Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Divine Form

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 2.18.23 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Mark 9:2-13

Friends, today’s Gospel presents the Transfiguration of Christ.
What is the Transfiguration itself? Mark speaks literally of a metamorphosis,
a going beyond the form that he had.
If I could use Paul’s language, it is “the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ.” In and through his humble humanity,
his divinity shines forth.
The proximity of his divinity in no way compromises the integrity of his humanity,
but rather makes it shine in greater beauty.
This is the New Testament version of the burning bush.

The Jesus who is both divine and human is the Jesus who is evangelically compelling.
If he is only divine, then he doesn’t touch us;
if he is only human, he can’t save us.
His splendor consists in the coming together of the two natures, without mixing, mingling, or confusion.

Note how this same Jesus then accompanies his disciples back down the mountain
and walks with them in the ordinary rhythms of their lives.
This is the Christ who wants to reign as Lord of our lives in every detail.
If we forget about this dimension, then Jesus becomes a distant memory,
nothing more than a figure from the past.

[MurphsLaw]

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Mk 9:2-13

Jesus took Peter, James, and 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;
then from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, the
disciples 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.
Then they asked him,
"Why do the scribes say that
Elijah must come first?"
He told them,
"Elijah will indeed come first and restore
all things,
yet how is it written regarding
the Son of Man
that he must suffer greatly and
be treated with contempt?
But I tell you that Elijah has come
and they did to him whatever
they pleased,
as it is written of him."+++