In Luke’s gospel, the feeding of the five thousand marks the end of what is called the “Great Galilean Ministry” (Luke 4:14–:17). Jesus now begins His journey to Jerusalem (see Luke 9:51; 13:22; 17:11; 18:31; 19:11, 28). This would be a time of relative retirement with His disciples as He prepared them for what lay ahead. There is a parallel between this account and the account in Acts of Paul’s last journey to Jerusalem. In both books we have “a tale of two cities”: in Luke, from Nazareth to Jerusalem; and in Acts, from Jerusalem to Rome.
In this section, you see Jesus teaching them three basic lessons about His person, His sacrifice, and His kingdom.
His person (vv. 18–21). If any of us asked our friends what people were saying about us, it would be an evidence of pride, but not so with Jesus Christ. People had better know who He is, because what we think about Jesus determines our eternal destiny (John 8:24; 1 John 4:1–3). It is impossible to be wrong about Jesus and right with God.
Jesus had prayed all night before choosing His disciples (Luke 6:12–13), and now He prayed before asking for their personal confession of faith. The crowd would have its opinions (see Luke 9:7–8), but His disciples must have convictions. Peter was the spokesman for the group and gave a clear witness to the deity of Jesus Christ. This was the second time that he confessed Christ publicly (John 6:68–69). Except for Judas (John 6:70–71), all of the Twelve had faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus commanded them (the word means “an order from a military officer”) not to spread this truth openly. To begin with, the message of His messiahship could not be divorced from the fact of His death and resurrection, and He was now going to teach this to the Twelve. They had a difficult time grasping this new lesson and did not really understand it until after He was raised from the dead (Luke 24:44–48). The Jewish people saw Jesus primarily as a healer and a potential deliverer. If the apostles began preaching that He was indeed the Messiah, it might cause a popular uprising against Rome.
His sacrifice (vv. 22–26). Jesus had already given a number of “hints” about His sacrificial death, but now He began to teach this truth clearly to His disciples. John the Baptist had presented Him as the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29), and Jesus had predicted the “destruction” of the temple of His body (John 2:19). When He compared Himself to the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14) and to Jonah (Matt. 12:38–40), Jesus was making statements about His suffering and death.
This is the first of three statements in Luke about His coming passion in Jerusalem (Luke 9:43–45; 18:31–34). It is clear that the Twelve did not understand, partly because of their unbelief and immaturity, and partly because it was “hidden” from them by God. Jesus taught them as they were able to receive the truth (John 16:12). It must have shocked the men to hear that their own religious leaders would kill their Master.
But Jesus did not stop with a private announcement of His own death. He also made a public declaration about a cross for every disciple. In his gospel, Matthew tells us that this was necessary because of Peter’s desire to protect Jesus from suffering (Matt. 16:22ff.). Keep in mind that Jesus is talking about discipleship and not sonship. We are not saved from our sins because we take up a cross and follow Jesus, but because we trust the Savior who died on the cross for our sins. After we become children of God, then we become disciples.
The closest contemporary word to “disciple” is probably “apprentice.” A disciple is more than a student who learns lessons by means of lectures and books. He is one who learns by living and working with his teacher in a daily “hands on” experience. Too many Christians are content to be listeners who gain a lot of knowledge but who have never put that knowledge into practice.
In the Roman world, the cross was a symbol of shame, guilt, suffering, and rejection. There could be no more despicable way to die. Crucifixion was not mentioned in polite conversation, and the people would no more think of wearing crosses on their person than we would think of wearing gold or silver electric chairs. Jesus laid down the stern requirements for discipleship. We must first say no to ourselves—not simply to pleasures or possessions, but to self—and then take up our cross and follow Christ daily. This means to be identified with Him in surrender, suffering, and sacrifice. You cannot crucify yourself; you can only yield your body (Rom. 12:1–2) and let God do the rest.
Of course, this kind of life seems foolish to the world; but to the Christian, it is wisdom. To save your life is to lose it, and how can you ever get it back again? But to give your life to Christ is to save it and to live it in fullness. If a person owned the whole world, he would still be too poor to buy back a lost life.
Discipleship is a daily discipline: we follow Jesus a step at a time, a day at a time. A weary cleaning woman said to a friend of mine, “The trouble with life is that it’s so daily!” But she was wrong. One of the best things about life is that we can take it a day at a time (Deut. 33:25).
