TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS

Matthew 17:1-9

• The Transfiguration is one of the five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus, the others being Baptism, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension.

The Gospel of Matthew �Jesus and the Law

• Matthew tells about Jesus’ faithfulness to the law’.
• “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished”. (5:18)

Matthew’s use of the term “to Fulfill” (πληρόω)�the term gives the idea of ‘completing’ or ‘establishing’

The following usages of texts are the samples.

• Mt 1:22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
• Mt 3:22 And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a Nazarene.“
• Mt 2:15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son."

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Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας· οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι� ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι. (Mt 5:17)

Christ fulfilled the Law & Prophets in Matthew 5:17.

Fulfillment quotations are infused with the concept of God's redemptive purpose in human history.

Spatial Phase of the Gospel of Matthew

• Prologue in Judea (1:1-4:11)
• Activity in Galilee (4:12-13:58)
• Around Galilee and the travel to Jerusalem (14:1-20:34)
• Jesus at Jerusalem (21:1-28:15)
• Apparisions in Galilee (28:16-20).

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General outline of Matthew

1. 1:1-4:11 The coming of the Messiah

2. 4:12-11:1 The Messiah's ministry to Israel of preaching, teaching, and healing

3. 11:2-16:12 The crisis in the Messiah's ministry

4. 16:13-20:34 The Messiah's journey to Jerusalem

5. 21:1-28:15 The Messiah's death and resurrection

6. 28:16-20 The great commission  

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Transfiguration in the Synoptic Gospels

LECTIO

• 1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 
• ² And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 

• ³ Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I  will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 

• ⁵ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!”

•  ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. ⁷ But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” ⁸ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

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• ⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

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Six days after

• Six days after Peter’s Confession on the identity of Christ (Mt 16:13-28)
• The prediction of the Passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ

Peter, John and James

• Resurrection to the daughter of Jairus (Mk 5:37)
• Garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:37). 

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Transfiguration in the Synoptics

“Moses’ face became radiant” (Ex 34:29)

• Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. 29And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with the LORD. 30Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses, and behold, his face was radiant. And they were afraid to approach him

And he was transfigured (metamorphóō)…

Greek Root word

metamorphóō

• Metá - "change after being with"
• morphóō, "changing form in keeping with inner reality”

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properly, transformed after being with; transfigured.

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MOSES AND ELIJAH

• MOSES on the Mount Sinai (Ex 34:29)
• ELIJAH on the Mount Oreb (1 Kings 19:8). 

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• Moses was the model of eschatological prophecy (Deu 18:18)
• Elijah was the precursor of Messiah (Mal 4:5-6; Mt 3:1-3; 11:7-10; 17:9-13). 

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Proposal of Peter (v.4)

• Let us make three tents (skēné) one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah.
• Luke narrates, “he did not know what he was telling” (Lk 9:33). 

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Son of God is revealed in the title of the Son of Man

Tell no one about the Vision

• Question arises from Matthew’s description of this as a “vision (horama)” (Mt. 17:9) whether it indicates this was an actual or visionary experience for the disciples.
• Michaelis tells us of horama, from the verb horaō meaning “to see,” while “the sense is usually ‘vision’...the meaning can often be ‘what is seen’ (in a natural way)” (371). He argues that the parallels from Mark 9:9 and Luke 9:36, which both speak of “the things they had seen” suggests a meaning here of “what is seen”. We can conclude, therefore that this was an actual event that the disciples witnessed.

GLORY OF GOD revealed �in the Old and New Testament

• SON OF GOD

• SON OF MAN

• Light, Fire and Cloud

• Face like sun, cloth become white