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Saturday of the Third Week after the Epiphany
Daily Lectionary: Zechariah 11:4-17; 2 Timothy 4:1-18
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (From the Introit for The Transfiguration of Our Lord)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. As soon as we see how scary the world is we start looking for a safe place. Kids hide under covers. Peter sets up tabernacles on mountains: one for Moses, one for Elijah. one for Jesus. Let me stay, too! It’s safe up here. Until it isn’t. The lightnings lighted up the world, and even the safe mountain trembled and shook.
We spend so much time looking for what must be the house of God, the safe place, that we lose sight of the miracle of the Transfiguration. It was there all along. If all the world is God’s creation, His dwelling place is wherever He dwells. Jesus dwells with sinners. With you. It isn’t measured by how safe it looks or feels, but by His promise. This is my Body. This is my Blood. This is for you for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. My soul faints for the courts of the Lord, where He sustains me and shields me, feeds me and gives me His favor. My soul longs for church, where Christ has promised to be not just with me, but for me.
The Transfiguration is awesome because of the display of power, but it isn’t safe. There’s no promise. There’s no mercy. There’s no “for you.” At the end, what’s left standing was there all along, but more. Jesus only, but Jesus for you. He has all the same power and divinity. He bears human likeness not to be more approachable, but to die on the Cross to save you. It’s scary down here, so Jesus descends from heaven to save us by dying our death and rising from the grave. He sets up His courts wherever His Word is preached and His Sacraments are administered. We find shelter in His presence even as He gives us His gifts. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. –Rev. Harrison Goodman
Glimpsed and gone the revelation, They shall gain and keep its truth, Not by building on the mountain Any shrine or sacred booth, But by following the Savior Through the valley to the cross And by testing faith’s resilience Through betrayal, pain, and loss. (Swiftly Pass the Clouds of Glory, LSB 416:2)
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By Higher Things®Daily Lectionary: Zechariah 11:4-17; 2 Timothy 4:1-18
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (From the Introit for The Transfiguration of Our Lord)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. As soon as we see how scary the world is we start looking for a safe place. Kids hide under covers. Peter sets up tabernacles on mountains: one for Moses, one for Elijah. one for Jesus. Let me stay, too! It’s safe up here. Until it isn’t. The lightnings lighted up the world, and even the safe mountain trembled and shook.
We spend so much time looking for what must be the house of God, the safe place, that we lose sight of the miracle of the Transfiguration. It was there all along. If all the world is God’s creation, His dwelling place is wherever He dwells. Jesus dwells with sinners. With you. It isn’t measured by how safe it looks or feels, but by His promise. This is my Body. This is my Blood. This is for you for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. My soul faints for the courts of the Lord, where He sustains me and shields me, feeds me and gives me His favor. My soul longs for church, where Christ has promised to be not just with me, but for me.
The Transfiguration is awesome because of the display of power, but it isn’t safe. There’s no promise. There’s no mercy. There’s no “for you.” At the end, what’s left standing was there all along, but more. Jesus only, but Jesus for you. He has all the same power and divinity. He bears human likeness not to be more approachable, but to die on the Cross to save you. It’s scary down here, so Jesus descends from heaven to save us by dying our death and rising from the grave. He sets up His courts wherever His Word is preached and His Sacraments are administered. We find shelter in His presence even as He gives us His gifts. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. –Rev. Harrison Goodman
Glimpsed and gone the revelation, They shall gain and keep its truth, Not by building on the mountain Any shrine or sacred booth, But by following the Savior Through the valley to the cross And by testing faith’s resilience Through betrayal, pain, and loss. (Swiftly Pass the Clouds of Glory, LSB 416:2)