Who is Jesus? - All-around great guy? Great teacher? Prophet? Savior? God? If you wanted to take the easy way out – your answer would simply be, “Yes.” But I’m not going to let you get away with that. Truly knowing Jesus touches more than understanding. It touches more than knowing intellectually. So today, we’ll talk about the Jesus that has been showing his identity to us throughout the season of Epiphany – manifesting Himself – from a baby born to a peasant family; to a carpenter’s son; to a teacher of disciples; to healer; to One who fills the empty places in our heart; and now to the Lord of All. But first, let us pray…
Maybe the real question today isn’t, “Who is Jesus?” Perhaps the better question is, “Who is Jesus to you?” Yes, yes – I know – most of us would be able to say some things about Jesus. Most of us have heard some things that He did and said. But truth be told – it really is tough to identify Jesus and not just Jesus on the mountaintop, but Jesus in our life.
The three that went up the mountain with Jesus: Peter, James and John, saw a truly remarkable sight: a transfiguration. Fact of the matter, the closest thing we have to an explanation for a transfiguration is what Mark describes in our Gospel reading: His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. Oh – is that all there is – Jesus showing that He can do more than a mere man? Well no – not really. Because this isn’t the only time that Peter, James and John saw vestiges of Jesus’ full identity.
• They saw it when Jesus walked on the water and calmed the storm and they asked themselves, “What kind of man is?”
• They saw it when He commanded demons to come out of a man and when He healed the deaf and blind… “What kind of man is this?”
• They saw it when lonely lepers became clean - restored not only physically and spiritually, but also to their families and communities… “What kind of man is this?”
• They saw it when Jesus stood at Lazarus’ grave – who’d been dead for days – and called him out. Unbelieving eyes and hearts saw the incredible scene - a man wrapped in burial rags shuffle out of the grave – alive again… “Goodness gracious, what kind of man is this – that walks on water, calms the storm, heals the sick and demon possessed, restores broken families and raises the dead?
Sure – Peter, James and John had seen amazing things from Jesus before. But this transfiguration – this added a different twist. After all those amazing things – what had they missed about Jesus’ identity? Why is it that they needed to be here at the mountain? Maybe for the very same reason we need to be here to answer the question, “Who is Jesus to you?”
Where do we look for the answer… and better yet - where shouldn’t we look to find it! First - don’t look inside of yourself. Sadly, Jesus is often filed away roughly in the same place as the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. You know – somewhere that Jesus won’t interfere too much; Somewhere that He won’t make many demands; Somewhere that He won’t bother us too much; Somewhere that we can drag Him out periodically – at just the right times and seasons. That is the Jesus that many know – the God in our pocket – a sort of lucky charm. Wish this wasn’t so but it is even true for us at times. So don’t look inside for Jesus.
To really know Jesus, let’s look beyond self. First – let’s look on the mountaintop. Yes the transfiguration tells us something. It gives us a peak at the divinity of Jesus. It tells us that He was more than a simple man. He lets his divinity peek through – not enough to hurt Peter, James and John – but sufficiently for them to have an ‘aha moment’.
And look to the cloud that overshadowed them on the mountaintop. Hey – if you think that the recent release of iCloud by Apple was a big deal – why Apple was at least 4000 years behind the times. The Cloud that came upon Jesus, Elijah, Moses, Peter, James and John had made its appearance before – in the desert, leading the people out of Egypt… at Sinai making the mountain shake and rumble… in the Tabernacle – signaling the incredible presence of God. And here it was again – on this mountaintop – scaring the wits out of Peter, James and John. But also telling us about Jesus – this is my beloved Son. But there’s more.
You see, if we could have been flies on the wall and listened to the conversation that Jesus had with the other two that showed up: Elijah and Moses – we would have learned a lot. Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark tells us that these two talked to Jesus. But what did they talk about? We have to look elsewhere for the answer… We have to look at the account in the Gospel of Luke. There it is recorded that Elijah and Moses talked with Jesus about his upcoming departure… the departure that would happen in Jerusalem. That’s big. Jesus knew what was coming. He would be betrayed, suffer, shed his blood and hang on a cruel Cross. He would die.
Now, put it all together: Jesus the divine Son of God – with incredible power to heal, restore and give life; and Jesus – the Son of God willing to suffer and die on the Cross. Knowing both of these things about Jesus takes our understanding of Him to another level. Here it is - it tells us how incredibly in love that God is with us! Think about it:
• If you had everything, like Jesus who was the eternal Word, would you become absolutely destitute and poor for people that hated you? – Jesus did out of love for you.
• If you had all the power in the world – would you let yourself be beaten to a bloody pulp for the sake of your enemies? – Jesus did out of love for you.
• If you were perfect and holy, would you allow yourself to become stained with the sin of those who had rejected you? - Jesus did out of love for you.
• If you were light and life – would you give that up to take on darkness and death so that sinful men could have light and life? – Jesus did out of love for you.
The Lord of All gave it all up to win heaven for us. The price was a bloody cross. It had to be that way for God to be both holy and just. The price of our rebellion and sinfulness was death. We didn’t pay the price – but Jesus did. And here’s the kicker: Jesus didn’t want people to know what happened on the mountaintop until after that Cross. “Don’t tell anybody about this until I’m risen from the dead,” Jesus warned the three who went up with Him. You see, the transfiguration wouldn’t have mattered much without the Cross.
Who is Jesus to you? Is He the perfect and divine Second person of the Holy Trinity who was willing to be humiliated on the Cross for your forgiveness? I pray so. For it is when we recognize this – that we truly know Jesus – that we truly know God’s love.
No friends – in no way is Jesus like the Easter Bunny or Santa Clause. He is the God-Man who loves you more than you can possibly understand today. He is the only one worthy to be Lord of All – for Jesus has saved all through his Cross and Resurrection. Amen.
