A week after Jesus' portentous announcement, and with the disciples probably still trembling inside, Jesus sets off up a mountain with just his three closest friends allowed to come with him.
Jesus has a habit of disappearing up a hillside in order to get alone and pray, but today he wants a limited amount of company.
What happens up there leaves his companions looking like a dictionary definition of a blown mind.
What did happen, exactly? Did the light change? Did the sun get brighter? It seemed that Jesus' clothes changed colour, reflecting this heavenly light into dazzled disciples' minds. And two shining souls seemed to appear, two great heroes from the Old Testament, talking to Jesus as if they were equals, matter-of-factly discussing the most momentous of events as if trying to decide where to go for coffee.
The disciples' overloaded brains blew a fuse and they lost consciousness. On waking up, and seeing the strange conversation still going on, Peter blurts something about making tents for the three of them: "one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah."
What was he thinking? Was it the Feast of Tabernacles? Was it the Tent of Meeting, where the Shekinah Glory of God shone, so that Moses had to veil his face? Or was his mouth just opening and closing by itself, the lights on upstairs, but nobody home?
Whatever was happening to Peter, God interrupted him. A voice from the cloud of glory confirmed Peter's earlier identification of Jesus, and added, "Listen to him!"
I suggested last Friday that Jesus might have wondered if he was still on track. He had succumbed to doing a miracle for a purpose not strictly necessary, he had seen clearly that his mission was going to lead him to torture and death. He needed an affirmation from his heavenly Father, and he got it. In spades.
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