Gospel: Christ reveals himself at the Transfiguration, and at many other times, as Messiah, as Lord, and as the Son of God. He is our friend, our brother, our leader, our savior, liiberator, our way our truth and our life. Can you open your heart to let him be yours? pic.twitter.com/tg2kQyKjJC— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) February 25, 2018
The passage from the Book of Genesis is an opportunity to consider the effect that this experience of taking Isaac to sacrifice had on Abraham.
* [22:1–19] The divine demand that Abraham sacrifice to God the son of promise is the greatest of his trials; after the successful completion of the test, he has only to buy a burial site for Sarah and find a wife for Isaac. The story is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, depicting in a few lines God as the absolute Lord, inscrutable yet ultimately gracious, and Abraham, acting in moral grandeur as the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham speaks simply, with none of the wordy evasions of chaps. 13 and 21. The style is laconic; motivations and thoughts are not explained, and the reader cannot but wonder at the scene.In the Letter to the Romans, Paul is assuring his readers of the they can overcome all their afflictions and trials in communion with Christ.
* [8:31–39] The all-conquering power of God’s love has overcome every obstacle to Christians’ salvation and every threat to separate them from God. That power manifested itself fully when God’s own Son was delivered up to death for their salvation. Through him Christians can overcome all their afflictions and trials.The Gospel of Mark describes the luminous experience of the “big 3 apostles” who accompany Jesus up the mountain.
* [9:2–8] Mark and Mt 17:1 place the transfiguration of Jesus six days after the first prediction of his passion and death and his instruction to the disciples on the doctrine of the cross; Lk 9:28 has “about eight days.” Thus the transfiguration counterbalances the prediction of the passion by affording certain of the disciples insight into the divine glory that Jesus possessed. His glory will overcome his death and that of his disciples; cf. 2 Cor 3:18; 2 Pt 1:16–19. The heavenly voice (Mk 9:7) prepares the disciples to understand that in the divine plan Jesus must die ignominiously before his messianic glory is made manifest; cf. Lk 24:25–27. See further the note on Mt 17:1–8.Amy Hoover reflects on how the Testing of Abraham and the Transfiguration are changes in perspective for Abraham and Jesus.
Next, I was reminded how important it is for us to share our faith stories with one another. I often tell participants on a group retreat that sometimes we need to share our stories for ourselves. We need to hear ourselves and we need others to validate our experiences of God. Other times though, others may need to hear our experiences to see God from a different perspective or catch a different image of God. What a gift it is to share our experiences and images of who God is. It can only help in our understanding of the mystery that is the Divine. Suddenly my reflection was about the invitation and grace of seeing different perspectives.Nicholas King SJ asks “Who Do You Think You Are?” in a reflection about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
We should also notice that Abraham was entirely ready to kill Isaac (22:1-19). Yes, this was at God’s command, and the Book of Genesis regards it as an eminent example of obedience, as does the rabbinic tradition; but we moderns, led by Kant, shudder at the story. Is this the kind of ancestor that you would expect the Messiah to have? It is true, of course, that Abraham is entirely obedient to God (12:4; 13:18; 15:10; 17:23-27; 21:4), that he is a model of Near Eastern hospitality when God turns up at his tent in Mamre (18:1-8) and, finally, that he argues with God to have Sodom spared (18:17-33 – though as things turn out he fails in this attempt). There is a good side to Abraham, as Matthew’s readers would have known.Rabbi Irwin Kula comments on autonomy and heteronomy as he asks Obey God or Question God?
The genius of the covenantal way is that these two powerful principles, autonomy and heteronomy, are yoked together and held in creative tension. Both challenging and submitting to God and the tradition are authentic covenantal responses to the dilemmas of Jewish life. The covenantal question addressed to each generation and even each person is when to act in which way.Peter Edmonds SJ puts the Transfiguration in a perspective on Mark’s Gospel that it is not just a warning about the cost of discipleship; it is a promise about its rewards.
Mark situates his narrative of the Transfiguration straight after Jesus’s warning to his disciples that he would suffer and die in Jerusalem. This vision of glory was to show his disciples that his destiny also included resurrection and future glory. Perhaps because of the Transfiguration, Mark felt no need to include resurrection appearances of Jesus in his gospel. The Transfiguration prefigures the resurrection and is a necessary supplement to the story of the Temptation. Christian life is a promise of glory as well as a warning about conflictDon Schwager shares thoughts on the transfiguration of Jesus, by Jerome (347-420 AD) who resonates with the writing of Origen (185-254 AD), an early church Scripture scholar and writer, who describes how we are changed and transformed into Christ's likeness as we we look to him day by day with faith and honesty and strive to walk according to the light of his truth and righteousness (moral goodness).
"Do you wish to see the transfiguration of Jesus? Behold with me the Jesus of the Gospels. Let him be simply apprehended. There he is beheld both 'according to the flesh' and at the same time in his true divinity. He is beheld in the form of God according to our capacity for knowledge. This is how he was beheld by those who went up upon the lofty mountain to be apart with him. Meanwhile those who do not go up the mountain can still behold his works and hear his words, which are uplifting. It is before those who go up that Jesus is transfigured, and not to those below. When he is transfigured, his face shines as the sun, that he may be manifested to the children of light, who have put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12). They are no longer the children of darkness or night but have become the children of day. They walk honestly as in the day. Being manifested, he will shine to them not simply as the sun but as he is demonstrated to be, the sun of righteousness." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12.37.10)Friar Jude Winkler notes the evidence of the love of Abraham for Isaac and the deep faith of this man who will not personally know the children and land promised in the Covenant. The luminous moments given us by God are helps to continue to slug it out in the valley.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, believes a bias toward beauty is still an act of faith and trust and that a free and loving God desires our participation in co-creation. The Great Work is ours too.
Science today—particularly physics, astrophysics, anthropology, and biology—is confirming many of religion’s deep intuitions. The universe is not inert, but is “inspirited matter.” We might call this driving force instinct, evolution, nuclear fusion, DNA, hardwiring, the motherboard, healing, growth, or springtime. Nature clearly renews itself from within. God seems to have created things that continue to create and recreate themselves from the inside out. A fully incarnate God creates through evolution.Afflictions, trials and luminous moments are opportunities for our change of perspective in our relationship with the Divine.
References
(n.d.). Genesis, chapter 22 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis22:716
(n.d.). Romans 8 USCCB. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/romans/romans8.htm
(n.d.). Mark, chapter 9 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/9
(n.d.). Online Ministries - Creighton University. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html
(2014, December 1). Jesus: Who Do You Think You Are? 1. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob .... Retrieved February 25, 2018, from http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/jesus-who-do-you-think-you-are-1-abraham-isaac-and-jacob
(n.d.). Obey God or Question God? | My Jewish Learning. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/autonomy-vs-heteronomy-in-the-covenantal-relationship/
(2011, December 5). The Voice of Saint Mark: Year B and the Gospel of Mark - Thinking Faith. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20111205_1.htm
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
(n.d.). Obey God or Question God? | My Jewish Learning. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/autonomy-vs-heteronomy-in-the-covenantal-relationship/
(2011, December 5). The Voice of Saint Mark: Year B and the Gospel of Mark - Thinking Faith. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20111205_1.htm
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
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