Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John by themselves up a high mountain. No one else went with them. There, in front of the three disciples, Jesus’ appearance changed.
Jesus did not take the whole group of disciples. He led only these three away from everyone else and up to the high place. The change did not occur outside their sight; his appearance was transformed directly before them.
His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than any person on earth could make them. Elijah appeared with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
The brightness of Jesus’ clothes exceeded the result of any earthly cleaning. While the disciples watched, Elijah and Moses appeared beside him. They did not address the three disciples but spoke with Jesus.
Peter told Jesus that it was good for them to be there and offered to put up three shelters, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He did not know what to say, because the disciples were terrified.
Peter’s proposal gave one shelter to each of the three figures before him. Fear had overwhelmed the disciples, and Peter spoke without knowing what he should say.
A cloud came and covered them. From the cloud came a voice that called Jesus the beloved Son and commanded them to listen to him.
The cloud overshadowed them while Peter was speaking. The voice from within it did not explain Moses and Elijah in turn. It identified Jesus as the beloved Son and directed the disciples’ attention and obedience to him.
When they looked around, they saw no one but Jesus. As they came down the mountain, Jesus told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
Moses and Elijah were gone when the disciples suddenly looked around. Jesus alone remained before them. The four then began descending the mountain, and Jesus set a future boundary for speaking about what the three had witnessed.
They were to keep silent until the Son of Man had risen from among the dead. The disciples obeyed by keeping the matter among themselves, but the phrase about rising from the dead puzzled them. They discussed with one another what it could mean.
They kept the matter to themselves and discussed what rising from the dead might mean. They asked why teachers of the law said Elijah must come first. Jesus spoke of Elijah’s coming and of the Son of Man’s suffering and rejection. He also said that Elijah had come and people had done to him whatever they wished, as Scripture had said.