A Journey Home

Peter did not want to leave the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9). When up on that hill, experiencing probably the most magnificent sight he had ever seen, he asked if they could stay. This is human nature, to want to stay where the glory is, where the magnificent is happening. But Peter did not understand that Jesus was on a journey. He did not understand that Jesus was not there to camp, or to make his home, but that he was on his way to die. Even on the mountaintop, in Jesus time of transfiguration and glory, his conversation with Moses and Elijah was not about heaven or good things, but they were talking about his eventual death at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). jesus knew that home was not on the mountaintop, home was when all came to rest on the cross… home was in the deep dark stillness of the cross. For where in human life is there a lower place than death. Where is there greater stillness than in a cross. jesus knew that the most progress, the greatest accomplishment of his life was not in his movements, not in his healings, not in his doings, but in his still, dark, cold death. This is where home is found. Home is when we finally and fully embrace our death. When we finally and fully come to stillness. Home is at the bottom of the ocean when our ship is fully sunk and it comes to rest on the sandy shore. This is where God is. God is in the ecstatic experiences, God is on the mountaintop, but he is also at the bottom of the ocean. Home is not heaven, home is right here. God is not up there, he is right here. Home is where God is and God is where our true home is. God’s plan is not to take us out, not to help us escape, not to fly away from, flee, or avoid this world… His goal is to bring home to us. The goal of our lives is not heaven, it is God himself.