Last Epiphany Year A 2/15/2026
Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 99; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
Our church calendar is beginning to change…
To Transform… if you will.
Today is the last Sunday after the Epiphany…
Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent.
This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday which begins our journey through the season of Lent.
40 days where we make special efforts and take more time to draw closer to Christ –
through prayer, fasting, reading scripture, and worship…
A more intentional time of devotion to God.
Our collect today recognizes the changing of the seasons…
It’s on the front of your bulletin…
We prayed:
O God, who before the passion of your only begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain…
This prayerfully sets up the Gospel reading today…
The narrative of the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Then the collect prays:
Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance,
The themes of Epiphany, light and beholding, are here…
It goes on…
may be strengthened to bear our cross…
Which is much more of a Lenten theme…
and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory
In which glory is one of the biggest key words for the season after the Epiphany.
So we are in Epiphany, but Lent is right around the corner…
But before we get to Lent…
Let’s wrap up the season after Epiphany.
The big overarching theme of Epiphany is the majesty and glory of Jesus.
It’s about revealing Jesus as the Messiah in the scriptures.
As Episcopal Priest, Fleming Rutledge writes:
Epiphany is the most specifically Christological season. [1]
Jesus is more than a moral example…
He is more than a social activist…
He is more than a religious teacher…
Jesus is the Son of God…
The Christ…
The Messiah who comes to save the world.
Starting with the day of Epiphany with the story of the wisemen…
Jesus is the king who is to be worshipped.
At his baptism, on the second Sunday after the Epiphany, the Holy Spirit descends as a dove, and the voice of heaven declares:
This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.
(Matthew 3.17)
In the calling of the disciples…
Jesus is the expected Messiah.
And in the Sermon on the Mount…
Jesus is the new Moses giving the law…
But also fulfilling it in himself.
And today we have the story of the Transfiguration…
Where the manifestation of the divine glory of Jesus is unmatched until the day of our Lord’s resurrection.[2]
Our psalm appointed for today carries this theme of the majestic glory of our Messiah Jesus Christ.
Psalm 99 is a kingship psalm…
Or a royal psalm.
And this direction of the psalm is expressed in the very first words:
The LORD is King…
Psalm 99 is about the mighty kingship of our God…
His reign over the earth…
Over the nations of the world.
He rules from his throne…
Described in our first verse:
He is enthroned upon the cherubim.
Which was the title given to the ark of the covenant…
(see 2 Samuel 6.2)
On the top of the ark of the covenant were two cherubim –
a type of angel…
And in between them…
This part was known as the mercy seat…
The throne of God.
And in the ark of the covenant were the ten commandments.
The ark rested in the Holy of Holies…
in the tabernacle and then in the Temple.
The psalmist is saying that God sits upon his throne because…
God is king…
And he wants our attention.
Listen to the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases the first three verses of Psalm 99 in The Message:
God rules. On your toes, everybody!
He rules from his angel throne—take notice!
God looms majestic in Zion,
He towers in splendor over all the big names.
Great and terrible your beauty: let everyone praise you!
Holy. Yes, holy.
God is a holy king.
He is set apart from his creation.
He is perfect.
He is holy.
This holiness… this greatness… was manifested in Jesus’ transfiguration…
Which is why the three disciples that were there as they experienced this…
Our Gospel says that they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.
Because of the majesty and holiness of Jesus, the Son of God.
Now the psalmist declares or defines God’s holiness with two primary attributes…
The first is found in the fourth verse, where the psalmist writes:
O mighty King,
Lover of justice,
You have established equity;
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
So as God reigns as the holy King…
One of the ways he operates is through his love of justice and equity.
God cares very much about the plight in our world.
The injustices of one nation over another…
Through war and violence…
But also, through economic dependence and slavery.
God cares about the wrongs in our own lives…
The pain and mistreatment that we have received by the hands and actions of another.
God cares about equity and fair play.
And the psalmist sees the justice of God as an attribute to the holiness of God.
The second attribute that defines the reign of the holy God is forgiveness.
In verse eight the psalmist declares:
O Lord our God,
You answered them indeed;
You were a God who forgave them,
Yet punished them for their evil deeds.
Here we see the loving forgiveness of God…
He reigns by responding to our prayer…
A God who forgives…
A God who is kind.
Yet his righteousness is upheld…
As the evil deeds are still punished.
And this is where we see the love of God and the justice of God held together.
Love and justice are partners…
They hold hands.
You cannot have one without the other.
To love without justice is mere anarchy or chaos.
To have justice without love is to have legalism.
Love and justice go together.
They complement each other.
They are valued together.
Love and justice are both attributes of the Holy One…
The Holy King.
The psalmist declares these attributes define the goodness and holiness of God.
Three times the psalmist declares:
He is the Holy One.
He is the Holy One.
The LORD our God is the Holy One.
This thrice repeated statement drives home the proclamation that God is holy…
He is without sin…
He executes his justice…
And he lovingly forgives.
And our response to him is one of witness and worship.
As the Psalm concludes with
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God…
There’s the witness… the proclamation!
and worship him upon his holy hill…
There’s the worship…
And both witness and worship because…
…the Lord our God is the Holy One.
We worship a Holy God…
We are not worthy to ascend to the holiness of God.
We are unworthy of the majesty and glory and justice of our Holy King.
He is high above all people.
He is to be reverenced and worshipped.
And yet, we gather together on this Sunday to worship God.
And reflect on the manifestation of his glory and holiness.
We don’t come before God because we have accomplished so many things…
We don’t come before God because we deserve his listening ear…
There is only one way to approach God…
And that is with humility…
Humility on our part…
And more importantly, we approach God because of the humility of Jesus Christ…
His death on the cross for the sins of the world.
It is the sacrifice of Jesus that makes the way for us to receive the forgiveness of God and approach the throne of Grace.
Psalm 99 teaches us about the holiness of God our King.
His holiness is carried out in his justice, equity, and forgiveness.
And we are adopted into his family by grace…
Through faith in Jesus…
Because Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God.
(see Romans 3.21-26)
So, as we contemplate the glory of Jesus the Messiah in this time of Epiphany…
And as we prepare to enter the season of Lent this coming Wednesday…
May we remember that God’s holiness is found in keeping justice and righteousness…
and yet he forgives us through his Son Jesus Christ…
And through the Holy Spirit we are being sanctified by His grace.
God does not change… He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He is holy.
He is just.
And He is forgiving.
May we praise his name forever.
Amen.
[1] Fleming Rutledge, Epiphany (Downers Grove: IVP, 2023), 10.
[2] Rutledge, 119.
