Preparing for Worship - February 11, 2024

The Old Testament lesson most likely to be used for this coming Sunday is from 2 Kings 2:1-12. It was time for the prophet Elijah’s ministry to end and for him to be called to heaven. Elisha had been very close to Elijah and didn’t want to leave him, though Elijah kept asking him to stay behind when he traveled. Elisha wouldn’t do that and asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. It was up to the Lord and His Holy Spirit, though, as to how Elisha would be blessed. Finally, Elijah is taken directly to heaven by a whirlwind, accompanied by chariots and horses of fire. Elisha shows his great sorrow at Elijah being gone, but in verses that follow he does receive the Lord’s Spirit for his own prophetic ministry.

The alternate Old Testament lesson is from Exodus 34:29-35. Moses was also a great prophet of God and received the 10 Commandments and much more from the Lord so that he could write the first five books of the Old Testament. When he was with God, his face shone with a bit of the glory of God. But this glory was a fading glory for him when he was away from the Lord.

The Psalm is Psalm 50:1-6. This psalm also pictures the glory of “the Mighty One, God the Lord” “shining forth” like the sun. When He comes, there can be “tempest” and “fire,” especially when he calls His people to assemble to be judged by Him. (After this text, God does find fault with His people. Martin Luther puts it this way: “They value their own sacrifices and worship highly, as if God must surely be thankful and indebted to them. God, however, reverses this. He intends for His goodness and help to be so highly esteemed that we will be thankful and indebted to Him… that we praise God, that we trust in Him, call on Him, praise and thank Him as our only God, and the like” (Reading the Psalms with Luther, p.121-122, CPH, 2007).

These readings all point forward to the great Glory of Jesus, the Son of God, shown in our Gospel lesson, Mark 9:2-9. Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain by themselves, and Jesus was “transfigured” before them. His clothes were radiant, whiter than anyone on earth could make them, and another Gospel says that Jesus’ face shone like the sun in brightness. Moses and Elijah, great prophets and leaders of the Old Testament, appeared with Jesus. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and God the Father said of Jesus, “This is My Beloved Son; keep on listening to Him.” Clearly, Jesus was the Son of God, but suddenly, only Jesus was there with these disciples. They needed to go down the mountain, for soon Jesus would suffer and die to pay the penalty for the sins of the world (as we begin to hear on Ash Wednesday, February 14, this year), and then Jesus would rise from the dead, showing again His power and glory.

The Epistle lesson, 2 Corinthians 3:12-13 (14-18) 4:1-6, speaks of Moses wearing a veil when a bit of the Lord’s glory shone on him, as we heard in the alternate OT lesson from Exodus 34. It was a fading glory, but the glory of Jesus is forever, now that He humbled himself and completed His saving work on the cross and rose from the dead. Therefore, Paul and other New Testament leaders like Peter and James and John did not proclaim themselves. They were only servants of Jesus, who as true man was perfectly “the image of God;” and through the truth of the Word of God and what they had seen, they could only proclaim “the Gospel” of “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” as Lord and Savior.