Jesus is the Son of God

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20120219-eastside-sermon.mp3

               Who is Jesus?  As a kid, I never really wrestled with that question.  Most everyone seemed to believe he was the Son of God who died on the cross to take away our sin.  But then I grew up.  In our diverse, digitally-connected world, it’s hard to remain in the Christian “bubble” for very long.  Eventually, you’ll run into other beliefs and have to wrestle with the question, “Who is Jesus…really?”  Maybe it’s your cousin who pops the bubble by asking, “How do you know some guys with an agenda didn’t just write the Bible?”  Maybe it’s the Time magazine story, “The Search for the Real Jesus”.  Maybe it’s a History Channel special where Princeton PhD’s explain the evolution of the “Jesus-myth”.  Maybe your world religion’s prof lumps Jesus together with Buddha, Mohammed, and all the other founders of major religions.  Or maybe an old friend suggests Jesus never existed at all.  Not the Son of God.  Not even a man.  Just a myth.  Just a legend.

               Believe it or not, people asked that same question while Jesus was walking on this earth.  And the debate was just as heated back then.  “He’s the Son of God,” some confessed.  “No!” others shouted, “We know his parents.  He can’t be from God.”  “But did you hear what he did?” others interrupted.  “Miracles no one else could do.”  “Perhaps,” some scoffed, “but his power is not from God, but from the devil!”  There was even confusion among Jesus closest friends.  Peter, Jesus’ loud-mouth disciple, confessed, “You are the Son of God,” but within minutes lectured Jesus for not doing what the Son of God should do.

               Who is Jesus?  Peter wasn’t exactly sure.  The religious leaders of the 1^st century were divided.  The culture was confused.  Ours is, too.  But if our relationship with God and our eternity is based on that question (which is what Jesus taught), it’s worth our time to investigate the truth.  And Jesus wants to help.  He wants us to know the truth, so we can have certainty and hope and peace.  That’s why, in the middle of all these conflicting theories, Jesus took three of his closest friends and showed them the truth.

               Let’s look at that truth in Mark 9.  “²After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone.”  Peter, James, and John hike up a mountain in northern Israel, still trying to figure out exactly who Jesus was.  And then it happens.  “There [Jesus] was transfigured before them. ³ His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.”  Out of the blue, Jesus changes.  Not his clothes.  His…everything!  His robe beams a white no HD screen could match.  His face bursts with light, brighter than Photoshop could ever enhance.  What is this? 

               They disciples should have known.  Way back in the days of Moses, God came down to give his people the 10 Commandments.  And when he came, a cloud appeared burning with fire and…light.  God blazed so brightly that when Moses came down the mountain, his face was radiating the light of God.  900 years later, a prophet named Ezekiel saw God in a vision.  He wrote, “I saw what…looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him…This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.”  God.  Light.  So, is Jesus actually…?

               Before Peter can answer the question, some guests show up.  “⁴And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ ⁶ (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)”  Moses and Elijah.  Two of the biggest names of the Old Testament.  Just dropping by to chat with Jesus.  If Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg show up to golf with your boss, your boss is a big deal.  And no disrespect to Microsoft and Facebook, but this is Moses!  The most famous leader in Jewish history.  This is Elijah.  The faithful prophet of Israel.  They want to talk with Jesus!  Peter is so stunned, he just opens his mouth, “Uh, Jesus.  James and I could get some tents.  Home Depot is just over…Elijah could crash with John…”  He doesn’t know what to say.  The heroes of the Old Testament want to talk with Jesus.  Is Jesus actually…?

               Before Peter can answer that question, another guest shows up.  “⁷Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’”  A voice from heaven?  God himself.  “This is my Son”.  Is Jesus actually…?

               But before Peter can answer that question, it’s all over.  “⁸Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.”  No light.  No Moses.  No Elijah.  No voice.  Just regular ol’ Jesus.  “⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.”  “Guys,” Jesus orders them, “don’t tell the world yet.  They still won’t understand.  They’ll think I shouldn’t suffer, shouldn’t die; they’ll try to stop me and make me a king in Israel.  I’m here for greater things.  But after I rise, then make sure everyone knows the answer to the question.” 

               Who is Jesus?  He is the Son of God.  He is divine.  He is from heaven.  He became a human being so he could give his life and rescue us from sin and death and hell.  That’s why Jesus gave them a glimpse of the truth.  He wanted them…and us!...to know who he truly is.

