The Wednesday after the Festival of the Transfiguration of our Lord
Posted on January 28, 2026 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 13:22-30 (NKJV)
13:22 And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
Devotion
The unbeliever’s “claim to fame” can be that he saw Jesus, but he does not really know Jesus. He does not acknowledge Jesus as God, nor does he trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins. He treats Jesus like a celebrity, and all he wants is the experience of “getting up close”.
The point is: those who trust in Jesus for their salvation are closer to Him than even those who saw Him in the flesh. The eyes of faith mean more than the eyes of the flesh. This is why He flags the patriarchs, “Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets”: they may not have seen Him in the flesh, but they saw Him by faith, which is far better and comes with the promise of salvation. Hence He says of Abraham, elsewhere, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).
To know Jesus by faith is better than to see Jesus with the flesh. Because to know Him is to be known by Him. When He returns, everyone will see Him in the flesh, but only those who know Him by faith will be acknowledged by Him.
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.
