[And He Walks With Me] Matthew 17
1 In the wake of the previous chapter’s confession and declaration that his followers will pick up their crosses daily, Jesus retreated with his inner three up on a high mountain by themselves. Once again, Jesus seeks relative solitude at a strategic juncture in his life and ministry. His modern followers also would do well to to seek solitude at key junctures in life and ministry.
2 The Greek word translated transfigured (CSB) is metamorphothe (G3339 μετεμορφώθη). The basic meaning is “to change into another form” or “to transform.” In this moment, Jesus’ divine nature became apparent as he became “resplendent with a divine brightness.”[215] Matthew further describes Jesus’ transfiguration as his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light. The shining face was reminiscent of Moses after meeting with God in Exodus 34:29-35, and the white robe suggested divine origin because there was nothing in the ancient world that could make an absolute pure white.
3 Matthew does not explain how Peter, James, and John recognized Jesus’ new companions as Moses and Elijah. Instead, the evangelist focused on how suddenly they appeared. Like the white clothes of the previous verse, this suggests a supernatural origin. Simply put, in a world where walking was the primary mode of transportation, it was very difficult to appear suddenly on a high mountain because you would be seen approaching from a great distance.
Ordinarily, God did not approve of people summoning and conversing the dead (e.g., 1 Samuel 28:1-25). Moses and Elijah, however, were a special case. The New Testament repeatedly indicates that the Law and the Prophets foretold his coming (e.g., Matthew 11:13; Luke 16:16; John 1:45). As an affirmation of this, God sent Moses, the lawgiver, and Elijah, widely recognized as one of Israel’s greatest prophets and expected to return in order to announce the coming Messiah, to talk with Jesus.
4 The significance of Peter’s suggestion is unfortunately lost in many modern English translations. The Greek word translated “shelters” is skenas (G4633 σκηνάς). Literally, the word was used of tents or similar temporary shelters,[216] but in the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament which was used by most Jews in the first century, the same word is used in Exodus 25:9 and elsewhere to translate the Hebrew word miškān (H4908 הַמִּשְׁכָּן), which referred to the tabernacle where Israel worshipped prior to the construction of the temple. Peter’s suggestion, then, was less about providing shelter from the elements than it was setting up a place to worship Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.
5 The sudden appearance of a bright cloud that covered them is reminiscent of the way God would make his presence known in Exodus (e.g., Exodus 24:15-18).
A voice from the cloud is reminiscent of Exodus 20:1-21. There, God delivered the Ten Commandments by speaking directly to the people of Israel, and the people were so terrified they insisted Moses should act as a mediary. It is also reminiscent of the voice from heaven which was heard when Jesus was baptized (Matthew 3:17).
6 Certainly, it would have been understandable for the disciples to be terrified by this whole scene. However, it is important to recognize that this may not be the terror modern readers typically conceive. To fall facedown was a common act of worship, and proper reverence for the Lord is often described as fear. The disciples, then, were merely offering the most appropriate response they could think of to the situation.
7-8 After the disciples’ initial terror and reactive worship, Jesus came up and touched them. In one heartbeat, they had a glimpse God’s great power, and in the next, they experienced his tender compassion. Power and compassion must not be mutually exclusive for the Christian!
Jesus’ words here are reminiscent of Moses’ response to the people in Exodus 20:18-21. After hearing the voice of the Lord deliver the Ten Commandments, the people insisted that Moses act as a mediary between them and God. Moses response was to bid them, Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin. The difference was that, in Exodus, the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was. In Matthew, Jesus alone remained and went with the disciples down the mountain. Godly encounters are invitations for his people to draw closer to him and to go with him into the rest of their lives.
9 Again, Jesus insisted that the disciples keep this encounter to themselves. This time, however, he added an explicit sunset to that rule: until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. Then, his mission would be finished (John 19:30), atonement of sin and victory over death would be secure, and they would understand fully the nature of both the Messiah and his mission.
10-13 In Malachi 4:5-6, the prophet predicted the coming of Elijah before the judgment day. This became a popular teaching for Jewish scribes, and so many people were looking for Elijah to come and signal the return of God’s kingdom. Anticipating that Jesus came to execute that great and terrible day, the disciples realized they had not yet seen Elijah’s return, and they asked Jesus about it. Jesus’ explanation provides a glimpse into the already-not yet nature of the kingdom of heaven. On the one hand, Elijah is coming and will restore everything in the future. On the other hand, Elijah has already come, and they didn’t recognize him in the past. Jesus’ observation that they did whatever they pleased to him made clear that he was not talking about Elijah’s life in 1 and 2 Kings. On the contrary, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were repeatedly foiled in their attempts to affect Elijah. Therefore, the disciples had to consider what Jesus was talking about. They quickly realized that, though John the Baptist was not literally Elijah, he was a type of Elijah: a prophet with the same spirit of God as the original.
14-21 An expanded version of this account is found in Mark 9:14-29. The fact that Matthew abridges this scene suggests a difference in emphasis. Mark seems to focus on the tensions between belief and unbelief, methods and prayer. Matthew, however, focuses on the importance and effectiveness of faith.
17-18 Jesus allows his frustration with the whole generation to peek through. Though they had seen miracles – indeed, this is no doubt why the man brought his boy – they remained unbelieving and perverse. Unbelieving highlights their failure to trust Jesus despite the things he said and did before their very eyes. Perverse indicts their “distorted… evaluation of Jesus,” which stemmed from “their own willfulness in rejecting Jesus’ demand for repentance” and “the influence of the religious leaders on them.”[217]
It is interesting to note the link between spiritual oppression and physical illness. The boy received physical healing when the spiritual oppression was broken. This is not to blame all physical ailments on demonic activity, but it is to recognize that true healing is often far more than just physical.
