(Text and Audio)
Title: The Transfiguration, Part 1
- How Many Days Later?
Some of you may be familiar with this question and answer, but for others it may be new. In both Matthew and Mark’s account, it clearly says that six days after Jesus prophesies that “…there are some standing here that shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
But in the Gospel of Luke 9:28 it reads, “Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.”
So which was it? Six days later or eight days later?
(take answers)
The answer is actually 2 fold:
- Luke uses the word “about.” He is not stressing that EXACTLY 8 days (192 hours) later these things happen.
- Luke was writing to the Greeks, whereas Matthew was writing to the Jews, and Mark to the Romans. It would have been common as a Greek to count BOTH the day that Jesus gave the prophecy AND the day they went up on the mountain when counting the days, giving you eight days.
As a Jew or Roman, you would normally omit these two days and just count the days in between, giving you six days.
Follow up question: Why is it important for a believer to be able to explain this apparent contradiction?
A: Scripture is infallible, and does not contradict itself. We need to be able to reconcile difficult passages.
- Why Is There an Exact Time Reference?
As you may have noticed in your time in scripture, exact time references are very rare in scripture. Yet all three of the Synoptic Gospels clearly make a time stamp connection between Jesus’s prophecy and the events on the mountain.
Any idea why? (Take answers)
J.I. Packer gives us a really good insight into this question:
“Now hat the disciples have begun to recognize who Jesus is, He is ready to move toward the climax in Jerusalem. The Transfiguration is part of Jesus’s preparation for that crisis.”
It has to do with Jesus’s identity. And note that only the “inner three” accompany Jesus up on the mountain. Why, exactly, this is, is never revealed in scripture, but one certainly gets the sense that these three were the most faithful, believing, and trusted of the apostles. Perhaps their faith, in particular, was ready to see what was about to be revealed on the mountain.
- Peter’s Suggestion
(Read vv. 2-4)
The last thing I want to look at this morning is how Peter, in particular, reacts to these events. We see Jesus transfigure, we see Moses and Elijah appear.
Side question: Why Moses and Elijah? What did they each represent? (Take answers)
A: Moses (The Law), Elijah (The Prophets)
Peter recognizes the significance of what he’s witnessing, and responds in a very naturally human way, “Lord, can we stay?”
(Story of Silas at Hardee’s on the way to Disney compared with his reaction of actually getting there…)
Peter sees this event’s inherit “goodness” and want to not leave. But the reality is, they have to leave. All of them. The work, the mission is not complete yet. Jesus understands what is waiting for him in Jerusalem, he understands what must be done. He also understands what will not happen to the human race if he does not complete this mission.
Peter doesn’t have that sort of insight yet. He understands that Jesus is the Son of God, and want to dwell with him, and Moses, and Elijah, and the Father, on top of the mountain, and that’s certainly understandable.
But let’s flash forward about 30 years from the moment of this event. Imagine Peter at the end of his life. Being crucified, upside down on a cross because he did not consider himself worthy to die upright as his Lord did.
Imagine all he’s seen: The arrest of Jesus, his own 3-fold denial, the crucifixion of Jesus, him running to the tomb, him speaking with Jesus on the beach as Jesus tells him to “feed my sheep.”, the ascension, pentecost, the growth of the early church, the martyrs, the conversion of Saul, the Gentiles coming into the church in droves, his leading the Jerusalem church, and writing three letters that would become scripture…
Imagine all of that, and then imagine in the waining moments of his life, as he suffocates, his lungs being crushed by the weight of his body, blood draining from his hands and feet, and as he starts to slip in unconsciousness, he recalls the transfiguration, and the words he spoke there, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
I’d imagine that Peter would look back in his final moments on earth and say, “Oh my misguided foolishness! Thank God, Jesus came down off that mountain.”