To Be Part of Mission of God
Faith Lutheran Church, Marietta, GA
February 15, 2026
Text: Matthew 17:1–9
In the name of Jesus, Amen!
Before computer-generated holography became more advanced, holograms (that is, three-dimensional images) were recorded and then reconstructed by lasers. One of the interesting features of laser-generated holograms is that holograms broken into pieces retain the entire image in each fragment. It means that with a small piece of the broken hologram you are able to reconstruct the whole 3D image, with a lower resolution though. That small part of the hologram works like a small window that allows you to see the whole picture even though it becomes blurry with less details. Jesus’ Transfiguration on the mountain is somewhat like a hologram through which you can see a glimpse of salvation history. Jesus as the Son of God transcends time and space and brings Moses and Elijah together with Peter, James and John into this “hologram” picture, for us to see the whole history of both the OT time and the NT time, with Jesus Christ being the center. Moses represents the first five books of the Bible. Elijah represents all the prophets. Peter, James and John represent the Apostles and all the disciples and believers of Jesus including you and me.
After Adam and Eve sinned, the human race has been sinning against God and each other, and has been under the curse of God. Death and eternal damnation are the destination of sinful and mortal men and women. However, God has a wonderful plan for you and for all humanity. He ordained a way of salvation before the foundation of the world. In fact, right after Adam sinned, God promised the Son of a virgin. From then on, saving people from their sin and death and giving them a higher and stronger quality of life in Christ Jesus has become the Mission of God. He calls people to be part of His mission. He revealed Himself to Abraham, led him out of Ur, an evil idol-worshipping place, to the promised land. He enabled Abraham to believe in Him Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. He promised Abraham that through THE offspring of his, God would bless the nations in the world. He called Moses in the burning bush to be part of His mission to save the people of Israel. God acted in history to save them from Pharaoh’s oppression to be free and worship the true God, YHWH. As God repeatedly saved the people of Israel from their enemies, the prophets like Elijah reminded the Israelites again and again that they had forsaken God Who brought them out of Egypt and had worshipped false gods. As you may remember the contest between Elijah and worshippers of Baal on Mount Carmel, though God prevailed in the contest and killed the prophets of false gods, the unbelieving Israelites still tried to kill the prophet Elijah. Throughout the OT era, God showed His anger toward stubbornness of unbelief and sinfulness of men, and at the same time acted in mercy toward His chosen people to announce and prophesy His saving grace in Him alone. Through the prophets like Moses and Elijah, God wrote the OT Bible to foretell and foreshadow the Messiah or Christ who would one day come to accomplish the salvation for all humanity.
Now, on the mountain of transfiguration, Jesus brought Peter, James and John, who represent the beginning of the NT church, and brought them to meet Moses and Elijah and to show them and now to show us the continuity of God’s mission to save sinners by grace through faith. Christ Jesus is the center of this Mission. The Transfiguration text according to St. Luke tells us that on the mountain “Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus of His departure, which Jesus was about to accomplish at Jerusalem”. The original Greek word for “departure” here is “ἔξοδον”, “Exodus” in English, which means that what Jesus was about to accomplish at the Cross in Jerusalem is the New Exodus foreshadowed by the Exodus that was led by God through Moses. With Jesus dying and resurrecting to wash our sins and give us eternal life, the Mission of God reaches its climax. Jesus opens up the Kingdom of heaven to all who believe Him including the Gentiles, and gives us the Great Commission to continue to carry out God’s Mission with the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and send out Apostles, pastors, and missionaries to Spread the Gospel, Plant the Church and Show Mercy to all. Jesus also promises us that He Himself together with His Holy Spirit will be with us always in Word and Sacraments until He comes again in glory to bring us to the new heaven and new earth and live forever more.
The Mission of God comes from the heart of God, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” During this Epiphany season, as you are considering what it means to live “A Well-Ordered Life” and renewing your sense of vision and calling before God, meditate on the love of God so freely and abundantly bestowed on you and the whole world through Jesus Christ our Lord and His saving grace. Join the conversation with Jesus in prayer and with one another as Moses and Elijah did on the mountain of transfiguration, recounting God’s powerful and loving actions in the history of salvation, and speaking of Jesus’ Great Exodus that brings us forgiveness of our sins and leads us from death to life. As God acts in salvation history, we too shall act and be part of God’s mission. As a fellow forgiven sinner and a child of God, I pray and invite you to be part of this exciting journey of the mission of God to save sinners.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen!
