The Transfiguration
17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish,
I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice
from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.
Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground,
terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be
afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t
tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the
dead.”
10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say
that Elijah must come first?”
11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.
12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but
have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is
going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was
talking to them about John the Baptist.
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before
him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering
greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to
your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long
shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to
me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed
at that moment.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t
we drive it out?”
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if
you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move
from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
[21] [Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 9:29.]
Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time
22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man
is going to be delivered into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on
the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with
grief.
The Temple Tax
24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of
the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay
the temple tax?”
25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do
you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty
and taxes—from their own children or from others?”
26 “From others,” Peter answered.
“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we
may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first
fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it
and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
17:1–8 The account of the transfiguration confirms that
Jesus is the Son of God (Mt 17:5) and points to fulfillment of the prediction
that he will come in his Father’s glory at the end of the age (Mt 16:27). It
has been explained by some as a resurrection appearance retrojected into the
time of Jesus’ ministry, but that is not probable since the account lacks many
of the usual elements of the resurrection-appearance narratives. It draws upon
motifs from the Old Testament and noncanonical Jewish apocalyptic literature
that express the presence of the heavenly and the divine, e.g., brilliant
light, white garments, and the overshadowing cloud.
17:1 These three disciples are also taken apart from the
others by Jesus in Gethsemane (Mt 26:37). A high mountain: this has been
identified with Tabor or Hermon, but probably no specific mountain was intended
by the evangelist or by his Marcan source (Mk 9:2). Its meaning is theological
rather than geographical, possibly recalling the revelation to Moses on Mount
Sinai (Ex 24:12–18) and to Elijah at the same place (1 Kgs 19:8–18; Horeb =
Sinai).
17:2 His face shone like the sun: this is a Matthean
addition; cf. Dn 10:6. His clothes became white as light: cf. Dn 7:9, where the
clothing of God appears “snow bright.” For the white garments of other heavenly
beings, see Rev 4:4; 7:9; 19:14.
17:3 See note on Mk 9:5.
17:4 Three tents: the booths in which the Israelites lived
during the feast of Tabernacles (cf. Jn 7:2) were meant to recall their
ancestors’ dwelling in booths during the journey from Egypt to the promised
land (Lv 23:39–42). The same Greek word, skēnē, here translated tents, is used
in the LXX for the booths of that feast, and some scholars have suggested that
there is an allusion here to that liturgical custom.
17:5 Cloud cast a shadow over them: see note on Mk 9:7. This
is my beloved Son…listen to him: cf. Mt 3:17. The voice repeats the baptismal
proclamation about Jesus, with the addition of the command listen to him. The
latter is a reference to Dt 18:15 in which the Israelites are commanded to
listen to the prophet like Moses whom God will raise up for them. The command
to listen to Jesus is general, but in this context it probably applies
particularly to the preceding predictions of his passion and resurrection (Mt
16:21) and of his coming (Mt 16:27, 28).
17:6–7 A Matthean addition; cf. Dn 10:9–10, 18–19.
17:9–13 In response to the disciples’ question about the
expected return of Elijah, Jesus interprets the mission of the Baptist as the
fulfillment of that expectation. But that was not suspected by those who
opposed and finally killed him, and Jesus predicts a similar fate for himself.
17:9 The vision: Matthew alone uses this word to describe
the transfiguration. Until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead: only
in the light of Jesus’ resurrection can the meaning of his life and mission be
truly understood; until then no testimony to the vision will lead people to
faith.
17:10 See notes on Mt 3:4; 16:14.
17:11–12 The preceding question and this answer may reflect
later controversy with Jews who objected to the Christian claims for Jesus that
Elijah had not yet come.
17:13 See Mt 11:14.
17:14–20 Matthew has greatly shortened the Marcan story (Mk
9:14–29). Leaving aside several details of the boy’s illness, he concentrates
on the need for faith, not so much on the part of the boy’s father (as does
Mark, for Matthew omits Mk 9:22b–24) but on that of his own disciples whose inability
to drive out the demon is ascribed to their little faith (Mt 17:20).
