Six days after Jesus foretold his death
Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
Matthew 17:1-2 NASB
Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; 3 and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.
Mark 9:2-3 NASB
Eight days after Jesus foretold his death
Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.
Luke 9:28-29 NASB
First glance
At first glance it may seem strange that in Matthew and Mark there is spoken about Six days later while Luke says it occurred Some eight days after these sayings. However as it always is in life we have to read accurately to understand. Let’s have a closer look.
Six days after what?
Let’s first look at the expression Six days after. The question is then “After what?” Answer: After Peter’s Rebuke of Jesus. What rebuke? the less involved reader may ask. Peter rebuked Jesus as He had started to teach his disciples that He would suffer, would die and rise again. Jesus in turn rebuked Peter because he had tried preventing Him from fulfilling his Messianic mission which was the Cross (Matthew 16:22-23, Mark 8:31-33). After this confrontation between Jesus and Peter the counting of six days is to be taken.
Matthew as well as Mark are very clear that Jesus’ teaching about his suffering had started after Peter’s Confession of Jesus being the Messiah.
Matthew wrote in 16:21: “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that …”
And Mark in 8:31: “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer…”
Eight days after what?
In Luke’s Gospel there is no mentioning at all of Peter’s Rebuke. Consequently Luke refers with “Some eight days after these sayings” to the Confession of Peter.
It’s all quite evident. After Peter’s Confession Jesus had made a beginning with the teaching that he would suffer. Two days later Peter was tired of it and he decided that this had to stop and he rebuked Jesus “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” (Matthew 16:22)
Peter’s Confession….Peter’s Rebuke………………………………………….. Transfiguration
(2 days later) (8 days after Confession)
(6 days after Rebuke)
Six days later the relation between Jesus and Peter was normalized and together with John and James they went up the mountain and the transfiguration took place. From the moment of that revelation Peter knew that everything was under God’s control instead of his.
No Bible Contradiction
Additional: Jesus’ writers
Again we have here an interesting example of how Jesus’ writers worked. In Matthew as well as in Mark they used only one little word to discriminate between the description of Peter’s Confession and Peter’s Rebuke two days later: the Greek word Kai (And …). Beginning a sentence with this word an interruption of events is always supposed. In this case it’s a break of two days.
Matthew 16:22 “[And] Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’”
Mark 8:32 “And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.”
It seems that a simple continuation of the narrative is meant with these sentences. However, the Gospels are basically not naïve narratives, but informative narratives: the notes of Jesus’ teachings. By that the Gospels are such powerful stories.
Take note
[…] in Greek text, not in used translation
{…} in used translation, but not in the Greek text
Luke 9:23 "{And} He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me….'” No real Kai-sentence and so continuation is meant: this saying (up to 9:27) belongs to the event of Peter’s Confession.
For the rules followed by Jesus’ writers concerning the narrative parts of the Gospels, see p. 169 – 173 of the book Jesus’ Stenographers.