Peter's Confession and the Transfiguration

Peter’s Great Confession

(Mt 16:13-20; Mk 8:27-30; Lk 9:18-21)

²⁷Jesus and his disciples went out to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. ¹⁸When he was praying by himself, his disciples were with him. He asked them, ¹³“Who are the crowds saying I, the Son of Man, am?”

¹⁴“Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; others, Jeremiah, or ¹⁹a prophet of old that’s resurrected.”

¹⁵“Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter said, “You’re the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

¹⁷“Bless you, Simon Barjonah. You didn’t get that from other people, but from my heavenly Father. ¹⁸You’re‘Peter’; I’ll build my church on that ‘rock.’ Even the gates of the grave won’t be strong enough to stop it. ¹⁹I’ll give yousg the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you let loose on earth will be let loose in heaven.” ²⁰Then he charged them not to tell anybody he was the Messiah.

The First Prediction of Christ’s Death

(Mt 16:21-28; Mk 8:31-9:1; Lk 9:22-27)

²¹From then on Jesus started showing his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem; suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes; be put to death, and resurrect the third day. ³²He was stating the matter plainly, and Peter pulled him aside and got after him, “Surely not, Lord! This is not going to happen to you.”

²²But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan. You’re a stumbling block to me. You don’t have your mind on God’s interests, but on people’s interests.”

³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples,

²⁴“If anybody wants to follow me, he has to set his own interests aside, pick up his cross, and follow me. ²⁵Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, whoever loses his life because of me and the good news will find it. ²⁶What good does it do a person to gain the whole world and lose his life? What will he give in exchange for his life? ³⁸Whoever’s ashamed of me and my message in this adulterous and sinful time, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes ²⁶in the glory of himself, the Father, and his holy angels. ²⁷Some standing here won’t die before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom with power.”

The Transfiguration

(Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8 Lk 9:28-36a)

²⁸About six or eight days after he said this, Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John along, and went up on a high mountain to pray ²⁹While he was praying, ²he was transfigured in front of them. His face glowed like the sun, and his clothes became brilliant white—as white as light, like no laundryman can bleach them. ³⁰Two men were talking to him—Moses and Elijah. ³¹They had a brilliant appearance, and talked about his death soon in Jerusalem. ³²Peter and the ones with him were weighed down with sleep, but they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.

³³As they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. If you want, I’ll set up three tents—one for you and Moses and Elijah”—not thinking about what he was saying, because they were afraid. ⁵While he was still talking, a bright cloud engulfed them. ³⁴They were afraid as they went into the cloud. A voice spoke out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son that I delight in. Listen to him.” ⁶When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, terrified. ³⁶aWhen the voice had spoken, suddenly Jesus was the only one there, and the disciples kept quiet. ⁷He came and touched them. “Get up; you don’t need to be afraid.” ⁸They looked around and didn’t see anybody but Jesus.

Discussing the Vision

(Mt 17:9-13; Mk 9:9-13; Lk 9:36b)

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus impressed on them, “Don’t tell anybody about what you saw till the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” They kept the matter to themselves, and discussed what “rising from the dead” meant.

¹⁰The disciples asked, “Why do the scribes say Elijah has to come first?”

¹¹“Elijah does come first to restore everything. ¹²He’s already come, and they didn’t recognize him. They treated him however they wanted to, like the scripture says. That’s the way it’ll be as well when the Son of Man suffers at their hand and is rejected.” ¹³Then they realized that he was talking about John the Baptist.

³⁶bAt the time they didn’t pass anything along to anybody about what they’d seen.

Healing the Demoniac Boy

(Mt 17:14-20-[[21]]; Mk 9:14-29; Lk 9:37-43a)

³⁷The next day when they came down from the mountain and ¹⁴got back to the rest of the disciples, they saw a big crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵At once when they saw him, the whole crowd was really surprised and ran to greet him.

¹⁶Jesus asked, “Why are you arguing with them?”

³⁸A man from the crowd ran up to Jesus, falling on his knees, “Rabbi, please have mercy on my boy. He’s the only son I have. He’s an epileptic and suffers badly. ³⁹A spirit seizes him and all of a sudden he screams. It ¹⁷makes him unable to talk and ¹⁸throws him on the ground and convulses him and bruises him. He foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth, and it makes him stiff. ²²Lots of times it has thrown him in the fire or the water to destroy him. It seldom leaves him. ⁴⁰I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they couldn’t do it. But if you can, help us; have sympathy for us.”

²³Jesus said, “If you can? Everything is possible if a person believes.”

²⁴The dad cried out, “I believe! Help my unbelief!”

⁴¹Jesus answered. “Unbelieving, perverse bunch, how long am I going to be with you? How long am I going to deal with you? Bringpl him here.”

²⁰They brought him; and when the spirit saw Jesus, it attacked the boy and threw him into convulsions. He fell on the ground and rolled around, and foamed at the mouth.

²¹Jesus asked his dad, “How long has this been going on?”

“Ever since he was little.”

²⁵When he saw the crowd quickly coming together, Jesus commanded the unclean spirit, “Mute and deaf spirit, I charge you, come out of him and don’t go into him again.”

²⁶It cried out and threw him into severe convulsions, and came out. The boy looked like he was dead, so much so that many of them said he’d died. But Jesus took his hand and raised him up and he stood up. ⁴²Jesus gave him back to his dad. ¹⁸The child was healed from then on. ⁴³They were all amazed at God’s greatness.

²⁸When Jesus went in a house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”

²⁰“Because your faith was weak. ²⁹This kind doesn’t come out except by prayer. If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it’ll move. You can do anything. [[²¹This kind doesn’t come out except by prayer and fasting.]]”

Third Prediction of His Death

(Mt 17:22-23; Mk 9:30-32; Lk 9:443b-45)

³⁰They left and began traveling around Galilee. He didn’t want anybody to know it, ³¹because he was trying to teach his disciples.

²²While they were together in Galilee, Jesus said, “Listen carefully. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed to men. ²³They’ll put him to death. Three days later he’ll resurrect.”

They were really distressed by that. ⁴⁵They didn’t know what to make of what he said. It was hidden from them, and they were afraid to ask him about it.