‘And after six days Jesus takes with Him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain apart.' ‘After six days.' Here we must ask the question, six days from when? The answer could possibly be ‘after the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi', or it could signify... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And He was transfigured before them, and his face shone as the sun, and his garments became white as the light.' And there in that high mountain the disciples saw an amazing transformation take place. They saw Jesus transfigured before them. Before their eyes His face shone like the sun, and His c... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.' And then to cap His glory Moses and Elijah appeared before the amazed eyes of the disciples and talked with Him. Men of Heaven came down to earth. ‘Behold' indicates something new that is happening of which note should be taken... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Peter answered, and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If it is your will I will make here three booths, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ' Peter appears to have considered that this wonderful scene was something that was intended to be permanent, or at leas... [ Continue Reading ]
‘While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed (or ‘enveloped') them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear you him.” ' For even while he was speaking a voice from Heaven spoke out and corrected him. This was also acco... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were very much afraid.' There is really no doubt that these three disciples must have been filled with awe from the beginning (as the other Gospels make clear). What they were seeing and experiencing was truly awesome. They would unquest... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus only.' The three disciples had been so very much afraid at the realisation of the nearness of God, accompanied no doubt by a deep awareness an sense of His presence, that... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen from the dead.” ' Jesus makes clear, as they descend from the mountain, that the vision had been meant for them and them alone, until after His resurrection. The... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS AND THE DISCIPLES DESCEND FROM THE MOUNTAIN. THE TRUTH ABOUT JOHN THE BAPTIST (17:9-13). As they were coming down from the mountain Jesus commanded silence about what they had seen until He had risen from the dead. (They would be unaware of how soon that would be). It was not only the idea of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And his disciples asked him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must first come?” ' But the disciples were puzzled. They now accepted that He was the greater than Elijah, and that the last days were here, but why then had Elijah not come as the Scribes had declared? Were they wrong i... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he answered and said, “Elijah is indeed coming, and will restore all things, but I say to you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but did to him whatever they would. Even so will the Son of man also suffer of them.” ' In His reply Jesus first confirms that the promise that Elij... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist.' Then the disciples realised that He was speaking of John the Baptist. He was the Elijah who was coming. They had taken a further small step in understanding. But we may ask, can we really say that John had ‘restored all thing... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when they were come to the crowd, there came to him a man, kneeling to him, saying,' Coming down from a mountain regularly results in a crowd, for they would be waiting for Him (compare Matthew 8:1). We do not know which mountain this was but by now they were probably back in Galilee. This is... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FAILURE OF THE DISCIPLES TO CAST OUT A DEMON (17:14-18). On arrival at the bottom of the mountain they came across a crowd of people who were with the disciples and there discovered that while Jesus was in the mountain they had been unable to heal a boy who gave the appearance of being epilepti... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROBLEM OF UNBELIEF, THE REASON FOR UNBELIEF, AND THE ONE WHO WILL TRIUMPH THROUGH FAITH (17:14-23). At the commencement of this section we learned of the problem of unbelief (Matthew 13:58) which was connected with the power of Jesus and the idea of resurrection (Matthew 14:1). Now in this para... [ Continue Reading ]
“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic, and suffers grievously, for regularly he falls into the fire, and regularly into the water.” He asked Him to have compassion of his son. Here the son is described as ‘affected by the moon' (lunatic), translated as epileptic because of the symptoms, a... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” But then came the body blow. The disciples had been unable to cure the boy. It is noteworthy that we are shortly to learn that they were themselves shocked at their failure. They had expected to be successful, as it would appear up... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me.” ' Nevertheless Jesus was concerned about their failure, because of what it revealed about them. It meant that they were still only marginally bette... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour.' Then Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and it came out of him. There was no spirit, whatever its power and importance, that could do anything but obey Jesus. He had bound their master, He had no problem, even... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” ' The disciples were deeply concerned by their failure. And when they were able to get Jesus alone they came to Him and asked why they had failed to cast the demon out. Their puzzlement brings out that they were not... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REASON FOR THEIR FAILURE (17:19-21). The disciples learn that their failure was due to the lack of quality in their faith. What was needed was the kind of faith that can only be built up by depth in prayer (Mark 9:29). It was their failure to spend their time in continuing prayer that was at th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he says to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place', and it will remove, and nothing will be impossible to you.” ' Jesus explains that the reason that they had failed... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And while they gathered in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of man will be delivered up into the hands of men,” ' This is the first specific indication that they are back in Galilee. At the opening of this section Jesus was in His home town (probably Nazareth although Matthew does not say so)... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS AGAIN WARNS OF HIS COMING ARREST, EXECUTION, AND RISING AGAIN (17:22-23). Then Jesus presents the final example of faith. He is not just calling on His disciples to believe. He too will evidence His faith by going forward in the hands of God Who will deliver Him (‘will be delivered' is a divi... [ Continue Reading ]
“And they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised up.” And they were very upset.' And He then makes clear what will follow. ‘They will kill Him.' He is in no doubt about what His fate will be. Man is to be allowed to do His worst. But the last word will be with His Father. On the third d... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when they were come to Capernaum, those who received the shekel came to Peter, and said, “Does not your teacher pay the didrachma (shekel)?” (Matthew 17:24). The didrachma or shekel tax was probably that payable to the Temple treasury. It was payable yearly by Jews around the world, and contri... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS AGAIN REVEALS HIS SONSHIP (17:24-27). In contrast with man's coming treatment of Him Jesus continues to reveal His Sonship preparatory to what is coming. What follows is not just an outlandish display of power and knowledge with little significance, it is a specific indication that He is no l... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He says, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke first to him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? The kings of the earth, from whom do they receive toll or tribute? From their sons, or from strangers?” ' As they expected Peter did say ‘Yes'. He knew of no reason why Jesus as a good Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when he said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Therefore the sons are free.” ' When Peter necessarily replies, ‘of strangers', Jesus then points out that therefore the sons, (and especially the Son), are free of the burden of the tax, for no King will look to his sons for the tax. This pr... [ Continue Reading ]
“But, lest we cause them offence, you go to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first comes up, and when you have opened his mouth, you will find a shekel, that take, and give it to them for me and you.” Thus Jesus is presenting Peter with a dilemma, for if what Jesus says is true, H... [ Continue Reading ]