O Wondrous type! O vision Fair Lutheran Service Book #413
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; Matthew 4:16
O wondrous type! O vision fair
Of glory that he Church may share,
With Christ upon the mountain shows,
Where brighter than the sun He glows!
Today is the last Sunday in the
season of Epiphany. Today is Transfiguration Sunday. Through this season of Epiphany,
we have witnessed the glory of God manifested in Jesus, but today God’s full
glory is reflected in Jesus. Jesus’ glory is shown by the brightness of His
physical appearance, the appearance of Moses and Elijah, and the presence of
the Father evidenced by a cloud and a voice.
Since Jesus has come to the
full possession of God’s glory, He is prepared to fulfill His mission as the
Messiah by going to Jerusalem to the cross. In Lent, we make a pilgrimage with
Jesus to suffer and die with Him. Your baptism indicates that the Old Adam in us
should be daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and
evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before
God in righteousness and purity forever.[1]
Our journey begins today from the mountain of Transfiguration, through the
valley of Lent, to the cross at Mount Calvary and to an open tomb on Easter
Sunday. May the pilgrimage begin.
O God, who on the holy
mountain revealed the chosen witnesses Your well-beloved Son, wonderfully
transfigured, in raiment white and glistening; Mercifully grant that we, being
delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in
His beauty; who with You, O Father, and You O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one
God, for ever and ever. [2]
[1] Luther’s Small Catechism; Baptism, What does such
baptizing with water indicate?
[2] For All the Saints; Collect for Transfiguration, © The American Lutheran
Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
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