The
gospel of Matthew is peppered with accounts of the apostle Peter. When Jesus
called him as an apostle he immediately left his fishing business and followed
Jesus. He witnessed Jesus heal his mother and many others. At Jesus call, he
walked on water. Like us, he sometimes blew it and sometimes he exhibited great
faith. From what I have read and studied I think I could safely describe Peter
as a man of action.
Chapter
17 of Matthew opens with one of the great wonders of Jesus' time of ministry on
earth - the Transfiguration. In this passage, Peter, along with James and John,
accompanied Jesus to a mountain top. "And
He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His
clothes became white as light. And behold there appeared to them Moses and
Elijah, talking with Him" (Matt. 17:2-3). Peter's response was
immediate, " Lord, it is good that
we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for
Moses, and one for Elijah" (Matt. 17:4).
I
have often read this passage and confess that my underlying attitude toward
Peter's actions has been a little judgmental. It seemed to me that Peter's
words were spurred by his somewhat impulsive personality. After doing a little
studying in the Jewish commentary I learned that there was more to this passage
than my gentile mindset appreciated.
The
Jewish scriptures (Tanakh), that
Peter would have known well, are composed of the Law and the Prophets. According
to Jewish tradition, The Law is represented by Moses and Elijah would represent
The Prophets. The significance of these two men together is found in
Deuteronomy/Devarim 3:17: "Moses, I swear to you, as you devoted your life
to their service to the world, so too in the time to come when I bring Elijah,
the prophet, unto them, the two of you shall come together". Jewish tradition also believes that Elijah
would one day appear to announce the coming of King Messiah and His kingdom.
Going
back to Matthew 16:28, Jesus had promised
the apostles: "Truly, I say to you,
there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of
Man coming in His Kingdom". When
both Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus, this would have been a profound
moment for Peter.
Let's
bring another Jewish tradition into the mix. The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot),
is celebrated by the Jewish people every year. This feast celebrates
the presence of God dwelling with His people. As a part of this celebration,
temporary shelters would be built that the Jews would dwell in for the eight
days of the festival.
Now
let's put this all together and look at things through Peter's perspective. The
appearance of Moses and Elijah was a sign that the Kingdom of God would soon be
ushered in. Add to this Jesus' promise in Matthew 16:28. How natural would
Peter's response have been? Peter's actions were not an impulsive response. He
read the signs of the times and acted on what he knew based on Jewish tradition
and teachings. This changed the whole context of how I viewed this passage of
Scripture!
Reading
through the rest of the passage, we do know that the Transfiguration was not
the time that the Lord's kingdom would be fully established. That was still yet
to come. But it was a moment that the
Lord's splendor was made known with a promise of things to come.
"Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness." Psalm 29:2
