Painting: Jesus exorcising the Canaanite Woman's daughter from Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 15th century. Public domain. SOURCES
Ball, Terry B. “‘Whom Say Ye That I Am?’: Peter’s Witness of Christ,” in The Ministry of Peter, the Chief Apostle, ed. Frank F. Judd Jr., Eric D. Huntsman, and Shon D. Hopkin. 13–26.https://rsc.byu.edu/ministry-peter-chief-apostle/whom-say-ye-i-am-peters-witness-christ
Brown, S. Kent. “Peter’s Keys (Matthew 16:1819)”https://www.byunewtestamentcommentary.com/peters-keys-matthew-1618-19/
Brown, S. Kent. “The Testimony of Luke.” (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2015), 478–482.
Brown, S. Kent. “The Twelve.” The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: From the Transfiguration Through the Triumphal Entry. Edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment.
Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel. “The Transfiguration.” The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: From the Transfiguration Through the Triumphal Entry. Edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment.
Hopkin, Shon D. “Peter, Stones, and Seers,” in The Ministry of Peter, the Chief Apostle, ed. Frank F. Judd Jr., Eric D. Huntsman, and Shon D. Hopkin (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2014), 103–25. https://rsc.byu.edu/ministry-peter-chief-apostle/peter-stones-seers
Strathearn, Gaye. “Jesus and the Gentiles.” The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: From the Transfiguration Through the Triumphal Entry. Edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment.
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“Commentaries are useful to make us think and not as the last word—when we are talking about symbolic scripture, there is no last word.” - Julie Smith
“Mark identifies the woman as “a Greek, a Syrophenician by birth” (Mark 7:26). Matthew’s use of “Canaanite” is significant: there were no Canaanites during Jesus’ time. This is an anachronistic term (belonging to a period other than that being portrayed) to link the woman to people whom Joshua and the Israelites were supposed to destroy when they entered the promised land and who were a constant source of pagan worship for the Israelites. The identification serves to highlight the significance of what this woman does." (Footnote).
Gaye Strathearn.
“The Greek word for “worshiped” is prosekunoe, the same word used by Matthew to describe the action of the Wise Men when they came into Jesus’ presence. It conveys a position of worship through prostration. The imperfect tense of the verb suggests that this worship is not confined to a single act but is a repeated one.”
“The table itself represents the eschatological banquet, concerning which Jesus had already told another Gentile, the centurion, that “many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob” (Matthew 8:11). This woman wanted to be one of those many coming from the west.” Gaye Strathearn.
“The Apostle Peter is beloved by believers—perhaps because he seems so authentic and approachable to us. We can understand him. We can empathize with him. We admire his courage as he forsook all, “straightway” leaving his nets as the Master beckoned, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We understand his confusion over the meaning and message of parables. We feel the desperation in his cry, “Lord, save me,” as his feet and faith faltered on the turbulent waters that night on the Sea of Galilee. We appreciate his awe at the Transfiguration (see Matthew 17:1–13; Mark 9:2–9; Luke 9:28–36). We weep with him for the shame of his thrice-made denial, grieve with him at Gethsemane, and join in his joy and wonder at the empty tomb.” Terry B. Ball
“Jesus’ rebuke of Peter immediately following this commandment serves to further highlight that the designation of Peter as the rock was in some senses a prophetic call rather than a statement of current fact (see Matthew 16:21–23).” Hopkin
“Peter’s declaration and his subsequent experience on the Mount of Transfiguration allow for the culmination of this growing awareness of the disciples, albeit still without a full understanding of the necessary suffering and death that will be required of their Messiah.” Hopkin
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“When Jesus promises to entrust keys to Peter, part of the promise is that “the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it [the church].” (The grammar of this sentence tells us that “it” means “the church” because “the church” is the closest referent and the Greek pronoun translated “it” and the Greek noun “church” are both feminine in gender.) The term translated “hell” in this passage is the word hadēs, Hades in English. In the Septuagint, the Greek word hadēs generally means a permanent, dark underworld where departed spirits are confined (see LXX Job 7:9–10; 10:21–22). The New Testament adjusts this view. Here, hadēs is a temporary abode where the spirits of the dead await the resurrection and judgment (see Acts 2:27, 31; Revelation 20:13; also Alma 40:14) and where Jesus preaches during the time his body lies in the tomb (see 1 Peter 3:19–20; 4:6).
