If You Only Knew My Identity…
Lke 9:28-36
Introduction
Recently, the movies have been full of super heroes. There’s
been Bat Man, Spider Man, the Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, X-Men and now there was
the trailer for the new movie “Man of Steel” which will reboot the story of
Super Man. One of the staples of the super hero genre is the idea of the secret
identity. Most of the time, they are Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker
but when there is trouble, they are Super Man, Bat Man or Spider Man. The
intriguing possibility that, behind any bland exterior there could be a person
of extraordinary talent drives much of the drama in these super hero stories.
In fact, maybe I am a super hero. Maybe if I rip open
my shirt or duck into a phone booth, my special spandex costume might be
revealed. Yeah, I could be like Bat Man: bat mobile, bat copter, bat belt, bat
gadgets, really cool bat cave, lovely sidekick Labuyo. Rich, ripped and stocked
up on gadgets.
But I don’t think I could pull off Super Man. He’s not even
human—he’s from planet Krypton. He has real super powers. He didn’t get them
from a radioactive spider or gamma rays or steroids or an industrial
accident—they are innate—they are a part of who he is. Bat Man is just an
overcompensating spoiled kid with parent issues.
How about Jesus? Was he a man?
Smart and gifted? Insane? Special connection with the man upstairs (he sure
seemed to want to pray a lot!). Maybe the reincarnated version of some previous
super hero, like Moses or Elijah or John the Baptist? Or was he even human?
There has been speculation in some quarters that he was some form of divine
ghost or meat puppet, controlled by some other being? Or, was he something else
entirely? Is there a third option?
We’ve been working our way
through the 3rd of 4 biographies of Jesus found in the Bible,
written by Luke, a doctor. Luke went back and talked to many of the
eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life who were still alive, including the original band
of followers who were with him from the beginning of his public career all the
way until his death and beyond. There
were crowds around Jesus, of course. But seventy or so were around him on a
semi-regular basis throughout his three year career. Then twelve, called his
disciples, were with him pretty much day in and day out. But within that
twelve, there was an even smaller group: Peter, James and John. So, if anyone
knew what Jesus was really like, even when the crowds were gone and the
spotlight was off, it was these three.
After Jesus’ big tour of Galilee,
healing and teaching, Luke records, in the 9th chapter, that he asked
this group: “Who do you say I am?” And Peter spoke up and said, “You are the
Christ.” That word “Christ” is actually the word for Messiah or “chosen one of
God”. Jesus went on to say, in effect: What do you think a Christ does? They
wanted a power Messiah, but he revealed a sacrificing Messiah.
And then, eight days later, Jesus
gives his disciples an uncensored look at who he really was, but it was so
strange—so weird—so much like a sci-fi movie before sci-fi was even thought of,
that they “kept it to themselves” (Luke 9:36b) until much later.
Let’s take a look, in chapter 9
of Luke, starting about half way through where it says “Transfiguration”, at
what they saw:
28
About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him
and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the
appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of
lightning.
30
Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking
with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to
fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very
sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men
standing with him.
33 As
the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be
here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for
Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud
appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35
A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen;
listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus
was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time
what they had seen.
Listen: Jesus Has A Unique Identity, So Pray (vs. 28-29)
Prayer was a constant habit for
Jesus. He was busy. His life was managed chaos: crowds, needy people, angry
people, and the next town on his preaching tour. He was tired (John 4:6). But
it was his regular, fixed practice (ugali)
to spend time in prayer (Luke 5:16).
When I travel to Taiwan for a
week, I arrive at 6am on Monday morning. After I get to my hotel and get
cleaned up, I’m off to the office. From then on, it is meeting on this, customer
wants this, “Can you fix this” “Why did you do it like that?” “Can you come to
dinner?” Get to bed by 9 or 10, try to go to sleep and then because of jet lag,
wake up at 3am, can’t go back to sleep. But as soon as I try to open my Bible
and try to pray—then I fall asleep. I’m too busy to pray. I am like Peter,
James and John. A little further down, it says they were “very sleepy.”
Jesus goes to prayer, and he is
transfigured. Peter goes to prayer, and he falls asleep. I am too busy to pray.
But Jesus is too busy not to pray. Jesus appears to be somehow nourished
and reinvigorated by prayer, but I am drained. Why is that? Is it just because
he is Jesus, a super hero, and I’m just an extra?
Here’s what I know: Jesus wanted
to pray, I want to sleep. Seven months into our marriage, Helen left to go
finish her college degree in England for five months. No e-mail. I couldn’t
wait for the time once every week or two weeks when I could afford to call her.
I had no trouble being available at the right time. I’m so socially awkward
that I created lists of things to talk to her about, so I could tell her all
the interesting things that happened while we were apart. Those conversations
made my week. Why? Because it was Helen!
Perhaps our prayers would be less
like Ambien and more like 5 hour energy, if we didn’t, in our heart of hearts,
think God was boring, passive, uninteresting. Look what happened to Peter,
James and John: Luke says: “Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when
they became fully awake, they saw his glory…”
God is not boring. God is not
boring. God is fiercely loving, amazingly creative, wild and glorious. But if
you are like me, God can seem boring. It happens. It happens to me. It
happened to Peter. Usually I’ve pasted a bad mental picture over the God spot
in my soul. The boring God. The predictable God. The impossible-to-please God. These
are the lesser “gods” We think that we can finish God’s sentences for him. When
you talk with someone thinking you already know what they will say, then it is
no longer a dialog. It is boring, presumptious and selfish. How much more with
prayer? When you pray, do you also go to listen? Because God will surprise you.
