Friday, December 21, 2012

If you only knew my secret identity... (Luke 8:28-36)

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’
Don’t settle for second-class hope (was class hope). Jesus is the special, chosen Messiah of God, sent to give us hope.

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.



[1] Grief pours out for tiny victims and school staff, Sacramento Bee, December 16, 2012, page A20.

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