Daily Gospel Reflection
Redirect Your Focus
3 min
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Gospel
Mk 9:2-10
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Eli´jah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli´jah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of man should have risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
Readings are from Dynamic Catholic’s New Testament Bible: RSV Catholic Edition
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Transcript
Redirect Your Focus
Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we're exploring the genius of Jesus in the Gospels. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verses 2 through 10. After six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them. And there appeared Elijah with Moses. And they were talking to Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here. Let us make three booths, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." For he did not know what to say. For they were exceedingly afraid. And a cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved son. Listen to him." And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with Jesus, just themselves. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus charged them to tell nobody what they had seen until the Son of Man should have risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. What jumps out at you? Two things jump out at me. The first one is the voice of God, the Father coming from the clouds, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him."
So God's directive to listen to Jesus. And I think that's a directive to us today. Call this series Radical and Relevant. God saying, "This is my beloved son. Listen to him," is as relevant to you and me today as it was 2,000 years ago to the disciples, Peter, James, and John up on the mountain. Are we listening to Jesus? This habit we have each morning of reflecting on the gospel is one way we're doing that, but there are lots of other ways for us to listen to Jesus. The other thing that struck me today is the end of the reading. Jesus tells them, "Don't tell anybody about what you've experienced." And the disciples decide to keep them out into themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. Not questioning what they just experienced, not trying to work out, "Okay, what have we just experienced? What does this mean?" But rather questioning what the rising from the dead meant, even though Jesus has just given them this astounding experience. Rather than trying to understand that, they've been distracted by this other thing of the rising from the dead. And so are we focused on what God wants us to be focused on? Are we learning the lesson that God wants us to learn? Are we trying to learn some other future lesson that we imagine we might need? Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.