The third Sunday of Epiphany – January 26, 2024

 

Scripture reading: Matt 16:13-20

The text

28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

Commentary on the text

  • Parallel texts: Mt 17:1-13; Mk 9:2-13; possibly John 1:14. See also 2 Peter 1:16-18.
  • “he took Peter, John and James with him” – “The Big Three” (cf. Lk 8:51; Mt 26:37).
  • “a mountain” – One tradition: Mt. Tabor in Galilee, 1,886 ft. tall. Summit inhabited in 1st The other tradition: Mt. Hermon, in the extreme north. Not inhabited. Other reasons it is more probable: 1.) Mt 17:1; Mk 9:2 – “a high mountain,” at 9,232 ft., Hermon is the tallest in the Levant, 2.) it is next to Caesarea Philippi, where Peter confessed he was Messiah (Mt 16:13-16), 3.) it is the location of the “rock” and the “Gates of Hell” (Mt 16:18), 4.) it had a dark past as it was understood to be the meeting place of heaven, earth and hell. According to Jewish tradition, Mt. Hermon is where the angels descended to impregnate female humans (Gen 6:1-5).
  • Mt 17:2; Mk 9:2: “he was transfigured before them” – metamorphoo, to transform or change into another form. Used just 4x in NT. Twice of Jesus; twice of us (Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 3:18).
  • “Moses and Elijah” – They represented the whole of the Old Covenant: Moses, Law (Torah). Elijah, the prophets (Nevi’im). Similarities: Both pivotal in history of Israel. Both encountered God’s presence on another mountain, Mt Sinai. Both had highly unusual ends to their lives (Elijah was taken up to heaven; Moses also? cf. Jude 1:9.
  • “they spoke about his departure” – exodos, exit, through his death-resurrection-ascension. As Moses led Israel out of Egypt, Jesus leads his people out of this age into the next. And as Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land, Jesus leads us into the promised future of the new creation. Moses and Joshua both prefigured Jesus. Jesus is the “new Moses” (Heb 3:1-6) and “new Joshua” (Heb 4:8-11), whose name he bears.
  • “a cloud appeared and covered them” – God’s presence was often indicated by clouds: Mt. Sinai, pillar of cloud, shekhinah glory cloud in temple, Son of Man in Dan 7:13, etc.
  • “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him” – Would recall the Father’s similar endorsement at Jesus’ baptism (Lk 3:22).
  • “They found that Jesus was alone” – The baton is passed: Jesus fulfills the Old Covenant and institutes the New (cf. Mt 5:15; Heb 8:7-13). Thus, the Father says to us: “listen to him” = obey him (Mt 10:40).

Implications: What the transfiguration of Jesus means to us

  1. It previewed Jesus’ coming glory… and ours!
    • Before the beginning of time, Jesus shared God’s glory with the Father (Jn 17:5).
    • But that divine glory was “veiled” by his human body (Heb 10:20; Rom 8:3; Phil 2:7).
    • His transfiguration was a “sneak peak” at that glory that would, after his ascension, radiate from his body and the be put on display at his parousia (Heb 1:3; Mt 25:31).
    • This assures us that, though this life is often hard and our bodies are weak, our bodies will one day be whole and glorious, like Jesus’, and all creation will be radiate God’s glory (Titus 2:13).
  1. It portrayed Jesus’ fulfillment of all that came before him in God’s plan of salvation.
    • He fulfilled every aspect of God’s Law and every Messianic prophesy (2 Cor 1:20).
    • This gives us certainty that our salvation is eternally secure. There is nothing left undone (Heb 10:10, 14).
  1. It put the dark powers on notice that Jesus was gunning for them. Right now, He is—through his Church—repatriating the “nations” or “Gentiles:” all those people groups which were temporarily disinherited after the ziggurat of Babylon incident in Genesis 11.
    • This ensures us that we are on the winning team! He is “building his Church” (Mt 16:18), “binding the strongman” (Mk 3:27-29), and our prayers and witness are the means by which we use the “keys of the kingdom” (Mt 16:19) to “tear down strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4) and “free the captives” (Lk 4:18).

Takeaway

Our King and general has summoned us to battle, driving to the heart of enemy-occupied territory that belongs to him and has given us the authority and power to retake it for him!