Matthew 17
1 Six days later,a Jesus brought Jacob,b his brother John, and Peter up a high mountainc with him to a secluded place. 2 There, he transformedd before their eyes. His face shone like the sun,e and his clothes glowed bright like the light.f 3 Then—incredibly—they saw Moses and Elijah talking with him.
4 Peter responded by saying to Jesus, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here. If you want, I’ll set up three tentsg—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking—amazingly—a bright cloudh enveloped them and—remarkably—a voice from the cloudi said, “This is my beloved son; I delight in him.j Listen to him.” 6 When they heard the voice, the students were terrified and dropped with their faces to the ground.
7 Jesus went to them and touched them. “Get up,” he reassured them, “Don’t be afraid.” 8 So they looked up and saw no one else was there except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus directed them, “Don’t tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Humanity is woken up from among the dead.”
10 The students asked him, “So why do the Bible scholars say that Elijah has to come first?”
11 He answered, “Elijah does come and will restore everything. 12 I’m telling you, Elijah already came, and they didn’t recognize him. Instead, they did whatever they wanted to him. In the same way, the Son of Humanity is about to endure what they have in store for him.” 13 Then the students put together that he was talking about John the Immerser.
14 When they reached the crowd, someone went up to him, fell to his knees, 15 and pleaded, “Lord, have compassion for my son because he is ‘moonstruck’k and suffers miserably. He’s constantly falling into the fire or the water. 16 I brought him to your students, but they weren’t able to heal him.”
17 In response, Jesus lamented, “What a faithlessl and misguidedm group!n How much longer will I be with you? How long will I be here to carry you through things like this? Bring him to me.” 18 Then Jesus denounced the demon, and it left the boy, who was healed from that moment on.
19 Then the students came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why weren’t we able to banish it?”
20 “Because of your lack of trust,” he told them. “Honestly, I’m telling you, if you have trust, even as small as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain,o ‘Move from here to there,’ and it’ll move. There won’t be anything you’re incapable of.”
22 p When Jesus and his students joined up with each other in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Humanity is about to be given up into human hands, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be woken up on the third day,” and they were deeply saddened.
24 After they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the temple taxq approached Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the half-shekelr tax?”
25 “Yes,” he told them.
After he went into the house, Jesus spoke first and said, “What do you think, Simeon? From whom do the kings in the land collect fees and tributes—from their own family or from foreigners?”
26 So Peter answered, “From foreigners.”
Then Jesus stated, “Then their childrens are exempt. 27 However, so that we don’t provoke them, go over to the lake and cast a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you’ll find a one-shekel coin. Take that to give them for me and you.”
FOOTNOTES:
a Therefore, on the seventh day.
b Traditionally, ‘James’
c Probably Mt. Hermon
d Traditionally, ‘transfigured.’ Literally, ‘metamorphized.’ The idea is that something about his appearance changed.
e Reference to Exodus 34
f See Daniel 7:9-14; 10:5-6
g Or ‘booths’ or ‘tabernacles. This is a reference to the festival of Sukkoth, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, commemorating the period when the people of Israel wandered the desert for 40 years. In contrast to Aaron and the Israelites running away (Exodus 34:30-31), Peter stayed and offered to serve. The word ‘tents’ or ‘booths’ or ‘tabernacles’ is a reference to the people living in heavy-duty tents as their homes with the house of the Lord being “the Tabernacle” or, before the Tabernacle was built, the “Tent of Meeting,” being a temple made of a structure that could be dismantled and moved but was much more substantial than a modern camping tent.
h See Exodus 13:21
i See Exodus 19-20 & 34 and 1 Kings 19. Especially note 19:9 and 20:19. This story of Jesus and the three students seems to be a clear reference to these passages, as well as 1 Kings 19. One of the primary differences is that in contrast with the people in Exodus 20 saying they did not want to be near to God’s voice because they were too afraid, Peter was enthralled and wanted to camp out there.
j This sentence is identical to Matthew 3:17.
k What ‘moonstruck’ means is uncertain, though it likely had something to do with having seizures.
l The word ‘unbelieving’ would not be appropriate here. It’s not about what they think but about not being on the right track regarding their trust in his teaching and mission or about being faithful in their response to it. They aren’t reliable yet.
m The traditional translation is ‘perverse,’ but that brings to mind a ‘pervert,’ someone who exploits others for sexual gratification, which has nothing to do with this context. The term diastrepho means to turn out of the way or cause to make defection. The context here is that he’s disappointed and frustrated his students weren’t able to heal this boy in his absence.
n Or ‘generation’ or ‘lineage’ or any ‘group of people’ that has a shared characteristic or origin, including gender.
o As of Matthew 16:13, they were in Caesarea Philippi and there’s no indication they left. It seems likely that the ‘high mountain’ where Jesus was transformed at the beginning of chapter 17 is the same mountain he’s referring to here, and most likely, it’s Mt. Hermon (9,232 ft. elevation), which is right next to Caesarea Philippi.
p The most reliable manuscripts don’t have what was historically Matthew 17:21. When the verse divisions were made, a version that had an extra sentence was used. Some modern translations still include it: “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Therefore, it skips from verse 20 to verse 22.
q This refers to what had been established as an offering to the Lord in Exodus 30:13-16; however, it seems it had become turned into something more like a fee, a tax that was treated as a matter of civic obligation rather than spiritual devotion.
r Literally, it says ‘two-drachma,’ which was how it was colloquially referred to at the time, but it was an outdated carry over from a previous time, and the ‘two-drachma’ coins were no longer being used. ‘Half-shekel’ is the amount of money that was being paid, which had been established from Exodus 30:13-16.
s The most direct translation is ‘sons,’ but the word huios was also regularly used more figuratively to refer to an heir or descendant more broadly as well as those who were dedicated to following a particular movement or figure and emulating them.