Who do you say I am? Confession, cross and transfiguration

Luke, traditionally the physician and companion of Paul (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24), wrote this Gospel and Acts for Theophilus and other Greek-speaking readers, to give an orderly account that would confirm what they had been taught (Luke 1:1-4). Some critical scholars doubt that the author knew Paul. The date is debated: the early 60s AD, because Acts ends without reporting Paul's trial, or about AD 80 to 90, if Luke used Mark and wrote after Jerusalem fell in AD 70. The most common solution of the synoptic problem is that Matthew and Luke both used Mark and a collection of sayings called Q; others reject Q or defend Matthew's priority. Luke 9 follows Mark 6:7 to 9:40 but leaves out a long section, Mark 6:45 to 8:26, which includes the walking on water and other events. Scholars call it Luke's 'great omission' and give no agreed reason. Matthew's parallel is in chapters 10, 14, 16 and 17.

Luke 9 stands at the turning point of the Gospel. Until now Jesus has taught and healed in Galilee. After 9:51 he sets out for Jerusalem, and the next ten chapters (9:51 to 19:27) are structured as one long journey, which scholars call the travel narrative. Herod Antipas, who had John the Baptist beheaded, hears reports about Jesus. Bethsaida, on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, lies near the desolate place of the feeding. The conflict with Samaritans at the end of the chapter reflects a long hostility between Jews and Samaritans.

The chapter is built around a single question that is asked three times: who is Jesus? Herod asks it (9:9), Jesus asks the disciples (9:18-20), and the Father answers it from the cloud (9:35). Narrative and miracle are arranged to lead the reader from curiosity to confession to the divine verdict. The key moment is the turn from the identity of Jesus to the cost of discipleship. Peter confesses the Christ, and Jesus at once defines what Christ must do: suffer, be rejected, be killed and be raised.

The transfiguration should be read as a revelation scene with strong Old Testament echoes: a mountain, a cloud, shining glory, a voice, and Moses and Elijah, who both met God on a mountain (Exodus 24; 1 Kings 19). It is not a vision of the future alone but a glimpse of who Jesus already is. The interpretation comes not from the visual details but from the words spoken, the conversation about his departure and the command from the cloud.

One saying is hard. In 9:27 Jesus says that some standing there will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. Christians have understood this to refer to the transfiguration (which follows in about a week), to the resurrection and ascension, to Pentecost, or to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Mark 9:1 and Matthew 16:28 use similar words. The placement just before the transfiguration in all three Gospels supports reading it as a pointer to that event, though the other readings are held by serious interpreters.

Verses 1–6

Jesus gives the Twelve power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and sends them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. They are to take nothing for the journey, no staff, bag, bread, money or extra tunic, and to stay in whatever house they enter. Where they are not welcomed they are to shake the dust off their feet as a testimony against that town. The instructions show total dependence on God and the host.

Verses 7–9

Herod the tetrarch hears of all that is happening and is perplexed, because some say John has been raised from the dead, some that Elijah has appeared, and others that one of the old prophets has risen. Herod says that he beheaded John and asks who this man is. He tries to see Jesus. Luke says nothing yet about how John died, a story told in Mark 6:17-29.

Verses 10–17

The apostles return and Jesus withdraws with them toward Bethsaida. The crowds follow, and he welcomes them, speaks about the kingdom of God and heals. As evening comes the Twelve ask him to send the crowd away. Jesus says, You give them something to eat. They have five loaves and two fish. He has the people sit in groups of about fifty, takes the loaves and fish, looks up to heaven, blesses and breaks them and gives them to the disciples to set before the people. All eat and are satisfied, and twelve baskets of fragments are collected. This is the only miracle of Jesus' ministry told in all four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; John 6:1-14). The verbs, took, blessed, broke and gave, are the same as at the Last Supper (22:19).