He will expose the gaps.
Jesus knows we need this. In our
life, he knows we are weak and easily distracted. So, for the briefest moment,
he allows heaven to shine through, and we see Jesus as Jesus with absolute
certainty. Hold on to those moments. Remember them. Tattoo them on your
memories. Because they will sustain you.
Remember Jesus’ mother, Mary?
Between the fireworks and miracles at Jesus’ birth—at Christmas--and the
wedding at Cana (in John’s biography), thirty years. Nothing. What sustained
her? In chapter 2, Luke says:
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered
them in her heart.
Listen: Because Jesus is uniquely
God and man.
Listen: Jesus Has A Unique Role, So Hope (vs. 30-33)
So Jesus’ transformation woke up Peter, James and John from
their sleep. And they notice that Jesus isn’t alone. They wake up to find Jesus
hostinga round-table theological discussion with Moses, greatest religious
leader in Jewish history, and Elijah, greatest prophet in Jewish history. Both dead hundreds of years. Both glowing. What
was in those matzo balls, anyway? Dead
people discussing theology. Now we know what killed them.
Peter notices that they are leaving (vs. 33), and he does
what Peter does best: he starts to blab. Moses! Elijah! Jesus! Best. Camping.
Trip. Ever. Look at the lineup of speakers we’ve got for you this year!
That’s exactly the problem: Moses and Elijah were not Jesus’
peers. They are not his religious colleagues. You ever see someone dancing on a
street corner, holding a sign, trying to get you to turn here? That’s Moses and
Elijah. They are sign carriers for the coming attraction: Jesus. They are the
movie trailer long before the coming attraction: Jesus.
Notice it says (verse 31) that “they spoke about his
departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” Their
whole life was spent pointing to Jesus—the Christ—the Messiah—the chosen on—God
on earth—to this very day. They were excited. But they never got to see it.
Later, in Peter’s 1st letter, he wrote:
“10 …the prophets, who
spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the
greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to
which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the
sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” – 1 Peter 1:10
Many times we suffer from Peter’s problem. He was looking
for a great man to solve all of his problems. But those men were just sign
carriers, advertisements for a great God. We do the same thing. There are no
Christian super stars. But American culture and Filipino culture likes super
stars. So we make American Idols. We
like great singers, powerful speakers, dynamic leaders. But can’t you see the
trap? It’s like the new car smell without the new car! The trailer without the movie. The ad without the product. But miss
Jesus!
Jesus is the hope. There is no lasting life change without
Jesus. There is no enduring strength without Jesus. There is no ability to push
through hard times unscarred without Jesus. There is no untainted genius
without Jesus. Jesus has a unique role: the answer to the ‘hopes and fears of
all the years rest in thee tonight’
Listen: Jesus Has Unique Authority, So Listen (vs. 34-38)
Now at this point, someone needs to shut Peter up. You know,
like when your spouse or your friend is starting to say something embarrassing
and you elbow them, or give them the “look” (kindat). Well, James and John
weren’t doing their job, so God decides to do it himself:
While he was speaking, God starts talking.
Peter shut up. A cloud comes up around them, and the other two disappear. Moses
once wrote about a cloud on a mountain top, just like this one, back in the
book Exodus. Every good Jewish boy and girl heard this story, about how Moses
went into the cloud and met God and received God’s instructions. So God was
speaking to them, in a cloud, on a mountain, so that they would understand the
importance and gravity of what he was about to say.
Helen will tell you that, in our house, if
there is a period of silence and then I say, “OK” it means I’m about to say
what we should be doing. Same with the
cloud and the mountain. And Luke felt it
was so important that he wrote it down for us:
So, what does God want us to hear? “This is
my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” First: Jesus is uniquely divine and
human: Son of God and Son of Man. Second: Jesus has a unique job: He is chosen.
He is Messiah. He is Christ. No one else can claim that role. Third: Jesus has
unique authority. He has the full faith and backing of God, so you’d better
listen.”
What does this mean for us? Jesus is in a
unique position because He is God and because He is God’s chosen hope for the
world. He is a Teacher and we lack understanding. He is a Master and we lack direction. He is the Savior and we need rescuing. There
is a tremendous gap between who we are and who we should be. Jesus bridges that
gap.
Conclusion
Let’s wrap it up.
Among the dead from the Newtown, CT shootings was Mary
Sherlach, the school counselor. From the Sacramento Bee, “When the shots rang
out, Mary Sherlach threw herself into danger. Janet Robinson, the
superintendent of Newtown Public Schools said Sherlach and the school’s
principal ran toward the shooter. They lost their own lives, rushing toward
him.” She was nearing retirement, but, according to her son-in-law, “Mary felt
like she was doing God’s work working with children.”[1]
I admire these two. They are the super-heroes. Those who
hear the danger, but heed it not because of the value of those placed in their care.
These two died.
Jesus died at the end of a path which led relentlessly from
the cradle to the cross, heeding not the shame and danger, because of the value
of those placed in his care. But now Jesus lives and he is uniquely able to
transform ordinary school counselors, and nurses and programmers and students
into heroes who, in turn, give themselves away.
That is your identity: in Christ. That’s who I want to grow
up to be.
