O wondrous type! O vision fair
Of glory that the Church may share,
Which Christ upon the mountain shows,
Where brighter than the sun He glows! LSB 413:1
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter blurted out that it was good the disciples were there so they could build shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Our being close to our Lord, though, is not good so that we might do something for Him; rather, it is good because we know He has done so much for us. Moses, the greatest prophet according to the reading from Deuteronomy, spoke God’s Word, but Jesus is the Word, effecting our forgiveness and salvation in His sacrifice for us. His “departure,” as Luke puts it in the Gospel, is literally His exodus, not from slavery in Egypt like Moses, but from sin and death through His sacrifice on the cross. Our Lord is the builder of His “house,” the Church. Only because we have been forgiven is it good for us to be here, for as the psalm reminds us, “the Lord our God is holy!”
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