Peter, James, and John had a glimpse of heaven when Jesus invited them to the top of a mountain. There He was transfigured before them. With Jesus, two very special guests: Moses and Elijah. Both, heavyweights of the Old Testament.
Pastors are not the lords, but the servants of the church. Like every Christian, they are only God’s gardeners. They plant the Word, we water it (Christian education), but it is God who makes faith grow. Simply put: we are God’s gardeners.
The Lord Jesus assigns to us the task of illuminating the world. “You are the light of the world,” he says. So we are. He brings us out of darkness into his marvelous light continuously through his Word and the Holy Spirit.
Today we see clearly that Jesus came into our flesh to fulfill the Law of God in all its requisites. We speak of active and passive obedience. The presentation in the temple is part of his active obedience. We have seen God’s salvation.
In Holy Baptism we are made one with Jesus in his death. There we say “no” to the devil and “yes” to God. So we walk from death to life. Only Jesus gives us that!