Luke 9:28-45

28 About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. 31 They were glorious to see. And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.

32 Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials — one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 34 But even as he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them.

35 Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.” 36 When the voice finished, Jesus was there alone. They didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

37 The next day, after they had come down the mountain, a large crowd met Jesus. 38 A man in the crowd called out to him, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, my only child. 39 An evil spirit keeps seizing him, making him scream. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It batters him and hardly ever leaves him alone. 40 I begged your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

41 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you and put up with you?” Then he said to the man, “Bring your son here.”

42 As the boy came forward, the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and healed the boy. Then he gave him back to his father. 43 Awe gripped the people as they saw this majestic display of God’s power.

While everyone was marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, 44 “Listen to me and remember what I say. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.” 45 But they didn’t know what he meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

Comments

Like we saw before with Jesus’ baptism, Luke makes the Transfiguration a prayer event, more for Jesus’ benefit than for his three companions. Luke is the only one to report Peter, John, and James sleeping, as well as the discussion they missed between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, regarding, “his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.” Luke uses ‘exodus’ to echo Moses, and he changes what the Voice from the cloud says from ‘Beloved’ (both Matthew and Mark have that) to ‘Chosen One,’ all in an effort to seal the concept he has been driving for a while now: Jesus is Great Prophet Moses said would come.

When they come down from the mountain, Luke drops quite a bit of Mark’s account. The following get edited out:

• arguing between the disciples and scribes
• extended dialogue between Jesus and the dad about the boy’s condition
• Lesson on faith for the dad
• Disciples asking why they couldn’t
• lesson on prayer and fasting for the disciples

What is left is a simple story of a boy the disciples could not heal, and Jesus’ complaint (for some reason, I picture Jesus mumbling this under his breath, just loud enough for those closest to him to hear). The boy was an only child. Jesus heals him and gives him back to his dad, just as we have seen before.

Then Jesus again predicts his death. The disciples couldn’t heal the boy, now they don’t understand what Jesus is telling them. The matter remains hidden from them and the power to heal eludes them. Luke is already preparing us to understand that these disciples required special empowerment to carry on the work of Jesus after his exodus. Even this early, we are being set up for his Day of Pentecost account in Acts 2.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Luke 9:18-27

18 One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

19 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.”

20 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter replied, “You are the Messiah sent from God!”

21 Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. 22 “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.”

Comments

This is one of those passages that gives us a pretty clear indication of what Luke was up to. Remember how Jesus praised Peter for his confession and gave him the keys of the kingdom, to bind and loose. Luke has removed that. Remember how Peter rebukes Jesus for talking about being executed only to have Jesus counter-rebuke Peter? That’s gone too. Peter speaks the confession here, but he speaks it on behalf of the disciples (remember this is more than the Twelve whom Luke is apostles) and it is a more positive and natural progression. The secretive nature of Mark is gone. The disciples not getting it is gone too. This puts the Twelve, and especially Peter, in a better light, but it also diffuses  the focus, so it is not on them specifically as much as on all disciples – including Luke’s readers.

Instead of reverse-rebuking Peter, Jesus goes straight into his admonition to take up your cross and follow him. Luke has constructed it to make it as plain as possible that this message is intended for all disciples, everyone who would follow Jesus. Luke also inserts one very significant word here: daily. We must turn from our selfish ways, take up our crosses daily, and follow Jesus. Only Luke has daily, which makes the entire teaching much more plainly about Christian spirituality. Luke wants to make sure we come to understand that discipleship is a process of spiritual formation that only happens as we apply ourselves continually to the work of following Jesus. No one time event, no yearly celebration, no weekly gathering can take the place of daily denying of self and daily following of our Lord. Today’s passage lays out for us what it means to be a disciple of Jesus:

1. Disciples name Jesus as Messiah, Christ, God’s anointed one
2. Disciples deny themselves, they crucify their sinful, selfish desires on an ongoing basis
3. Disciples give their lives for the kingdom of God

There is no room for vanity in following Jesus. The ones who see the kingdom of God are the self-deniers. The question remains for each of us to answer: “Who do you say that I am?” We answer with our lives whether we will say Jesus is one worth giving everything for.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.