A reflection on the Gospel of Saint Mark, Chapter Nine, verses two through thirteen.
Monsignor Joji Vadakara, Vatican City
The Transfiguration of Christ is an event that Matthew, Mark and Luke, who are known as parallel evangelists, describe beautifully in their gospels. The glorious event of the Transfiguration, which we strive to contemplate in today’s Gospel, takes place a few days following Christ informed his disciples that the experiences of suffering and death awaited them on the way to the sacred mystery of salvation which he was regarding to bring. In Mark’s Gospel we read that this event takes place more than six days following the first prophecy regarding the Passion. In the Gospel of Luke, the evangelist writes that this event takes place following regarding eight days. Christ chooses three dear disciples who are important in faith life and example to witness these events; They are Peter, James and John.
The mountain, prayer, and the presence of God
Throughout the Gospels, Christ climbs mountains, hills, and highlands to pray in the presence of the Father and to teach the people who follow him regarding the Father’s plan of love. These two things are presented to us in today’s gospel passage related to the Transfiguration. In today’s Gospel, we see that Christ ascends the mountain in order to live the experience of prayer, God’s presence, and to teach it to his disciples as an experience. When the prophecy of suffering causes doubt and fear among the disciples, today’s incident helps to convince them through divine intervention that Christ is the Son of God, there is no need to doubt him, and that he is going to go through suffering is part of the divine plan.
Ascending to the higher regions of prayer, that is, lifting up the heart to the presence of God, the transformation which produces, or should produce in every human being, is presented to us as the first lesson of today’s Gospel. When the experiences of persecution, pain, and the cross appear in front of us in life, we too need to rise to higher levels of prayer to understand and transform them as part of God’s saving intervention. Only when we rise up can we recognize the glory and value that God has placed on our lives in His presence.
God’s Presence and Transfiguration
Another thought related to the Transfiguration of Christ concerns the light that the disciples might see on Christ’s face when he was in the presence of God the Father. God’s presence is capable of brightening even the lives of people who live in fear of suffering and death. Through today’s Gospel, Christ is teaching us that every life that can rise to the top of the mountain of prayer and God’s love will be a transformation platform for others to see God’s glory. Today’s Gospel reminds us that if our life is with Christ, even in moments of fear, doubt and uncertainty, we too can find protection within the cloud cover of God the Father’s care. If we want to feel the presence of that cloud in our lives that we read regarding in the Old Testament, that was with us in the desert, that covered the tabernacle, let us strive to understand that we must also be with Christ.
Christ is the sent Son of God
When Christ’s prophecy of suffering aroused doubts in his disciples, Christ’s transfiguration was an occasion of God-given revelation to dispel their doubts. When Moses, as the representative of the law, and Elijah, the representative of the prophets, appear before them, and when they hear the words of the Father from the cloud of God’s presence, “This is my beloved Son; listen to his words,” the doubts of the disciples are removed. The disciples, who were often sleepless on the mountain of prayer, when they recognize the Son of God in Christ, when they are ready to understand that the cross experiences of suffering in his life are part of God’s plan of salvation, they are ready to wake up and want to be in God’s presence. In the life of every Christian, when they strive to realize the meaning and purpose of Christ’s sufferings and death on the cross, they can become Christ witnesses and become lovers of God’s presence.
Elijah and Christ
The disciples are still waiting for Elijah, who was to be sent by God the Father as part of leading his people to the path of salvation. They remain ignorant men who stand before Christ and do not know the way to Christ. In John, who called God’s people to the ways of repentance and atonement, they were not able to accurately recognize the prophetic voice sent by the Father before the Son of God. John’s life, who came to pave the way for Christ, gave his life as a witness to the truth, has not yet been meaningful to the disciples like many others. With this word, we may also remember the truth that we are often not able to recognize the prophetic voices of God that invite us to the ways of repentance and repentance in front of our lives.
The Transfiguration of Christ and our lives
Many of us have lives like the disciples of Christ on the mountain of Christianity, unable to enter into the true faith, often finding a miracle in the light of the transfiguration and standing envious like Peter and the other disciples before it. Rising from the magical world of miracles, let us strive to be always with Christ in prayer, filled with God’s faith, and in meditation and God’s love, in the glorious presence of the Holy Trinity. Let us strive to become lovers of God’s presence like the disciples, but more than that, to be transformed by God in Christ’s presence. Let us not find satisfaction in merely witnessing to the world through outward signs, deeds, and words, but let us give ourselves fully to God for the complete transformation that God is working on within. May God bless our lives to reflect on the moments of glory and upliftment that God has prepared in the moments of life, and to spread the hope it gives to the world. May God prepare our lives for God’s plans. Let the cloud of His presence cover our lives and every moment. May God make us witnesses of Christ’s glory. Amen.
