Feast of the Transfiguration (Three-Year Series C)
March 2, 2025
In The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Transfiguration is observed on the last Sunday of Epiphany. In the Three-Year Lectionary, Transfiguration is on March 2, 2025, which is only three days before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.
On this day, the church recalls the event of Christ’s Transfiguration on the mountain, revealing His divine nature to Peter, James and John before He set His face toward Jerusalem, where He would accomplish the world’s salvation by His death and resurrection for us.
Where Transfiguration is the last service before Ash Wednesday, many congregations say farewell to the word “Alleluia.” As Judah would not sing their songs in the land of exile (Psalm 137), so the church sets aside our simplest word of joy and praise — until we take it up again in triumph on Easter: “Alleluia! Christ is risen; He is risen indeed, Alleluia!”
To attend a worship service, visit locator.lcms.org/church to find a local Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod congregation. Enter your zip code and click “Search” to see a list of area churches, service times, and contact information.
If you are homebound, traveling, or otherwise unable to attend a service in person, KFUO Radio airs worship services throughout the church year. Visit KFUO.org to view the schedule and listen to services.
Liturgical color for Transfiguration
White, the color of light, purity and completeness, adorns the altar to commemorate the Transfiguration of Our Lord. On the mountain, Christ’s face and clothes shone white as light (Matt. 17:2). In His light we see light and by Him, “though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” Christ’s incarnation and His resurrection, His Gospel and its message to all nations are cause for our rejoicing. His purity before His Father becomes our purity. White reinforces this message of joy.
White is also the appointed color for the Epiphany (Jan. 6) and the first Sunday following it, which is often observed as the Baptism of Our Lord. It is also the color of Easter. On high festive days when white is appointed, some congregations also use gold.
Three-Year Series C Lectionary
Scripture readings for Transfiguration
- Deuteronomy 34:1–12
- Hebrews 3:1–6
- Luke 9:28–36
Lectionary summary
The Glory of God Is Manifested in the Body of Christ
“Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant,” but Christ Jesus “has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses” (Heb. 3:3, 5). A beloved and well-pleasing Son, faithful even to the point of death, Jesus’ own body was raised up on the third day as the house of God, and He has brought us into that house through the waters of Holy Baptism (Heb. 3:6). Thus, it was not Moses, the lawgiver, but his successor, Joshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus), who led the people into the Promised Land (Deut. 34:1–4, 9). Now, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the New Testament Joshua appears in the glory that He is about to manifest by His “departure” (exodus) in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). Having entered the waters of the Jordan in His Baptism, He passed through those waters and entered into glory by His cross and Passion. What He thereby accomplished in His own flesh and blood, crucified and risen, He reveals and gives to His Body, the Church, by the means of His Word. Therefore, the Father declares from heaven, “Listen to him!” (Luke 9:35).
