places to stay

In Matthew’s gospel, whenever Jesus goes up a mountain it’s either to pray or to teach.  So, when I see him leading Peter, James, and John up a high mountain by themselves, I figure they’re either in for an all-night pray-a-thon, or the lecture of a lifetime.

But there’s no prayer and no lecture on this trip. Instead, they witness Jesus transform: his face shines like the sun and his clothes glow whiter than Clorox ever dreamed of making them.  Then they see Moses and Elijah – the great leader who delivered the law and the greatest prophet of all time – appear from thin air. 

Peter is apparently no dummy in this story; he knows a good thing when he sees it and stunned as he is, he offers to build three places to stay: one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 

That would be sweet, wouldn’t it? 

I mean, it would be a great thing if we could build a home for God, a home for the best leader ever known, and a home for the be-all-and-end-all of the prophets, and have all three stay put. Then, we’d know where to find them.  We’d know where to go for advice, healing, rulings, comfort, lessons – you name it.  It would be something like a one-stop-shopping spiritual strip mall.

But Jesus has other things in mind. He’s got too much to do to stay in one place, particularly on some hard to reach mountain top set apart from the people.  He’s got work to do. 

See, at the bottom of the mountain is an epileptic boy that no one has been able to heal.  He comes down the mountain for him. He comes down the mountain to welcome children and to cure the blind and the lame.

He comes down for everyone who is oppressed, belittled, injured, suffering, alone.  He comes down for you and for me.

While it would be sweet if God, Moses, and Elijah would stay put, it’s far better that they don’t.  I’d much rather have them all on the loose…them and their grace, which come for us all, wherever we happen to be. Want more? Click here to read Matthew 17:1-21.