Our motive should be to glorify Christ. Anyone who is ashamed of Christ will never take up a cross and follow Him. But if we are ashamed of Him now, He will be ashamed of us when He comes again (Mark 8:38; 2 Tim. 2:11–13) and we will be ashamed before Him (1 John 2:28).
His kingdom (vv. 27–36). As far as the gospel record is concerned, the Transfiguration was the only occasion during Christ’s earthly ministry when He revealed the glory of His person. Luke did not use the word transfigure, but he described the same scene (Matt. 17:2; Mark 9:2). The word means “a change in appearance that comes from within,” and it gives us the English word metamorphosis.
What were the reasons behind this event? For one thing, it was God’s seal of approval to Peter’s confession of faith that Jesus is the Son of God (John 1:14). It was also the Father’s way of encouraging the Son as He began to make His way to Jerusalem. The Father had spoken at the baptism (Luke 3:22) and would speak again during that final week of the Son’s earthly ministry (John 12:23–28). Beyond the suffering of the cross would be the glory of the throne, a lesson that Peter emphasized in his first epistle (1 Peter 4:12— 5:4).
Our Lord’s own words in Luke 9: indicate that the event was a demonstration (or illustration) of the promised kingdom of God. This seems logical, for the disciples were confused about the kingdom because of Jesus’ words about the cross. (We must not be too hard on them, because the prophets were also confused—1 Peter 1:10–12.) Jesus was reassuring them that the Old Testament prophecies would be fulfilled, but first He had to suffer before He could enter into His glory (note especially 2 Peter 1:12–21).
But there is also a practical lesson here, for we can have a spiritual “transfiguration” experience each day as we walk with the Lord. Romans 12:1–2 and 2 Corinthians 3: tell us how. As we surrender body, mind, and will, the Lord transforms us from within so that we are not conformed to the world. As we behold Him in the Word (the mirror), we are “transfigured” by the Spirit “from glory to glory.” The theological name for this experience is sanctification, the process by which we become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Father’s goal for each of His children (Rom. 8:19; 1 John 3:2). Note that our Lord was once again praying, which suggests that prayer is one of the keys to a transformed life.
Peter, James, and John had accompanied Jesus when He raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead (Luke 8:51ff.), and they would accompany Him when He prayed in the garden (Matt. 26:36–46). These three occasions remind me of Philippians 3:10: “That I may know him [the Transfiguration], and the power of his resurrection [raising the girl], and the fellowship of his sufferings [in the garden].”
This may well have been the greatest “Bible conference” ever held on earth! Even apart from the great glory that was involved, here you certainly had the greatest speakers: Moses, the law; Elijah, the prophets; and Jesus, who came to fulfill the law and the prophets. You had the greatest topic: Jesus’ “decease” (the Greek is exodus) that He would accomplish at Jerusalem. Moses had led Israel out of bondage to Egypt, and Elijah had delivered them from bondage to false gods, but Jesus would die to set a sinful world free from bondage to sin and death (Gal. 1:4; Col. 1:13; Heb. 2:14–15).
And while all of this was going on, the three privileged disciples were sleeping! (They would repeat this failure in the garden .) Peter’s suggestion reminds us of the Jewish “Feast of Booths” that in the Bible is related to the future kingdom (Lev. 23:33–44; Zech. 14:16–21). Peter wanted Jesus to hold on to the glory apart from the suffering, but this is not God’s plan.
The Father interrupted Peter by bathing the scene in a cloud of glory (Ex. 13:21–22; 40:35, 38) and speaking out of the cloud. (Peter would one day be interrupted by the Son [Matt. 17:24–27] and by the Spirit [Acts 10:44].) These arresting words from heaven remind us of Deuteronomy 18:15; Psalm 2:7; and Isaiah 42:1. When the cloud was gone, Elijah and Moses were also gone.
As wonderful as these experiences are, they are not the basis for a consistent Christian life. That can come only through the Word of God. Experiences come and go, but the Word remains. Our recollection of past experiences will fade, but God’s Word never changes. The farther we get from these events, the less impact they make on our lives. That was why the Father said, “Hear him!” and why Peter made this same emphasis on the Word in his report (2 Peter 1:12–21). Our own personal “transfiguration” comes from inner renewal (Rom. 12:1–2), and that comes from the Word (2 Cor. 3:18).