Strange Faith: Revealed from Luke 9:28-36 on August 9

One of the great mysteries of life is how some people we think of as being just plain old people like us, goofballs as it were, granola, fruits, flakes and nuts, can be so remarkable, capable and successful in parts of their lives that we are unfamiliar with.

Sue and I have often remarked about people we grew up with who seemed fairly odd at the time, but who now are responsible human beings.

I hung out with a bunch of friends, several of whom are now medical doctors! I often wonder who forgot to call me and ask what I thought of their High School shenanigans.

And we’ve marveled at Sue’s brother Pete, who in his younger years seemed unlikely to be a grand success in life, who when we visited him on a U. S. Navy base a few years ago was a big shot of sorts.

Here we are with high security planes all around us and he seems right at home.

I even asked him, “how come we can wander around with you and nobody asks any questions?” He looked at me and kind of laughed and said, “that’s because they can see what my security badge says!”

As Sue said later, “who forgot to call me and ask about him?”

And the stories could go on forever about people we have known and hung out with, kids from the Youth Groups here at church, folks we thought were a little special, who later in life turn out to be wiser and smarter and more capable than we ever knew.

Obviously, our estimates of their capabilities were way off! As were the disciples of Jesus!

These disciples have figured out that Jesus is amazing.

They have figured out that he is capable of miracles.

They have figured out that he teaches like he’s the author of the book.

And they have figured out that he has this amazing gift for taking people where they are and elevating them to a new level.

Some of them even figured out that he was the Messiah.

In Luke 9:18-20 just a few verses before this story, Jesus says, “What do people say about me?” They answered, “Some say that you are John the Baptist or Elijah or a prophet from long ago who has come back to life.” Jesus then asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah sent from God.”

It's all good!

But they can’t see the forest for the trees. They can’t see that this Jesus who they have hung out with, learned from, eaten with, even gone out on mission trips for, is God present right there, right now.

What they see is what they know, just like Sue and I seeing Brian and Katie as the little children they were and the crazy teenagers they became and not the highly capable and highly respected specialists in Emergency Management and Forensic Auditing that they have become.

They are just Katie and Brian.

And he was just Jesus, you know special, but just Jesus.

And then, just before the passion begins, before that final trip to Jerusalem, just like before Jesus beginning his ministry after rising up out of the baptismal waters of the Jordan, there is a reminder that he is not just Jesus, he is God present!

A couple of months back, Brian took me in for a few minutes to see where he works in an underground bomb shelter with a two-foot-thick steel door.

Back then he showed me a copy machine he had bought for work that was at least twelve feet long. It made books. In comparison with the church computer it was like comparing my kayak with an aircraft carrier.

His responsibilities have changed since then. Most recently he put together a mission dollar order for vehicles for his department since someone made him in change of the department’s fleet.

No one asked me or his mother whether he was allowed to do that!

And Katie, who would have imagined her journey from working at group homes to where she is today, doing things as a professional that makes Sue and I so proud of her, even as we shake our heads in disbelief!

We know them as Brian and as Katie, the kids from Otisville.

And they knew him as Jesus, the guy from Bethlehem.

But at both the water’s edge and here on the mountain top, everyone who was paying attention was reminded, that this Jesus was God’s beloved son!

They needed to hear that! They needed to see that! Not because when they went down off the mountain it would all become clear, because, let’s face it, it wasn’t!

But because what was about to take place needed to be set in context for them!

And to be honest, it needed to be reminded to Jesus as well, that all that was ahead was God’s plan, that it was all going to matter, that his suffering would change everything, and that it was worth it.

Moses, the representative, the symbol of the Old Testament law and Elijah, the representative and symbol of the prophets, even the Shekinah, the glory cloud covering God’s presence, stood in agreement that the death and resurrection of God’s son would change everything.

Now Peter, James, and John saw the truth, even if they didn’t understand it, that the Jesus they knew and loved was God incarnate. He was so much more than anything they could have imagined of their friend from Galilee, now who they saw in the transformed light of the glory cloud!

It is a revelation that should transform our thinking too, not only about Jesus, but about each other.

Because we are not who so many of the folks around us think we are. We are so much more!

We are even more than we often think ourselves to be. We are the daughters and sons of the Most High God, and are always capable of much more than we imagine.

We, through Christ can change the world, as Jesus did, going and sharing and caring, making a difference, touching lives, raising folks up, healing, feeding and loving others in Jesus name.

We are all gloriously and wonderfully made in God image.

Now we just need to live like it.

Jesus did! And his life, and death, and resurrection makes everything possible.

So, go and make a difference in Jesus’ name!

Amen.