The disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
With this question the disciples are trying to understand the vision of the transfiguration in the light of the interpretation of the word recorded in Holy Scripture, since the teaching of the scribes emphasized that Elijah must appear before the coming of the Messiah. Their question shows that they still connected the fulfillment of God’s plan with an outward sequence and expectations, and they wanted to reconcile what they had seen with traditional teaching. This episode reveals that the disciples’ faith is in process, making a transition from their expectations to the deeper reality revealed through the word of Christ.