February 15, 2026
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Matthew 5:17 – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
We cannot keep the Law of God perfectly. We are sinners. For us to be saved, Jesus had to fulfill the Law in our place so that the threat of the Law is abolished and the Law itself is upheld.
Now, in Christ, we do desire to fulfill the Law, to live out a godly Christian life, precisely because we are so full of thanksgiving toward God for His salvation in Christ.
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Life Thoughts for the Week
The Transfiguration of Our Lord – In the Transfiguration of Jesus, we see that the glory of the Almighty God was hidden in the human flesh of our Lord. What a great reminder that God can work remarkable and glorious things through that which the world views as normal and ordinary.
God, who can bring about the restoration of the fallen world through human flesh and blood, can also do wonderful and amazing things through surprise pregnancies, people born with severe disabilities, and those with terminal illnesses. Instead of turning to death in these cases, we should look for the ways that God might be hiding His good and gracious will in them.
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Exodus 24:8–18; Peter 1:16–21; Matthew 17:1–9
God Manifests His Glory in the Body of Christ Jesus, Transfigured for Us by His Cross
The Transfiguration confirms “the prophetic word … to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19).
The divine glory of Jesus is manifested in the word of His apostles, who were “eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). “He was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2). Moses and Elijah witnessed the fulfillment of the Old Testament in this Lord Jesus, and the Father testified concerning Him: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 17:5).
By His own blood, shed on the cross, Jesus makes and seals the new covenant with us. Hence, “the appearance of the glory of the LORD” is no longer “like a devouring fire” (Exodus 24:17), but it is graciously revealed in His own body. As “Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel” went up the mountain with Moses and “beheld God, and ate and drank” (Exodus 24:9, 11), we also behold the Lord our God in Christ Jesus, and we abide with Him as we eat and drink His body and blood at the altar.
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Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:12–19; 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10; Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21
Return to the Lord Your God with All Your Heart, for He Has Reconciled You to Himself
On Ash Wednesday, we come down from the mountain with Jesus and set our face toward His cross and Passion in Jerusalem. We make our pilgrimage with Him by way of repentance, and thus we return to our dying and rising in Holy Baptism.
Christ Jesus, “who knew no sin,” became our sin, so that by His death we are released from sin and in His resurrection we “become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). As God has thereby reconciled the world to Himself in Christ, “now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). He has provided the sacrificial Lamb, and He has left “a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering” (Joel 2:14) in the Eucharist.
He summons us to return to Him with all our heart because He is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13). We do so with faith and confidence in Him, and so we pray to Him as our Father, give to the needy from a heart of love, and fast for the sake of repentance (Matthew 6:3–4, 6, 17–18).
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Lectionary Series – Sunday’s Scripture Readings © The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod 1333 S. Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO 63122-7295 800-248-1930, Ext. 1265 • worship@lcms.org • lcms.org/worship. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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