Matthew 17:1-4

Matthew 17:1-4

And after six days Jesus takes Peter and James and John his brother and leads them into a high mountain to be by themselves.  And He was being changed in appearance in their presence and His face shone as the sun and His garments became white as light.  And behold!  Moses and Elijah was being seen by them while talking together with Him.  And after answering Peter said to Jesus, “It is good for us to be here.  If you desire, we will make here three tents: one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Make sure to understand the theological context of this story.  Moses and Elijah are in this story for one specific reason.  Moses is the law-giver.  He is the one who received the Law from God.  Elijah is considered the greatest of all the prophets – even though no book of the Bible bears his name as does Isaiah of Jeremiah or some of the Minor Prophets.  Therefore, what we can see happening here is that the representatives of the Law and the Prophets are symbolically giving their approval of what is about to happen to Jesus.  They are affirming that Jesus is on the right path.  They are affirming that Jesus’ ministry and His upcoming death are that to which they point.  This is a very significant passage as it pertains to Jesus’ fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Why is it important to see Jesus as fulfilling the Hebrew Scriptures?  How does the appearance of Elijah and Moses add credibility to Jesus’ testimony and ministry?

Second Thought:

We get a great glimpse of Peter’s reaction.  Peter latches onto this event.  Remember that in the immediately prior story we heard Peter denounce Jesus’ testimony about going on to Jerusalem to die.  Peter rejected that truth and here we see him latch onto this experience.  This shows the humanity that is found within us all.  We all want to deny that life will have its hard and dark moments.  We all want to hang onto the moments of joy and glory.  It is just our nature.

If you were Peter, would you have done anything differently?  If you saw Jesus’ change and then saw the appearance of Moses and Elijah, would you want to stay in that moment for as long as possible?

Third Thought:

As an interesting note of interpretation, in the prior passage we heard Jesus speak that some among the disciples would not taste death until the saw the Son on Man coming in His Kingdom.  Many theologians point to this story – which interestingly appears in the very next section of the Gospel – as fulfillment of Jesus’ promise.   Here we see Jesus is changed.  Literally the Greek word is metamorphoomai (μεταμορφόομαι).  This is the root word for our English word metamorphosis.  It is in this moment that we see Jesus changed from glory to glory.  Jesus had set aside His heavenly glory to come to earth.  But in this moment Peter, James, and John are the privileged few who get to see Jesus coming in the glory of His Kingdom.

What is Jesus’ kingdom to you?  What does it mean to you that Jesus died on the cross after this event?  How does this point to the fact that God is about sacrificial love, not domination?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 17:5-8