Verses 18–27

After Jesus has prayed alone, he asks the disciples who the crowds say he is, and they give the answers Herod heard: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. He asks who they say he is, and Peter answers, The Christ of God. Jesus warns them not to tell anyone and says that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes, be killed and on the third day be raised. 'Must' (dei) is the language of divine necessity. Then he says to all that anyone who wants to follow him must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow. Luke adds 'daily'. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for his sake will save it. He warns that the Son of Man will be ashamed of those who are ashamed of him. Matthew 16:17-19 adds Jesus' blessing of Peter, which Luke does not have.

Verses 28–36

About eight days later Jesus takes Peter, John and James up a mountain to pray. While he prays, the appearance of his face changes and his clothes become dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appear in glory and speak of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. The Greek word is exodos. The disciples are heavy with sleep, but they wake and see his glory and the two men. As the men leave, Peter proposes making three tents, not knowing what he was saying. A cloud overshadows them and they are afraid. A voice from the cloud says, This is My Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him. When the voice has spoken, Jesus is found alone. The disciples keep silence and tell no one at that time. Luke's detail about prayer, the conversation and the sleep is his own.

Verses 37–50

The next day a man begs Jesus to heal his only son, who is seized by a demon. The disciples could not cast it out. Jesus calls the generation faithless and twisted, heals the boy and gives him back to his father. All are amazed at the majesty of God. Jesus then says again that the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, but they do not understand it. They argue over which of them is greatest, and Jesus puts a child by his side and says that whoever receives this child in his name receives him. Then John says they stopped a man casting out demons in Jesus' name, and Jesus says not to stop him, because whoever is not against you is for you.

Verses 51–62

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem. A Samaritan village does not receive him because he is heading for Jerusalem, and James and John ask whether to call down fire from heaven, as Elijah had done (2 Kings 1). Jesus rebukes them. Three would-be followers then meet his demands. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Another must follow without first burying his father. Another who looks back after putting his hand to the plow is not fit for the kingdom, in a saying that recalls Elijah calling Elisha at the plow (1 Kings 19:19-21).

Luke 9 puts side by side two truths that run through the Bible: the identity of the Messiah and the necessity of suffering. The Old Testament had already joined glory and suffering in the figure of the servant (Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12), and Psalm 22 moves from suffering to vindication. The chapter makes that joining explicit: the Christ must suffer, and glory follows.

The call to take up the cross daily describes discipleship as a continuing way of life, and the sayings about losing and saving life set the logic of the kingdom against the logic of self-preservation. The transfiguration adds a divine witness: the Father speaks to confirm the Son and to direct attention to his word. The presence of Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, shows that the Old Testament bears witness to this plan of redemption (24:25-27, 44).

The exodus theme links the passion to God's greatest act of redemption in the Old Testament. As the exodus rescued Israel from slavery, the departure at Jerusalem rescues from sin and death. The final section shows the cost of following and the failure of the disciples, who cannot heal, do not understand and argue about greatness. Grace in the Bible is given to followers who are slow to see.

Here Christ is not foreshadowed but revealed. Peter names him the Messiah, and the Father names him 'My Son, whom I have chosen' (9:35). The Father's words combine Psalm 2:7, which describes the royal Son, with Isaiah 42:1, which describes the chosen servant. The command 'Listen to Him!' fulfills the promise of a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), a text Acts 3:22 applies to Jesus. In the cloud, Moses and Elijah are present only as witnesses; the voice points to Jesus alone.

The word for his 'departure' (9:31) is exodos. This is an echo that suggests Jesus will lead a new exodus through his death, resurrection and ascension at Jerusalem. The Old Testament exodus freed a people from Egypt, and the Prophets had promised a greater return (Isaiah 43:16-19). Luke does not say this in so many words, but his word choice invites it.

The feeding of the five thousand shows Jesus as the one who provides for his people in a desolate place, as God gave manna (Exodus 16) and as Elisha multiplied loaves (2 Kings 4:42-44). The Gospel of John develops it as a sign that he is the bread of life (John 6). In Luke it points to the Last Supper by the pattern of taking, blessing, breaking and giving. The second prediction of the passion in 9:44 and the setting of his face toward Jerusalem show that he goes to the cross willingly.