Matthew 17:1-8 - "And six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother..."

Matthew 17:1-8

The two other times this story of Jesus' transfiguration is told in the Gospels (Mark 9:2-8 and Luke 9:28-36), it always follows right after Jesus said something to the effect of "some of those standing here will not taste death until they see the coming kingdom of God." That's important to note because otherwise you're thinking, "Well, that never happened. Here we are two thousand years later, the disciples are dead, and Jesus still hasn't returned in glory."

The transfiguration that Peter, James, and John got to witness apparently was the revelation of the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Normally we think of Jesus' second coming as a time and space event. It will happen in the future. He will come with the angelic host. The final judgment on mankind will take place. But evidently all that is just so much window dressing because the essence of the coming kingdom is centered on Jesus himself and the revelation of his glory.

Jesus pulled back the veil of his humble fleshly garb, and his entire body from his face to his clothes poured forth blazing light. This is what is means for the kingdom of God to come. The king is revealed in his true glory. Apparently what also got torn back was the veil that separated this world from the world to come, because suddenly Moses and Elijah were hanging out with him chatting, a preview of post-resurrection life.

A lot of people think that life in heaven will just be a return to the Garden of Eden, with a lot of trees and eating fruit and petting animals. But this vision tells us that Jesus' glorified existence, and the existence of everyone who shares in it, will not be about continuing to live in a regular fleshly body that doesn't die. It's about receiving a resurrected body that is full of light, power, and immortality (1 Corinthians 15:42-45, 52-54). Your glorified body is suited for a higher existence in the heavenly kingdom, right alongside the angels. When Jesus preaches the promise of eternal life, this is a picture of what it is.

Remember when the apostle Paul had a similar encounter with Jesus on the way to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6)? It changed his life. In a flash he understood that all his law-keeping was a massive dung heap because he saw Jesus in resurrection glory. Immediately he comprehended that Jesus, not the law, was the way to eternal life.

That's probably what should have happened to Peter, James, and John, but these three were a bit slower than Paul. Instead it ended up being an awkward moment of Peter blathering on about making three tabernacles, because, well, we've all been there. That moment when you feel like you're supposed to say something even though you don't know what, and you end up blurting out something stupid. To make things worse, God the Father rebuked Peter's three tabernacles idea, sending them all diving to the ground in fear. It's another instance of the raw honesty of the Gospel writers. I mean, what a disappointment that the moment of The Big Reveal ended up crumbling into a scene of awkwardness and embarrassment. When it was all over, I could just picture the three of them frazzled, bewildered, and probably wishing they had made a better showing in front of Bible celebrities like Moses and Elijah.

But in the end they did get it. John would later say, "We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Peter would say, "But to the degree you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation" (1 Peter 4:13). They saw Jesus' glory and wanted to pass it along to the rest of the saints. If only you had been there, you would have seen Hope itself. If you had seen what we saw, you would find courage in your sufferings. And yet you can see him. With eyes of faith you can see what we saw. "And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible, and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8).

Matthew 16:21-28 - "From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem..."

Matthew 16:21-28

The usual commentary on this passage is, "Look how fast Peter went from confessing Jesus as the Christ to becoming a mouthpiece of Satan! It just goes to show that one moment you could be doing great things for the Lord, and the next thing you know you are siding with the enemy. See how pride goes before a fall?" And so it does. I don't think Peter did a 180 within, say, five minutes of the magnificent confession we saw in the previous passage. It's possible several days or even weeks passed between these events. But it was no accident that the gospel writer placed this story of Jesus rebuking Peter immediately after the story of his giving Peter high praise. Certainly the contrast was meant to be both jarring and instructive.

But what interests me is the instruction that follows. There seems to be a loosely connected train of thought in Jesus' discourse. He goes from rebuking Peter for failing to understand the necessity of his death and resurrection to telling the disciples that they must not save their lives otherwise they will lose their souls. Then he says the Son of Man will return in glory to recompense mankind for their deeds, adding that some of the disciples will have a chance to catch a preview of said Second Coming very soon. I know it seems like Jesus often makes trapeze-artist-type leaps in thought. But instead of going along with it in lazy indifference, how about we try to unpack it a bit?

After Peter protested Jesus' disclosure that he must be killed and then rise again from the dead, I expected Jesus to turn to his disciples and instruct them on the doctrine of the atonement. "Guys, don't you see why I need to die? The sins of the world need to be paid for, man! I'm the Lamb! You'll die in your sins if I don't do this. You may not like it, but it is what it is." But instead Jesus instructs them on why they need to be willing to die. Now this is a familiar passage where we know he's talking about the cost of discipleship, but I think we assume that he isn't addressing Peter's protest directly. We think maybe he's just leaping to this topic because "while we're on the subject of dying, let me give you some more bad news, which is that you're also gonna have to die if you follow me."

