Moses goes up the mountain: Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain. The mountain is a place of mystery, a high up place where we can see what is hidden to people on the plains, or a clouded place where we can hardly see at all, and what we can see is confusing, shapes with no scale.
Jesus’ companions see something they’ve never seen before, and a door is opened to a truth of who Jesus is – for Jesus is the fulfilment of ‘the Law’ (Moses) and ‘the Prophets’ (Elijah). Then the door slams shut and the mysterious strangers are hidden in the cloud. Jesus’ mates wanted to make shelters for Moses and Elijah, because the mountain is also a dangerous place. But they cannot nail down the holiness of the place – the holiness will have to live only in their memories, for God is always on the move. The two mysterious visitors have gone as quickly as they came.
I suspect that people like to make ‘shelters’. Churches are like shelters for Christians’ faith and worship, far from the frightening, edgy world outside. God in a church is almost tame. But I’d like to consider it possible that God is also ‘out there’, the Law is being tested and the prophets are speaking ‘out there’ too.
Anyway, even the best of shelters isn’t perfect, and a device in the bathroom has sprung a leak which is coming through to the kitchen. We’re in the middle of a couple of days without a water supply until a plumber comes.
