The Transfiguration of Our Lord
“Eyewitnesses”
Rev. James L. Mayland
7:30am & 9am Sunday, February 19, 2023 in the Upper Sanctuary
Trinity Lutheran Church & School
Wausau, Wisconsin
FOCUS In one sense, the Transfiguration of Our Lord provides a sort of climax to the first part of the story of Jesus in the liturgical year. In the glorious vision, Moses and Elijah appear as if to prove that everything written in the Bible in the Law and the Prophets has come true in the advent and appearance of Jesus, “true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary” (explanation of the Second
Article). Yet this climactic event is not yet the true and complete climax of the story, but a transition now into the season of Lent and the road to the true climax: the cross of Good Friday, the resurrection of Easter, His ascension into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. There is so much more to tell. This brief glimpse of glory and Peter’s eyewitness account is to give us the strength and encouragement now to bring the story
to completion in us, that we become witnesses in possession of the glorious hope of eternal life through the forgiveness of our sins.
