First Reading - Hebrews 11:1-7
Gospel - Mark 9:2-13
The first reading gives a brief definition of faith and furthermore illustrates it with the examplary life of legendary heroes of faith. In the first place, the definition of faith which entails two important ideas; firstly, faith inheres guarantee of future blessings and; secondly, faith assures or proves the existence of things that is not yet seen by human eyes, like, heaven, hell, judgement etc.
The passage also illustrates the definition of faith with the example of Abel, Enoch, and Noah. The common factor in all the three characters is faith. Faith of Abel is visible in his offering of the best thing to God and faith of Enoch is manifested in his life of righteousness because of which he was taken up to heaven and finally faith of Noah is seen in his reliance on the warning by God. The result of their faith was, they all were pleasing to God and were rewarded. We find a fusion of faith distilled in the life of the individuals. Faith finds coherence with life.
The gospel passage presents to us the transfiguration scene. A close look of the transfiguration scene demonstrates four important points; Firstly, a glimpse of the divine nature of Jesus as the foretaste of his glorious coming in glory; Secondly, the presence of Moses and Elijah refers to the fulfillment of the Law (as believed to have been given by Moses) and the Prophet (as Elijah represents the prophets) in Jesus, so to say, the Law and the Prophet of the old culminate in Jesus; they speak about Jesus and find fulfillment in him; Thirdly, the voice from heaven, confirms the authority of Jesus and his divine nature as the second person of the Trinity; Fourthly, the need to keep the vision secret (as commanded by Jesus to his disciples) refers to the present inability of his disciples to comprehend the event of transfiguration which would become clear subsequently after the resurrection.
Apart from the above considerations, there strikes out impulsive response of Peter to whole scene of transfiguration and his request to make the three tents. The hasty response of Peter is countered by the voice from the cloud: "This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to Him." This punctuation from the cloud confims the identity of Jesus that he is the divine person.
Dear friends, we are in the midst of hustle and bustle of the world. We are engaged in many things and busy with so many things. The gospel invites us to pose a while to 'listen'. Our busy life sometimes resembles the quick response of Peter 'to build three tents'. We are so occupied that we hardly find time to listen to Jesus who has the supreme authority; who reveals the Father to us; who gives a direction and a purpose to our lives. We do many things but listen to him. The invitation for us is to pause a while to lend our ears to Jesus in the silence of heart and in prayer.
The first reading illustrates the example of faith in the persons of Abel, Enoch, and Noah who were willing to listen to God and do what God wanted from them. Faith is a channel through which we communicate to God and prayer is a means that keeps our faith intact. Let's sustain our faith with our life of prayer that helps us listen to God.
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