But what if this instruction about costly discipleship was a direct response to Peter's protest? That is, Jesus was confronting Peter's reaction against a deeper principle: he only wanted to be a part of this program for the triumph, not for the suffering. Peter's concern was not just for Jesus but, more viscerally, for himself and what he's signing up for. This was not about Peter's failure to understand the doctrine of atonement, but his aversion to the principle upon which the entire kingdom of God operated. Salvation emerges out of damnation. Life is born out of death. Suffering must precede glory. When Peter exclaimed, "Lord, this shall never happen to you!" he was also saying at a deeper level, "May this never happen to me!" As human beings our problem with the gospel isn't necessarily solved by getting educated about doctrine. Quite often it's about challenging our heart to relinquish it's death-grip on this life, this world, the flesh and its idols.

Which makes it more incredible when Jesus follows up with "the Son of Man...will then recompense every man according his deeds." At first this seems like a slight disconnect with the costly discipleship discourse. That's because we normally think of evil deeds in terms of lying and stealing and sexual immorality and the like. But not taking up our cross? Not despising our own life? Not dying to this world? That's how Jesus describes the deeds that will be judged. He is saying evil is bigger than cheating on your taxes or even committing adultery. This is about cosmic principles at war with each other, where we must choose sides. Jesus has come to call us out of this world, out of enemy territory. Coming to him means nothing less than putting to death everything you hold dear. To reject this calling is not a neutral position, it is siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil. That choice, and all the evil deeds that come out of it, is why the Son of Man will return to judge the world.

Matthew 16:13-20 - "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples..."

Matthew 16:13-20

Jesus waited until we were sixteen chapters deep into Matthew's Gospel to ask his disciples this critical, fundamental question: "Who do you say that I am?"

This strikes me as odd. You mean, all the way up to this point he wasn't indoctrinating them with the correct answer? He wasn't catechizing them daily? "Question: Who is Jesus of Nazareth?" "Answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" He actually waited until the disciples spent quite a bit of time observing him, seeing his works, witnessing his interactions, doing ministry for themselves, having him save their bacon a few times, and then he came to them with the question: "Who do you say that I am?"

This is not someone who's interested in hearing only what he wants to hear. This is someone who's interested in what you really think after you've had plenty of time to process. After you've had a chance to develop enough trust in the relationship to be totally honest with him. Jesus actually wants you to weigh the evidence and come to your own conclusion about him.

He didn't even land the question on his disciples right away, but first asked them what other people were saying about him. Was Jesus just warming up to the subject? Getting the ol' icebreaker going before closing in on what he really wanted to know? Probably not. By asking them to list the theories being generated by the rumor mill, he was allowing the disciples to sift through their own hearts. "Well, some say John the Baptist, but we know that's not true. Some say he's Elijah come back from the dead, but we know John had the spirit of Elijah, so it's not that. Jeremiah? But our Teacher is not claiming to be any old prophet. The way he talks about God being his Father and all the miracles we've seen? No, this is big. This is waaaay bigger than even Jeremiah."

Jesus' wise approach was rewarded when Simon Peter confessed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Because then he could respond, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." You got that straight out of the mind of God himself, Simon. See how you have been chosen for this blessing? And if you think that's exciting, well it's only the beginning. You are the first among many who will make the same confession. In fact, from now on I will call you Peter, which means rock, because your confession will lay the rockbed foundation for my church that I am building. Many will come after you confessing me as the Christ, and the power of my name is so great not even Hades itself can prevail over it. It is so great you will wield it on earth with the authority of heaven itself."

And Peter did. In the name of Jesus Christ he healed a lame man (Acts 3:6-7) proclaimed salvation before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:12), and suffered a flogging (Acts 5:40-41). He judged Ananias and Sapphira for putting the Spirit of the Lord to the test (Acts 5:1-11). He raised Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:36-41). He preached to Cornelius and witnessed the Holy Spirit fall upon Gentile believers (Acts 10:9-48). All this began humbly and stumblingly in Peter's simple confession of Jesus as the Christ. Not out of indoctrination or outside pressure, but out of the depths of his own heart, his own personal conviction. It started small and grew up big. Just as Jesus told us in 13:31-32:

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds; but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."