Dr. Doug Bookman

Note: Almost three years of Jesus’s ministry have passed. Having struggled to find opportunity to confront His apostles with the truth that He was soon to die, and the apostles having resisted the teaching when Jesus set it before them, there are a few days or weeks in Galilee before Jesus sets out for the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem (John 7:2).

A. At Capernaum, Jesus Miraculously Pays the Temple Tax

Scripture: Matthew 17:24-27

Questions/Observations: What do you think is the significance of the way in which Jesus provided the money to pay this tax?

B. The 12 Argue over Who Should Be the Greatest in the Kingdom

Scripture: Matthew 18:1-5; Mark 9:33-37; and Luke 9:46-48

Notes: This episode makes clear that the disciples have refused to accept Jesus’s words concerning His own death, as well as His insistence that they too must be ready to take up a cross and prepare for death.

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice in Mark’s account the way this conversation began.
2. Notice the object lesson of humility and simple faith which Jesus employs in response to the apostles’ argument concerning who would be greatest?
3. Why do you think the apostles were thinking about this issue?

C. The Apostle John Is Rebuked for His Selfish Spirit

Scripture: Matthew 18:6-14; Mark 9:38-50; and Luke 9:49-50

Notes: The confrontation began when John rebuked one who was casting out demons in Jesus’s name, but was not among the 12.

Questions/Observations: Mark’s account places Jesus’s warning about causing “one of these little ones to sin,” as well as the injunction to sever the body part that causes you to sin, as part of His response to John. It seems best to take the parable concerning the shepherd seeking his one lost sheep as part of this same discourse of Jesus.

D. Instruction on Dealing with a Sinning Brother

Scripture: Matthew 18:15-35

Questions/Observations: This is the only other place in the Gospels (besides Matthew 16:18) where Jesus makes mention of the “church.”

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

A. On the Mountain with Jesus

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; and Luke 9:28-36

Notes: It is imperative that this remarkable event be understood against the backdrop of Jesus’s prophecy and the apostles’ response. In short, Jesus’ prophecy of His own death so staggered the apostles – it was so foreign and so offensive to them – that they began to doubt Jesus’s messianic identity. The transfiguration was a gracious and spectacular strategy to reinforce the staggering faith of three of those apostles.

Questions/Observations:

1. Matthew says this happened “six days” after the conversation above; Mark says “about eight days.” How would you reconcile those two?
2. Can you think of other times in the New Testament when Jesus was seen in the effulgent and glorious form that He appears at this time?
3. According to Luke, what is Jesus doing when He is suddenly transfigured?
4. What two Old Testament figures appear with Jesus? What are they talking with Him about?
5. When Peter sees Jesus transfigured, he offers to build three booths. Why?
6. Given the rebuke spoken from heaven against Peter’s suggestion, how do you understand what Peter was thinking in making the offer?
7. Why do you think Jesus took only Peter, James, and John to this event?

B. Jesus Instructs the Three Apostles Not to Tell Anyone What They Saw

Scripture: Matthew 17:9; Mark 9:9-10; and Luke 9:36

Questions/Observations:

1. This is a very important moment, but the significance of the moment is sometimes lost in the discussion of the conversation that follows. Understand that the truth confessed by Peter here is precisely what Jesus has claimed concerning Himself throughout His ministry. By the same token, it is a truth not easily or hastily embraced. Jesus’s delight with the confession is born of the fact that that two-fold truth was so difficult to believe, but the apostles have confessed (11 of them honestly) that they have bowed the knee to those claims.
2. Why do you think Jesus commanded those three not to tell anyone of what they had seen until after the resurrection?
3. Notice carefully the point of Jesus’s command which proved confusing to these apostles (Matthew 17:9).

C. The Three Ask about the Coming of Elijah

Scripture: Matthew 17:10-13 and Mark 9:11-14

Notes: Evidently the experience of the transfiguration had reinforced these men’s faith in Jesus’s messianic claims. But there was one other matter that confused them in that regard, and so they put the question to Jesus at this strategic time.

Questions/Observations: How do you understand the relationship between John the Baptist and the Elijah prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6, especially given this passage?

D. The Nine Apostles Left Behind Are Unable to Drive out a Demon

Scripture: Luke 9:37-43; Mark 9:14-29; and Matthew 17:14-21

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice that Luke is explicit that this occurred the day after the Transfiguration (Luke 9:37), and Mark that it was the other disciples who were unable to do this (Mark 9:14).
2. Why do you think these men were unable to deliver this boy? (Compare Mark 9:29.)
3. Note carefully Mark’s account; it is the fullest of the three and it includes very interesting and important details.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

Note: Having been several times frustrated in His attempt to get alone with His apostles, Jesus decides to take them to the region of Caesarea-Philippi, a very remote place in the foothills of Mt Hermon, and a place to which Jews did not go.

A. Jesus Carefully Heals a Blind Man in Bethsaida (Men Like Trees)

Scripture: Mark 8:22-26

Notes: Bethsaida was a fishing village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and the 12 dock there and pass through the city as they make their way to Caesarea-Philippi. Once again, Jesus is asked to do a miracle of healing, and He cautiously consents.

Questions/Observations:

1. Compare the steps taken here by Jesus to those He took when healing the man in the Decapolis. What additional steps does Jesus take here?
2. Why do you think Jesus healed this man in two stages?
3. Notice that Jesus seems to have got out of Bethsaida without attracting great crowds – something He had been unable to do in other cities on this journey.

B. Jesus Tests the 12 in the Region of Caesarea-Philippi

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; and Luke 9:18-21

Notes: This event is the “final exam” of the apostles. Jesus asks specifically what they believe concerning Him, and Peter – speaking for the 12 – confesses that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

1. This is a very important moment, but the significance of the moment is sometimes lost in the discussion of the conversation that follows. Understand that the truth confessed by Peter here is precisely what Jesus has claimed concerning Himself throughout His ministry. By the same token, it is a truth not easily or hastily embraced. Jesus’s delight with the confession is born of the fact that that two-fold truth was so difficult to believe, but the apostles have confessed (11 of them honestly) that they have bowed the knee to those claims.
2. How do you understand Jesus’s statement to Peter in Matthew 16:17 – “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven”?
3. With regard to the ensuing conversation, how do you understand Jesus’s reference to “this rock” (i.e., “on this rock I will build my church”)?
4. How do you think the apostles understood Jesus’s reference here to His “church”?
5. How do you understand the concept of the “keys of the kingdom” spoken of here?
6. Notice the command Jesus gives in Matthew 16:20; why do you think this was important?

C. Jesus’s First Distinct Prophecy of His Rejection, Trial, Death, and Resurrection

Scripture: Matthew 16:21-28; Mark 8:31; and Luke 9:22-27

Notes: This is a most important development in the ministry of Jesus – and specifically in His relationship with His apostles. Understand that the text is explicit that Jesus had not spoken of dying before this (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31). Notice as well that when Jesus did begin to speak of His death, His apostles were scandalized.

Questions/Observations:

1. When Peter rejects Jesus’s statement concerning His death, Jesus responds by saying to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” Why do you think Jesus refers to Peter in that way?
2. How do you understand Jesus’s further words of rebuke: “You are an offense to Me, because you are not mindful of the things of God, but of man”?
3. Compare Luke 18:31-33, which records a later time when Jesus again speaks explicitly and directly of His coming death; and then note Luke’s assessment of the response of the apostles at that time (Luke 18:34).

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).