Luke presents the Transfiguration (9:28-36) as a prayer experience. Mark presents it as a revelation of the hidden Messiah and Matthew as the manifestation of the new and greater Moses. They don't mention prayer. Luke says that Jesus "took with him Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. And it happened that, as he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white."
Luke's account makes me think that this is a mystical experience for Jesus, and perhaps for the apostles present. The Greek doesn't make it clear whether they are asleep or fighting sleep. Jesus experiences his Father's presence in so strong a way that he becomes splendid, brilliant.
As the radiance seems to be fading, Peter wants to make it last by building something to contain it. When we have these kinds of direct experiences of the Divine, we often wish we could hang onto them.
The Cloud envelops them The cloud was the Presence of God that accompanied the Israelites as they journeyed through the desert. The apostles are in awe as they hear the Father's voice from the Cloud, "This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him." The image of a cloud helps us to think how difficult it is to grasp God, how the experience of God so often eludes us. At the same time we want to lose ourselves in God.
The picture is a view from a mountain in West Virginia. A mountain top is often a place where I become vividly aware of God.
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