But Hades has another more personal meaning. In some passages, Hades is a name or title held by an individual in the underworld who is in charge of the spirit prison. The Risen Savior hints at this meaning when he affirms: “I am he that liveth, and was dead . . . and have the keys of hell and death” (Revelation 1:18). By implication, he has taken possession of those keys and now holds them in his hand. How so? The notion is that, when Jesus descends into the world of spirits after his death on the cross, he faces closed gates that keep the departed spirits inside a prison. Meeting resistance from those who hold the keys, who are death and hell (see Revelation 6:8; 20:13–14; 2 Nephi 9:12), he takes control of the keys from them and opens the closed gates. In the language of Isaiah, after this confrontation, he opens “the prison to them that are bound” and proclaims “liberty to the captives” (Isaiah 61:1; also Luke 4:18, where Jesus applies Isaiah’s words to his ministry without distinguishing between his mortal and post-mortal work).
The idea of gates points directly at the keys required to open them. Jesus holds the keys of “the gates of hell,” not Peter. Instead, to Peter are entrusted “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19). Interest in the next world, of course, is plainly present in this latter expression. In addition, possession of these keys does not mean that the holder is a mere doorkeeper, a person who checks the identity of those entering and leaving. By being entrusted with keys, Peter stands as Jesus’ fully authorized representative. This dimension appears in the expression “I will give.” Moreover, these keys establish Peter’s authority over earthly church matters, a fact firmly present in Jesus’ words “bind on earth” and “loose on earth.” In a word, Jesus is handing to Peter the chief responsibility for leading his Church. But Peter does not carry this duty by himself. The keys will be held jointly among the Twelve, as Jesus later indicates: “Verily I say unto you [Twelve], Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Terry B. Ball.
“ . . the story of the Transfiguration in Matthew is preceded, and therefore introduced, by Peter’s confession (Matthew 16:16) and Jesus’ own prophecy about His fate in the Holy City (Matthew 16:21).”
“Matthew, however, preserves Jesus’ promise to give “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19) to Peter, a story not found in the other Gospel. Demonstrating that Peter’s confession (identifying Jesus as both “Christ [Messiah]” and the “Son of the living God”) was accurate, adequate, and more important, appropriate.” Richard Holzapfel.
“. . . the fact that Moses and Elijah appeared visibly to the Savior in the presence of the three stands as evidence that the Apostles were to grasp in a most concrete way that the long-past era of the Old Testament was tied to their own day. In this connection, we notice that Moses and Elijah still possessed their bodies, in a translated state, so that they did not die, thus allowing them to perform physical acts, such as the laying on of hands, to transmit their keys and authority.”
Footnote: On the physical nature of Moses and Elijah, consult Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols. Kent Brown.
“Our Synoptic authors make brief mention of-in reality it is scarcely more than an allusion to what happened on the [Mount of Transfiguration] when they and Jesus spent a sacred night enwrapped in the visions of eternity. This blessed night was one of those seeric periods when the mysteries of the kingdom, ‘which surpass all understanding,’ are shown forth to souls who are in tune with the Infinite. So marvelous are such revealed truths that it is ‘not lawful for man to utter’ them, ‘Neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ They are reserved by the Lord for those prophets and seers who, ‘while in the flesh,’ are yet able ‘to bear his presence in the world of glory.’ (D&C 76: 114-18.)
In the providence of the Lord, the saints know some things that the world does not know about the spiritual outpouring of divine grace that fell on the Mountain of Transfiguration. But even Latter-day Revelation does not set forth the full account. And until men and women attain a higher state of spiritual understanding than they now enjoy, they will continue to see through a glass darkly and know only in part the visionary experiences of the presiding officers of the Meridian Church. That which is known, however, singles out this night as one of the most important and glorious in the lives who saw within the veil and who heard the voices of the heavenly participants.
Bruce R. McConkie - The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary
https://www.ldsscriptureteachings.org/2018/10/matthew-17-the-mount-of-transfiguration/
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