Word to the Wise
Saturday, February 23, 2019 - Saturday in the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 11:1-7 and Mark 9:2-13]"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." Suddenly, looking around, the disciples no long saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they ad 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. [Mark]
FEBRUARY 23 ST. POLYCARP, bishop and martyr
The story of the transfiguration of Jesus is reported in each of the three synoptic gospels, but it is given a different significance in each case. In Matthew, the emphasis is on Jesus as the New Moses. In Luke, the emphasis is on Jesus' passion ahead of him on his journey. In Mark, the emphasis is on the "hidden" identity of Jesus, which will only become clear when he has risen from the dead. The three disciples who accompany Jesus up the mountain (the setting of divine revelation throughout the Bible) are told to keep the experience to themselves, but they are also shown to be puzzled and bewildered by the divine intimacy of the revelation of Jesus as God's "beloved Son." As I have pointed out earlier, this is a continuing theme in the Gospel According to Mark.
The first scripture for today from the Letter to the Hebrews is special for the feast of St. Polycarp, but the opening words of the passage are relevant to our reflection on the Transfiguration: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. The disciples on the mountain are given a preview of who Jesus is and what will happen to him. If they could understand it, they would have had the realization of what they and the world hoped for. This revelation is given to each of us in baptism but we spend a lifetime trying to understand it. Faith is what makes it real and generates hope and love. AMEN