Mar 8, 2025 Written by 

Against the tide Transfiguration

Faith and Metamorphosis

(Mk 9:2-13)

 

In biblical language, the experience of «the Mount» is an icon of the Encounter between God and man. Yes, for us it’s like “losing our minds”, but in a very practical way - not at all visionary.

The Master imposes it on the three eminent figures of the first communities, not because he considers them the chosen ones, but the exact opposite: he realizes that it’s his captains who need verification.

The synoptic Gospels do not speak of Transfiguration any, but of «Metamorphosis» [Greek text of Mk 9:2 and Mt 17:2]: a passing under a different ‘form’.

In particular, Lk 9:29 emphasizes that «the appearance of his face became ‘other’». Not because of a paroxysmal state.

It sounds crazy, but the hieratic magnificence of the Eternal One is revealed against the tide: in the image of the humble servant.

The experience of divine Glory is unsustainable for the eminent disciples - not in reference to physical flashes of light.

As in Oriental icons, they find themselves face to earth [Mt 17:6 - in ancient Eastern culture it meant precisely: "defeated" in their aspirations] and frightened. Fearful of being they too called to the gift of self (Mk 9:6; Mt 17:6; Lk 9:34-36).

The vertigo of the experience of God was not what they cultivated and wanted.

The dazzling light to which the passage refers (Mk 9:3; Mt 17:2.5; Lk 9:29) is that of a Revelation that opens our eyes to the "impossible" identity of the Son.

He was popularly expected as resembling David, powerful sovereign, able to assure the people a quick and easy well-being.

He’s ‘revealed’ in a reversal: the Glory of God is Communion in simplicity, which qualifies us everyone.

The ‘shape’ of the "boss" is that of the attendant, who has the freedom to step down in altitude to put the least at ease: the humanly defeated one!

Peter elbows more than others to have his say. As usual, he wants to emerge and reiterate ancient ideas, but he reveals himself as the most ridiculous of all (Mk 9:6; Lk 9:33): he’s ranting.

For him [again!] at the centre of the triptych remains Moses (Mk 9:5; Mt 17:4; Lk 9:33).

With the help of prophecies animated by fiery zeal [Elijah], according to Simon, Jesus would be one of the many who makes others practise the legalistic tradition.

At foundatiion remain the Commandments, not the Beatitudes.

The first of the apostles just does not want to understand that the Lord doesn’t impose a Covenant based on obeying, but on Resembling!

Of course, the other "great ones" were also half asleep. Who knows what they were dreaming of... then bewildered, they all look for a Jesus according to Moses and Elijah (Mk 9:8-10; Mt 17:8; Lk 9:36).

 

In the culture of the time, the new, observant and disruptive Prince was expected during the Feast of Huts.

He would inaugurate the rule of the chosen people over all the nations of the earth (Zk 14:16-19); in practice, the golden age.

In Judaism, the Feast of Booths commemorated the ‘Mirabilia Dei’ of the Exodus [Lk 9:31: here, the new and personalised liberation from the land of slavery] and looked to the future by celebrating the prospects of victory for the protagonist ethnicity.

But the Kingdom of the Lord is not an empire affected by prodigious and immediate verticalism.

To build the Church of God there are no shortcuts, no numb safety points, and there sitting quiet - at a safe distance - by raving about accolades.

 

 

[2nd Sunday in Lent, Transfiguration of the Lord]

458 Last modified on Sunday, 16 March 2025 12:30
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

[Nicodemus] felt the fascination of this Rabbi, so different from the others, but could not manage to rid himself of the conditioning of his environment that was hostile to Jesus, and stood irresolute on the threshold of faith (Pope Benedict)
[Nicodemo] avverte il fascino di questo Rabbì così diverso dagli altri, ma non riesce a sottrarsi ai condizionamenti dell’ambiente contrario a Gesù e resta titubante sulla soglia della fede (Papa Benedetto)
Those wounds that, in the beginning were an obstacle for Thomas’s faith, being a sign of Jesus’ apparent failure, those same wounds have become in his encounter with the Risen One, signs of a victorious love. These wounds that Christ has received for love of us help us to understand who God is and to repeat: “My Lord and my God!” Only a God who loves us to the extent of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, especially innocent suffering, is worthy of faith (Pope Benedict)
Quelle piaghe, che per Tommaso erano dapprima un ostacolo alla fede, perché segni dell’apparente fallimento di Gesù; quelle stesse piaghe sono diventate, nell’incontro con il Risorto, prove di un amore vittorioso. Queste piaghe che Cristo ha contratto per amore nostro ci aiutano a capire chi è Dio e a ripetere anche noi: “Mio Signore e mio Dio”. Solo un Dio che ci ama fino a prendere su di sé le nostre ferite e il nostro dolore, soprattutto quello innocente, è degno di fede (Papa Benedetto)
We see that the disciples are still closed in their thinking […] How does Jesus answer? He answers by broadening their horizons […] and he confers upon them the task of bearing witness to him all over the world, transcending the cultural and religious confines within which they were accustomed to think and live (Pope Benedict)
Vediamo che i discepoli sono ancora chiusi nella loro visione […] E come risponde Gesù? Risponde aprendo i loro orizzonti […] e conferisce loro l’incarico di testimoniarlo in tutto il mondo oltrepassando i confini culturali e religiosi entro cui erano abituati a pensare e a vivere (Papa Benedetto)
The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendour of God’s light, into true life (Pope Benedict)
I Padri […] dicono così: per il pesce, creato per l’acqua, è mortale essere tirato fuori dal mare. Esso viene sottratto al suo elemento vitale per servire di nutrimento all’uomo. Ma nella missione del pescatore di uomini avviene il contrario. Noi uomini viviamo alienati, nelle acque salate della sofferenza e della morte; in un mare di oscurità senza luce. La rete del Vangelo ci tira fuori dalle acque della morte e ci porta nello splendore della luce di Dio, nella vera vita (Papa Benedetto)
We may ask ourselves: who is a witness? A witness is a person who has seen, who recalls and tells. See, recall and tell: these are three verbs which describe the identity and mission (Pope Francis, Regina Coeli April 19, 2015)
Possiamo domandarci: ma chi è il testimone? Il testimone è uno che ha visto, che ricorda e racconta. Vedere, ricordare e raccontare sono i tre verbi che ne descrivono l’identità e la missione (Papa Francesco, Regina Coeli 19 aprile 2015)

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