The Thursday after the Festival of the Transfiguration of our Lord
Posted on January 29, 2026 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 13:31-35 (NKJV)
13:31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, 35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
“I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
Devotion
It took the prophet Jonah three days to walk the city of Nineveh. But, instead of a three-day long sermon, he preached a message summed up in one sentence: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). One sentence, and one hundred twenty thousand persons were saved.
The kingdom of heaven is spread by the Word, and that Word is the power of God. Though it appears small—even as a single sentence—yet it performs what, for man, is impossible. As a mustard seed grows to many times its size, and as leaven spreads to many times its mass, so the tiniest part of God’s Word is infinitely powerful, and causes both the creation of the world and the salvation of sinners.
At the Transfiguration, the man Jesus was revealed to be the Word of God made flesh. He is the One who taught Moses and Elijah the things they said. It is He of whom the Father says, “Hear Him!” (Matt. 17:5). All the power of God is contained in the Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, all who trust in Him are delivered from sin, death, and the power of the devil, against which the Word of God is infinitely more powerful.
Collect: O God, Who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thine Only-begotten Son, hast confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers, and Who, in the Voice that came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful manner foreshow the adoption of sons: Mercifully vouchsafe to make us coheirs with the King of His glory, and bring us to the enjoyment of the same; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
