Lectio: Not sure how to respond

A thought on the Gospel for Transfiguration Sunday, Year B

When we come to Mark 9:2-9, it’s familiar. And if you’re in a community that observes the Church calendar, your mind is already on to Ash Wednesday and Lent and what you’ll be going without for 40+ days before Easter. But the Gospel reading should grind us to a halt.

Jesus reaches a critical moment in his ministry on this mountain in the north of the promised land. Gathering with only three of his disciples, a transformation that reveals Jesus in all his divine glory comes with the discussion of his coming exodus through the cross and resurrection. Despite all the ways Jesus has revealed himself and his mission to his disciples, his closest friends are not sure how to respond and are terrified.

Perhaps the greatest barrier to the work of Jesus going forward isn’t whether Jesus is clear or revealed, but is in fact the inability of his disciples to respond. Relationship can’t continue when you are dumbstruck and uncertain. So it comes back to the revelation at the beginning, with the Lord’s baptism: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” When we are not sure how to respond to a revelation of God, may we have the grace to go back to the beginning and see the unending Love and Beloved that invite us in.