Sunday Gospel Comment

 

Alberic Jacovone OSB

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YEAR B

Gen 22,1-2.9-13.15-18; Rom 8,31-34; Mk 9,2-10

Re-vision of a Vision 

Psychic experiences: to us humans, they are ‘natural’, not impossible: it’s natural that at time of danger, they may be interpreted as warnings. And while some people are more open than others to the sense of wonder, we can all relate to occasions, -dreaming or reading, or admiring a spectacle (sunrise / sunset / stars...)-, when we have felt stirred & inspired; felt as if we could see, as if we were transported there,.. so vivid was the scene. The difficulty starts when these experiences are reported: then other people -and even the media-, go into the debate whether these experiences are real or fake or possible at all.

In these last days, we in Australia have had our share of the controversy: we’ve heard reports of people who saw visions of the Madonna at Coogee, with the result that the place had to be cleared. The Catholic Weekly (09-03-03) wrote about a ‘weeping statue’ in Perth Diocese, with the result that Archbishop Barry Hickey appointed a commission to investigate and then withdrew the statue from public veneration within the Church. Last Tuesday, The Sydney Morning Herald wrote about Princess Diana being ‘dead busy’ at a seance, where she was contacted by two British psychics, and where she said to be against the war with Iraq and is having fun in after-life with Mother Teresa; and the actual scenes of this seance went on TV in England on the same night: 11-03-2003.

Today and for centuries in the past, believers & unbelievers, have been puzzled by the reports of psychic phenomena; the immediate questions are: what is it about? how can it be? what meaning or purpose can it have? Well, today as always on 2nd Sunday of Lent, we are presented with a psychic experiences in Jesus’ life. Mark is the reporter.

Trans-figuration vs Meta-morphosis. In his account, Mark does not get lost in queries about ‘what & how?’. In symbolic & concentric language, he simply tells the story of what the disciples saw and how they reacted. There is no attempt at defining what an appearing or disappearing is about. He never even uses the word transfiguration: the Greek text has ‘meta-morphosis’, which implies a mutation of shape (just as the word ‘a-morphic’ implies lack of shape). Mark wants us to understand that Jesus is fulfilling God’s plan as it had been foretold and mapped out in the Scriptures. The two people who appear in the vision -Moses & Elijah- are not there by coincidence. On the contrary, they are the privileged people, who centuries before Jesus, had had the same experience. Indeed, all the essential elements which were experienced by Moses and Elijah are included in Jesus’ story. They, first: went to God’s mountain - the cloud overshadowing it - God’s voice was heard from the cloud -the face became radiant - the radiance made the by-standees afraid - & the event happened "six days later". Mark makes sure we notice how these same elements are included in Jesus’ own experience on God’s mountain: the six days later - the fear - the radiance - God’s voice - the cloud - and the mount itself. Even the words "listen to Him" are from Deut. 18,15: "Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like myself, from among you: listen to him". Mark asks us to discover and enjoy his symbolic presentation of the story. He says: notice carefully how Jesus goes up God’s mountain just like Moses & Elijah went centuries before him and centuries apart. On purpose, I have applied to Jesus, the details that are recorded for Moses and Elijah, since these two represent the Torah & the Prophets. See how God’s plan is fulfilled by Jesus. Now, He is the one who brings all nations from slavery into freedom.

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