Living the Lectionary – Week of the Transfiguration

Living the Lectionary is a weekly devotional tool intended to give you ideas for living out the Word of God that we encounter on Sundays in worship. 

ABOUT THIS SEASON AND SERIES: EPIPHANY – “CHRISTOLOGY”

The season of the Sundays after the Epiphany are sometimes called “Ordinary Time”. This is not because they are without special meaning, but rather, that they are numbered depending upon the date for Easter. It is in this season that we begin already to look forward to Easter by considering who Christ is and what He came to earth in order to accomplish in our series “Christology”. Transfiguration Week

ABOUT THE WEEK STARTING February 7th: THE WEEK of the TRANSFIGURATION

Jesus is like Moses, but better. All of the readings figure Moses into the equation somehow, but Moses’ greatness was always meant to point us to something greater. Law: Moses was great and gives us a picture of what human greatness can be, but we don’t live up to His example, much less Jesus’. Gospel: Jesus fulfills the Law, the teaching handed down from Moses, and as such, becomes the author of a new order, the order of the Gospel.

REFLECTING ON THE READINGS

(readings are linked to text on ESVbible.com – you can read all the readings together here.)

Deuteronomy 34– The Epilogue of Moses – Moses’ greatness is appended in an epilogue at the end of the book of Deuteronomy. In this reading we see the reasons that Moses was considered great. How does your “greatness” stack up again Moses? Does that make you want to try to be greater? or simply revel in Moses’ life?

Psalm 99– Enthroned Over All – This Psalm was typically sung at the enthronement of a king and makes allusions to the history of Israel, including the time in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses, and the time of the monarchy under the prophet Samuel. How do you think of the times of your history? What would a hymn celebrating the enthronement of God in your life sound like?

Hebrews 3:1-6 – Greater than Moses – The writer of Hebrews makes a point of saying that no matter how great we may regard Moses, we should always regard Jesus Christ as more. Who are those in your life that you regard as “great”? How might you give words to the greatness of Christ in contrast and comparison to their greatness?

Luke 9:28-36– Beside Jesus – The Hebrew mind always considered the person who was in the middle of the group to be the greatest. To place Elijah and Moses next to Jesus made a very definitive statement, Jesus is greatest. But Jesus is also crucified between two thieves upon the cross. How do you compare this seeming irony between this appearance on the mountain and the appearance at the crucifixion?

LIVING THE LECTIONARY IDEAS

Character: Humility. The  character of humility is especially easy to model in the presence of greatness. How does Jesus’ greatness inspire your humility?

Discipline: Modeling. As human beings, we model other humans in order to learn. Christians have a long history of modeling great Christians in history, usually designating them with the term “Saint”. How might you model a great believer in God such as Moses this week?

Knowledge: Read and compare the different accounts of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and here in Luke 9. What similarities or differences do you note?