I have gotten way out of the habit of starting the week with you in Scripture, so let’s get back to it.   We start with Transfiguration Sunday or “The Last Sunday after Epiphany.”

Typically this is a place where you find my first blush look at the Scripture, but I have to admit that I have been working about a half week ahead, so for a couple of the texts, I have looked at them prior to this morning.  Anyway, here’s what the lectionary serves up for us this week:

• Exodus 24:12-18
• Psalm 2 or Psalm 99
• 2 Peter 1:16-21
• Matthew 17:1-9

It’s not until we get to the Epistle and the Gospel lessons that we will see that the theme for the week hits us at verse 16 of the OT reading, “The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai…”   God’s glory will be on full display later, but for right now, it is on display as well for the Israelites as Moses goes before God to get the law.  I’m really thinking about those final two verses as I look over this text.   Thinking about how the Israelites saw God’s glory as a devouring fire a top the mountain.  What a sight that must have been.  I also have to think about Moses being in the thick of it and not just in it for a moment, but for 40 days.  To dwell or abide with God for 40 days, what must that have been like?  What must it have been like to enjoy that type of relationship with God?  It truly makes me think about God’s individual relationship with not just Moses, but back to Abraham, the type of relationship where Abraham felt as though he could make a deal with God when it came to destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.  Likewise, there are several times Moses stands between not just God, but the wrath of God and the Israelites.  Wow, with a capital W!

We get our choice of two Psalms.  We don’t always think about the Psalms as being prophetic, but we do get that this week in Psalm 2, verse 7, as it will directly relate to the Gospel (the Transfiguration).   This Psalm also reminds us and everyone who reads it that the rulers and kingdoms of this world are less than nothing compared to the Almighty.

Moving to Psalm 99 where we have a strong connection but going backwards to the OT lesson.  We get a little more though about the covenant we are in with God and that there are consequences for not living up to our end of the bargain.  What do we make of verse 8? “…you were a forgiving God to them but an avenger of their wrongdoings.”  I’m curious to see what Spurgeon has to say about this one.  We get a taste of that line we walk with God, yes he is forgiving, but we do not have a blank check to write-off all the evils we have done.  Do not forget that we are called to seek forgiveness and to repent.  We do have a forgiving God, but we must also have contrite hearts, to truly seek a rightness with God.

The Epistle is a more literal supportive text to the Gospel this week than it is a doctrinal parallel.   Peter, or someone writing as Peter, recounts the Gospel and the moment on the mountain with Jesus.  When you read this, perhaps what seems like a throwaway line in the Gospel comes into better focus.  Peter will say seemingly offhanded that it is good that they are there, we see how important and good it was.  Peter can preach from firsthand knowledge, from an assuredness that others cannot.   I’ll also be spending time with the final two verses of this text, especially intrigued by the phrase, “…that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation…”

Ahh, the focal point of the week, The Transfiguration!  All three synoptic Gospel’s cover this event, though none are identical.  As I begin to think about this text, again I am drawn to the opportunity.  Moses had 40 days on the mountain, these three special disciples have much less time, but see the same glory (and Moses too).  These men had to be even further changed than they already were after this great and magnificent sight.  I’m also intrigued by something we don’t read…was there a sound when Jesus was radiating the light through himself, showing his glory?  We do get God’s voice, but was there another sound, similar to the rushing wind that they would hear when the Spirit would come to them later in the upper room?   Just the things I wonder about as I read this passage.

I am looking forward to further study this week and I hope you will join me in giving each of these readings a look.  As always, these are my initial and random thoughts as I read the texts for the first time, each will require more time and study to draw the full meaning of the Scripture.

Blessings to each of you and look forward to seeing you Sunday!