Transfiguration
Day 541, Tuesday, Feb. 3
Mark 8:27 – 9:50
The Sunday before Ash Wednesday, (Feb. 15 this year) is celebrated as Transfiguration Sunday. It is a day we remember and celebrate the story told in Mark 9:2-12.
Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain, where his appearance changes—he is transfigured. All we are told about the change is that his clothing becomes dazzling white. More significant than the clothing, though, is the appearance of Elijah and Moses. “And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.” They personify the prophets and the law—this is yet another affirmation that Jesus is not a departure from the faith of the Old Testament, but a continuation of it.
On the way down the mountain, “Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what ‘rising from the dead’ meant.”
In the Christian year, Transfiguration Sunday is the beginning of the journey to Good Friday and Easter.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Tuesday meditation

Psalms 73:13-20
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.
If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! They are like a dream when one awakes, when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.

Prayer focus
Be with us, God, as we too try to understand what “rising from the dead” means.