19-20 The mustard seed was the smallest cultivated seed in the ANE. Yet, it did not stay small. Once planted, the mustard plant grew into a substantial bush or even a tree. This, then, is a poignant illustration for faith: it may start small, but it is eager to grow much larger. Furthermore, the mustard plant provided food and shelter to numerous animal species, suggesting that authentic faith will increasingly affect far more than oneself.
Jesus was not suggesting that Christians will be unconditionally able to command mountains to move from here to there. This power was predicated upon a person’s faith, which is far more than believing that God can do something. Authentic faith also involves ordering one’s life according to God’s will. Therefore, the authentic Christian will pray that the mountain move from here to there only if they are convinced it is God’s will for the mountain to be moved. So also, their prayers are always contingent upon “if it be God’s will.” Indeed, the authentic Christian’s ultimate prayer is always, Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).
21 Older translations such as the King James Version include verse 21: But this kind does not go our except by prayer and fasting. This verse was included in the majority of ancient manuscripts which have been discovered. However, the verse is not included in the oldest manuscripts. This has led modern scholars to believe the verse was likely added by a later scribe, probably in an effort to reconcile this passage to the parallel passage in Mark 9:14-29, where a similar statement appears in Mark 9:29. This raises an important question regarding the reliability of the biblical text. While it is true that we do not have access to any of the autographs (i.e., the original texts), scholars have identified more copies and snippets of the Bible than any other classical text. In the vast majority of cases, these samples agree regarding the text, a fact which clearly indicates the care and precision with which ancient scribes worked to copy the Bible by hand. In those instances where there are differences among the manuscripts, the large number of examples available has allowed scholars to compare and contrast a multitude of sources to determine what was the most likely original text. This process, called textual criticism, follows some established rules. These may be summarized as follows: (1) Shorter readings are generally preferred because scribes were more likely to add words to help clarify. (2) More difficult and obscure readings are preferred because copyists were more likely to edit the text to make it easier to understand than to make is harder. (3) Versions which most clearly support specific traditions (e.g., orthodoxy) are suspect. (4) Versions which seem at first seem unlikely or even false, but are discovered through examination to be true, are preferred. (5) Versions that may be common copyist errors (e.g., repeating words, sentences) should be rejected. (6) The version which is most likely to have spawned the other variants is to be preferred. (7) Readings which apparently include commentary (e.g., a definition, interpretation, or remarks from church fathers) may be rejected. (8) Readings which originate in lectionaries, which were designed to be read aloud in public, are generally unreliable because they were crafted for clarity rather than accuracy. (9) Older versions are generally preferred over younger ones.[218] By following these established rules, which have been applied to numerous other classical texts, scholars have arrived at a highly reliable approximation of the original text. Think of it as using 3.14159 for pi in mathematical equations rather: the value may not be absolutely exact, but it is very, very close.
22-23 In Matthew 16:21, Jesus revealed for the first time that he would be killed in Jerusalem by the religious leaders of the day and then raised from the dead on the third day. As shocking as that was in that moment, the shock no doubt wore off over the following days. As they returned to Galilee, Jesus was not dead yet, the danger seemed far away in Jerusalem, and the shock dissipated as it seemed to the disciples life and ministry were continuing as usual. Here, however, Jesus brought that prediction back to the forefront, reiterating that he was going to die and raise again. Moreover, he now added that this would be the result of betrayal. The nature of the betrayal is not yet revealed, but the disciples were surely smart enough to realize that this meant at least one of them would be at least partially responsible for Jesus’ death. It is no wonder, then, that they were deeply distressed (CSB) or exceeding sorry (KJV)!
24-27 In Exodus 30:11-16, Moses ordered every Jew over 20 years of age to pay a tax of one-half shekel to support the tabernacle. When the temple was constructed, the offering continued to support its maintenance and operations. In Jesus’ time, the half shekel was considered equivalent to the Greek didrachma, a silver coin worth two drachma. However, this coin was exceedingly rare, so it was much more common for people to pay the tax using two denarii worth two days’ wages. Sometimes, two people would pay their collective taxes together using a stater from Tyre or a Greek tetradrachma.[219]
The tax collectors who confronted Peter were not of the same sort as Matthew. Matthew represented the Roman authorities, but these temple tax collectors worked on behalf of the religious authorities in Jerusalem. The way they structured their question suggests that they intended to trap Jesus into validating their accusations that he was disloyal to the temple.
It is interesting that Jesus spoke to [Peter] first. That is, he did not wait for Peter to ask about the matter. Instead, he preemptively addressed it. This suggests he was aware of the conversation even though he was not present. It also suggests he was not afraid of the difficult question.
Jesus’ question hints at one of the inequities of the ancient world: the sons of kings and rulers were typically exempt from taxes. Instead, taxes were collected from common citizens or strangers. Jesus’ point was that, if he really was the Son of God, as the disciples concluded in 16:16, then Jesus was exempt from the temple tax. This explains why Jesus did not pay the tax to satisfy the obligation but so we won’t offend them. That is, as the Son of God, he was under no obligation to pay the temple tax, but he chose to pay it so the religious leaders would not have cause to complain.
The coin Peter found in the fish may have been a Tyrian stater or a Greek tetradrachma.
[215] “G3339 – metamorphoō – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (kjv)”, n.d.
[216] “G4633 – skēnē – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (kjv)”, n.d.
[217] Wilkins 2004, Matthew 17:17-18
[218] “Rules of Textual Criticism”, n.d.
[219] Wilkins 2004, Matthew 17:24-27