus."
Peter, "terrified" and baffled by the appearance of Moses and Elijah, offered to erect tents for Moses, Elijah and Jesus.
"Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
As faithful Jews, Peter, James and John would have been well versed in Jewish scripture where God had appeared to His people in a cloud.
They had heard with their own ears the voice of the Father coming from a "cloud," proclaiming Jesus as His "beloved Son." God Himself was instructing them to "Listen to Him."
"As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant."
By taking them to the mountain to hear the voice of the Father attest that He was the Son of God, Jesus had given Peter, James and John what they would need to sustain them in the days ahead as they faced a hostile world without Him.
Just as He did with His apostles, Jesus shows us signs.
When we see a loved one reach out to God and rise to new life from the devastation of alcoholism or drug addiction our own faith is affirmed.
As the early apostles shared what they had seen on the mountain, we too witness the love and power of God.
"For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
Acts 4:20