Conversation Points for Matthew 17:1-9

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• The middle section of Matthew’s Gospel (13:53-17:27) forms a transition from the conflict of the old community to a new community being formed. The dialogue between Jesus and Peter/the disciples, where Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah (16:13-20) was the turning point. The transfiguration is God’s affirmation of the transition. From here on out, the conflict between the old community (the Romans and the religious leaders who support/are supported by Rome) and the new community (the Jesus followers) will grow steadily in strength until the crucifixion.
• Matthew’s Gospel seeks to portray Jesus as the new/next/fulfilled Moses. The imagery portraying Moses is very clear in this scene. Jesus went up an unnamed mountain (see the Sermon on the Mount (5:1) and the commissioning of the disciples (28:16). Rather than a geographic location, this is a theological assertion.
• Jesus’ “inner circle” of Peter, James, and John (important in Mark) first appears here. “Son of David” is an important Christological title for Jesus in Matthew, so this inner circle of three could relation to King David’s inner circle, also of three (2 Sam 23:8, 18-23, “These are the names of the warriors whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the Three; he wielded his spear against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.”) David’s three were known for their violence, whereas Jesus urged his disciples to give their lives for others.
• Transfigured is the Greek metamorphoomai, literally, to undergo a metamorphosis. Jesus face is described as shining, something that happened to Moses when he spoke to God, an anticipation of Jesus as belonging to the divine world. The divine passive (“he was transfigured”) implies this was an action of God.
• Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all talking together continues the view of Matthew of Jesus as the continuation and more importantly fulfillment of what God began in the Old Testament. Moses and Elijah were both prophets who were initially reject by people, who were advocates for the covenant God made with Israel, and who did not die but were taken up into heaven.
• The heavenly cloud, representing the presence of God, spoke the same words spoke at Jesus baptism.
• When the cloud departed only Jesus, without Moses and Elijah, remained, confirming Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophets.
• V. 9 connected the transfiguration to Easter; helping the post-resurrection community (us) connect with the disciples in the story.

Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.