The Transfiguration of Jesus

Title Ideas:Jesus shines brightly with light!Three disciples see who Jesus really is.Moses and Elijah appear alive with Jesus.

One day, Jesus went with his [twelve] disciples to a place [Caesarea Philippi] where people worship other gods. There, he asked these disciples, “Who do you believe [say / think] that I am?”

Peter replied to him, “[We believe] You are the Messiah! You are the [only] living God’s Son!”

Jesus then told them, “When we [shall] go to Jerusalem, men will capture me, beat me, and kill me! But I will rise back to life three days later!”

About one week later, Jesus led three disciples -- Peter, James and John -- up on a high mountain. They went there to be together alone, [to rest] and to pray.

While Jesus was praying, the others saw him begin to shine brightly [like lightning]. His face shone as bright as the sun. His clothes also shone brightly [very very white].

Suddenly, the disciples saw the prophets Elijah and Moses [alive] standing near Jesus talking with him.

The disciples were frightened. Peter spoke to Jesus, saying, “Sir! It is good that we men be here, today! Shall we make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah?”

While Peter was speaking, a bright cloud came down over them. They heard a voice [God’s voice] speak from the cloud. God said, “This is my Son whom I love very much! He always pleases me! You must always listen to him [do all he says]!”

While hearing the voice, the disciples became more afraid and fell to the ground [face down]. After a while, Jesus came to the men, touched [shook] them, and said, “Rise up! Stop being afraid!” When they opened their eyes, they saw only Jesus there with them. [Jesus looked like a normal human again.]

Later, as they were going back down [from] the mountain, Jesus said to them, “You must not tell anyone else what you saw today, until after I [the Son of Man] shall have returned from death to life!”

These three disciples said nothing about this to anyone else.

One of them did ask, “Sir! Why do our [Jewish] teachers say that Elijah must come back before the Messiah will come?”

Jesus replied, “[It is so!] Elijah will come first, and he will help people to be ready for the Messiah to come!

“But listen to me! Elijah already came, but evil men abused [harmed / mistreated] him and killed him. Likewise [In the same way], evil men will also abuse [harm / mistreat] me [the Son of Man]!”

Then the disciples understood [knew] that Jesus was saying that John the Baptizer [who had been killed some months earlier] was [like][the] Elijah who had already come.