               Atheist Lee Strobel stumbled upon that truth, too.  When his wife converted to Christianity in the early 80’s, Strobel was sickened.  “Two words shot through my mind,” he later confessed.  “The first was an expletive.  The second was ‘divorce.’”  Fearing she would turn into a holier-than-thou spouse, Strobel began a two-year journey to examine the truth of the Jesus story.  As a legal affairs editor for the Chicago Tribune, he was an expert in objections.  And object he did.  To Jesus’ claims.  His divinity.  His resurrection.  But his objections soon met the historical facts.  The records.  The archaeology.  The accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  The radical movement that changed the world with a message so compelling people would die for it.  And in November 1981, with his legal objections crumpled in the trash beside his desk, God confronted him with the question, “Is Jesus actually…?”  And the Holy Spirit created faith in Lee Strobel’s heart.  Although he wasn’t there on the mountain, he listened to Peter’s eyewitness testimony and joined his confession, “You are the Son of God!”

               Do you know what that means for us?  If you believe the shining face and Moses’ cameo and the voice of God, do you see how his identity impacts your life?  If Jesus is the Son of God, then everything changes.  We cannot think the same thing about life, about God, about ourselves.  If Jesus is divine, then what we are about to read is devastating.  Jesus comes down from the mountain.  He is betrayed.  Arrested.  Overwhelmed.  Mocked.  Wrecked.  Tortured.  Crucified.  Nailed.  Killed.  To see a criminal on a cross would turn our stomachs.  To see an innocent man would break our hearts.  But to see God’s Son there…

               The wretched truth of the cross is that something was so wrong with me, with you, the Son of God himself had to die.  We’re not used to seeing ourselves that way.  Working so much you don’t have much time to pray, to worship, to serve seems normal, seems American…until you watch the Son of God writhe on the cross for our selfish and materialistic hearts.  Talking about someone behind their backs seems standard, acceptable…until you realize soldiers are beating in the face of the Son of God for that gossip.  Talking back to authority is just what independent people do…until you identify the man dragging the cross as God’s Son.  This day on the mountain, this answer to the question kills us.  Because it means we killed the Son of God.

               But, to quote Peter, “It is good for us to be here.”  Even if the façade of our own goodness is shattered, it’s good for us to be here.  Because only when we see the depth of our problem will we grasp the depth of his love.

               An old Russian czar once had a trusted general who was dying.  To thank him for his years of service, the czar promised to raise the general’s young son.  And he did.  He provided the best housing and the best education and the best opportunities for the boy.  As he grew, he helped him advance in the army.  But there was a problem.  An addiction.  The young man couldn’t resist a good bet and his gambling debts grew.  When he couldn’t cover them, he slipped a bit of his regiment’s funds into his pocket.  Once turned into twice, turned into countless counts of embezzlement.  One night, the young man sat in his tent, looking over the regiment’s books, and realized he was going to get caught.  The accountants were about to discover his crimes.  So he started to drink, enough that he could end his own life.  He laid his revolver on the table and poured drink after drink.  But he had one too many and passed out on the table.

               That night, the czar was doing what he often did.  In a common soldier’s uniform, he walked through the camp, eavesdropping on the conversations, assessing the morale of his men.  He walked into his foster son’s tent and saw him slumped on the table.  Sliding the accounting book from under his limp hands, he realized what the young man had done and what he was about to do…

When the young man awoke from his stupor, he realized his gun was gone.  In its place was a note.  It read, “I, the czar, will pay the full amount from my personal funds to make up the difference found in this book.”  The note was sealed with the czar’s personal mark.  He had seen the young man’s sin clearly, understood it fully, but was willing to cover it completely.

               Jesus did the same thing.  Since he is not just a man, but the Son of God, he knows your list.  He knows the addictions, the debts, the sins no one knows but you.  As the Czar, the Lord, he has been cheated, stolen from, sinned against.  But like that czar, Jesus can and will pay the full amount.  The Bible says, “When you were dead in your sins…God made you alive.  He forgave all of our sins, having cancelled the written code…that was against us…He took it away, nailing it to the cross.”  As the Son of God, Jesus is the only one who can forgive your sins—and he has!  Jesus is the only one who could rescue us from hell—and he has!  Jesus is the only one who knows just how bad it’s been—and yet is willing to be good to you!  You may have walked in with addiction and despair and a record of all the reasons why it’s too late for you.  But wake up!  Jesus has left you a note.  Jesus, the radiant Son of God, has said, “I came to seek and save what was lost.  And I did.  It is finished!”

               We could list all the reasons today why the Bible’s claims about Jesus should not be dismissed.  The prophecies fulfilled.  The honesty of the accounts.  The willingness of Peter and James to suffer and die for their confession.  But perhaps the most compelling argument is the message itself.  Jesus, the Son of God, knows you, loves you, forgives you, saves you. 

Who is Jesus?  That’s who.

               Amen.