Preparing for Worship - January 25, 2026

If you have switched from the three year series of readings for worship to the one year series, you will notice some changes. For example, in the one year series, this Sunday’s readings are about the Transfiguration of Jesus. In the three year series, the Transfiguration readings do not come until Feb.15, just before Ash Wednesday. These readings are all Scripture, though, and as God’s Word, it does not matter just when we hear them. Just keep listening and learning.

The psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 2, another of the psalms that prophesy the coming of “the Anointed One,” an Old Testament term translated in the New Testament as “the Messiah” or “the Christ,” titles for our Lord Jesus. See John 1:41, where Andrew told his brother, Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah,” (which means “Christ”). He brought him to Jesus.”  This psalm also says that this coming one would be the Lord’s “King” and would be the Son of God, “begotten of the Father.”  Unfortunately, many nations and peoples and earthly kings and leaders (including Satan and his forces) would oppose Him and plot against Him (and even put Him to death). The Lord would laugh at them in derision, though, and ultimately win the victory through His Son, who would bring forgiveness for our sins through His suffering and death. By their rejection of Christ Jesus, His enemies would lose the gifts and blessings of Christ, and would be defeated completely when He returns on the last day. The Lord then warns all leaders and others to be wise and “serve the Lord with gladness” and “kiss the Son,” as Samuel had kissed Saul when he was anointed him as the first “prince” of God’s people (1 Samuel 10:1). All are “to take refuge in Him” and “rejoice” in Him, in Jesus, as we do, too.

The Old Testament lesson is Exodus 34:29-35. Moses was a great leader of God’s Old Testament people, the Jews. He was allowed to be in the presence of God and see some of God’s glory when he received the Ten Commandments, and his face shone with a bit of God’s glory as he spoke to the people. Then Moses would put a veil on his face, until he spoke again with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:4-18 tells us that the glory on Moses was hidden because it would be a “fading glory” due to the sin and rebellion of the people, again and again, and even Moses’ own sin and weakness. Eventually, the Old Covenant with Israel was replaced by the New Covenant in Christ Jesus as Savior, when He came, available for all nations and peoples. Read this 2 Corinthians 3 passage carefully, as you have time.)

The Gospel lesson is Matthew 17:1-9. Jesus took three of His disciples to a mountain, and His glory as “the beloved Son of God” was seen by them as His face and clothing shone like the sun with great light. Elijah, the great Old Testament prophet, and even Moses, the prophet and Biblical writer, whose face also shone, reflecting a bit of God’s glory, were with Jesus and talking with Him. And then God the Father appeared, in a bright cloud, as he had often appeared to Moses and the people during the Exodus, and in the tabernacle and the temple. God the Father spoke from the cloud and clearly identified Jesus as His Son, who was perfectly well-pleasing to Him. The disciples were therefore to “listen to Him.” At first, though, Peter wanted to build tents for them all to keep this good thing going. But then the glory of the Father, and of Jesus, and all that was happening, terrified the disciples, and they fell on their faces. They could not look on even a glimpse of this glory. Jesus, though, touched them and told them to rise and not be afraid, and everything was back to normal. Only Jesus was with them, and He told them not to say anything about all that had happened until He, “the Son of Man” and Son of God, was raised from the dead.

Peter and the others did not understand a lot of this and failed Jesus miserably, running away when He was arrested and suffered and died on the cross. But after His resurrection, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit were mightily at work in these disciples, and they became stronger in faith in Jesus, and Peter then spoke and wrote about Jesus as Lord and Savior and the importance and truth of this Transfiguration event, in our Epistle lesson for today, 2 Peter 1:16-21. This was not “a cleverly devised myth,” as some people said back then and some still say today. Peter and the others were eyewitnesses to the majesty, honor, and glory of Jesus and the words His heavenly Father spoke about Him on the holy mountain. And they had something they called “even more sure, the prophetic Word of God.” They had heard that Word for three years, though they struggled to understand and believe it at times. They also had the teaching of Jesus after His resurrection, pulling everything together for them as their risen Lord. And they had the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit (the Third person of the One True Triune God) given to them by the Father and Jesus, and at Pentecost. This is what was true of all the Scriptures we now have, in the Old and New Testaments. Peter put it this way, about himself and all the other Biblical speakers and writers: “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The picture is of a sailboat that cannot move unless carried along by the wind and current, in this case, of the Holy Spirit. As Paul wrote, “All Scripture is inspired (literally, 'God-breathed) (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is the very Word of God Himself, coming through these human writers and speakers. Peter says the same thing about Paul's words and writing in 2 Peter 3:15-18. Jesus Himself had also promised, “If you abide in my Word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-36). Jesus also said, in John 16:12-13, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” And Jesus said, in John 17:14-17, “I have given them (the disciples) Your Word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world… Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is Truth.” May we stay in that Word of God, the Scriptures, always!