Peter began to speak and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us build three tents: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Peter’s words arise both from the sincere joy of his heart and from his mysterious confusion. He senses that an extraordinary heavenly blessedness is present here and wants, in some way, to preserve that moment. His desire is human: to remain in glory and not go down into the field of the world’s pains and oppositions. Yet he still did not fully understand that Christ’s path would pass from the glory of the mountain toward the way of the cross. Also, by proposing three tents, he unintentionally seems to place Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the same level. But soon the voice of God the Father would show that, although the Law and the Prophets are honorable, the Son is above them. This word also reveals the inclination of the human heart: to desire glory without the way of the cross.