17:15 A lunatic: this description of the boy is peculiar to
Matthew. The word occurs in the New Testament only here and in Mt 4:24 and
means one affected or struck by the moon. The symptoms of the boy’s illness
point to epilepsy, and attacks of this were thought to be caused by phases of
the moon.
17:17 Faithless and perverse: so Matthew and Luke (Lk 9:41)
against Mark’s faithless (Mk 9:19). The Greek word here translated perverse is the
same as that in Dt 32:5 LXX, where Moses speaks to his people. There is a
problem in knowing to whom the reproach is addressed. Since the Matthean Jesus
normally chides his disciples for their little faith (as in Mt 17:20), it would
appear that the charge of lack of faith could not be made against them and that
the reproach is addressed to unbelievers among the Jews. However in Mt 17:20b
(if you have faith the size of a mustard seed), which is certainly addressed to
the disciples, they appear to have not even the smallest faith; if they had,
they would have been able to cure the boy. In the light of Mt 17:20b the
reproach of Mt 17:17 could have applied to the disciples. There seems to be an
inconsistency between the charge of little faith in Mt 17:20a and that of not
even a little in Mt 17:20b.
17:18 The demon came out of him: not until this verse does
Matthew indicate that the boy’s illness is a case of demoniacal possession.
17:20 The entire verse is an addition of Matthew who
(according to the better attested text) omits the reason given for the
disciples’ inability in Mk 9:29. Little faith: see note on Mt 6:30. Faith the
size of a mustard seed…and it will move: a combination of a Q saying (cf. Lk
17:6) with a Marcan saying (cf. Mk 11:23).
17:21 Some manuscripts add, “But this kind does not come out
except by prayer and fasting”; this is a variant of the better reading of Mk
9:29.
17:22–23 The second passion prediction (cf. Mt 16:21–23) is
the least detailed of the three and may be the earliest. In the Marcan parallel
the disciples do not understand (Mk 9:32); here they understand and are
overwhelmed with grief at the prospect of Jesus’ death (Mt 17:23).
17:24–27 Like Mt 14:28–31 and Mt 16:16b–19, this episode
comes from Matthew’s special material on Peter. Although the question of the
collectors concerns Jesus’ payment of the temple tax, it is put to Peter. It is
he who receives instruction from Jesus about freedom from the obligation of
payment and yet why it should be made. The means of doing so is provided
miraculously. The pericope deals with a problem of Matthew’s church, whether
its members should pay the temple tax, and the answer is given through a word
of Jesus conveyed to Peter. Some scholars see here an example of the teaching
authority of Peter exercised in the name of Jesus (see Mt 16:19). The specific
problem was a Jewish Christian one and may have arisen when the Matthean church
was composed largely of that group.
17:24 The temple tax: before the destruction of the
Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70 every male Jew above nineteen years of age was
obliged to make an annual contribution to its upkeep (cf. Ex 30:11–16; Neh
10:33). After the destruction the Romans imposed upon Jews the obligation of
paying that tax for the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. There is disagreement
about which period the story deals with.
17:25 From their subjects or from foreigners?: the Greek
word here translated subjects literally means “sons.”
17:26 Then the subjects are exempt: just as subjects are not
bound by laws applying to foreigners, neither are Jesus and his disciples, who
belong to the kingdom of heaven, bound by the duty of paying the temple tax
imposed on those who are not of the kingdom. If the Greek is translated “sons,”
the freedom of Jesus, the Son of God, and of his disciples, children (“sons”)
of the kingdom (cf. Mt 13:38), is even more clear.
17:27 That we may not offend them: though they are exempt
(Mt 17:26), Jesus and his disciples are to avoid giving offense; therefore the
tax is to be paid. A coin worth twice the temple tax: literally, “a stater,” a
Greek coin worth two double drachmas. Two double drachmas were equal to the
Jewish shekel and the tax was a half-shekel. For me and for you: not only Jesus
but Peter pays the tax, and this example serves as a standard for the conduct
of all the disciples.
BACK TO:
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholes (Acts 9:31)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.
No comments:
Post a Comment