Bible Study for March 2, 2025

Hi everyone,

While we read about Jesus' Transfiguration right before Lent each year, Luke is the only Gospel writer who shares what Moses and Elijah were talking about with Jesus: "his departure"! We are blessed to share publicly what Peter and John and James were told to keep quiet: the glory of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ!

TO JOIN ONLINE

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88689075784?pwd=K3lRMnVmL2Z6MGFoQ3AzRjJsRFplZz09

Meeting ID: 886 8907 5784
Passcode: church

Pastor Tim

"God has led you to the desert, and spoken to your Heart."

Mount of Olives Lutheran Church

3546 E. Thomas Rd

Phoenix, AZ 85018

602-956-1620 office

Bible Study for March 2, 2025

Opening Prayer:

Creator of all, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in study. Open our minds and hearts. By the power of the Holy Spirit, unite us in faith, hope, and love. Help us to be faithful to the gospel and to walk humbly with you. Grant us your peace as we grow in wisdom and understanding. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Luke 9:28-43 Do mountaintop experiences have value in and of themselves? Or must their effectiveness depend on the deeds of faith and compassion demonstrated because of these experiences?

The word transfiguration is a translation from a Greek word that means “changed” Since this event takes place recently after Peter’s recognition of Jesus as the Messiah, his disciples know Jesus is the Messiah!  In leading the three closest to Him to this time of prayer, perhaps Jesus hoped this experience would help them understand the importance of being called Messiah and to strengthen them for the hard work and trials ahead.  While there, however, an epiphany, or divine manifestation, occurred. (This is the last Sunday in the season after the Epiphany.) They saw God’s glory in the face of Jesus and realized His connection with Moses (the Torah tradition) and Elijah (the prophetic tradition). The luminescence of Jesus’ face was obscured by a cloud (veil?), and a voice confirmed what Peter confessed — Jesus was God’s chosen one. The disciples, despite their mountaintop experience, remained pretty much the same. Coming down, they had the opportunity to perform an act of mercy but could not. Jesus healed the boy, in the end, by Himself. 

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Paul completely reverses the meaning of the veil—from symbolizing God’s grandeur to obscuring God’s grace. Can religious practices obscure God’s graces?

Paul is a minister of the new covenant, which is not based on lifeless commandments chiseled in stone from our Exodus reading. Rather, we are led by Christ’s Spirit, bringing life and hope to the world—and this passage is an example of the contrast of the old covenant of Moses with the new one in Christ. The glory of redemption in Christ is sure and lasting—this gives us the confidence to proclaim the gospel openly, whereas Moses had to obscure his message that could not endure. Only when we seek God in Christ, Paul says, can this veil be torn away. Only the Spirit of God brings freedom from the limitations and judgment of the law. Because Paul had experienced this situation of separation from God himself early in life, he knew it to be true. He had no need to try to trick people into believing through manipulation or false argument (as his adversaries in the Corinthian church contended). He could be completely open, under God, in presenting himself and the message of salvation to the conscience of his hearers. Paul had no need for the veil of Moses.