Tedd Pullano
Matthew 17:1-9

Who is this Guy, Really

Who has ever played this game with a baby - perhaps a child of your own or a niece or nephew: you look right at them, and ask them how big they are? And before they can answer you help them by lifting your arms up in the air and saying, with a real loud voice - "So Big". Have you done that? It is one of my favorite things to do with young children. You can even do it up until 18 months or so, because they like to think of themselves as being "so big".

You know what, I think today's reading from Matthew I like that. At the time this scene occurs, Jesus has been around for a while. He may have seemed like the ordinary Joe; he was raised from a little baby, he eats like everyone else, sleeps like everyone else, goes to work, etc. Occasionally some folks get see a miracle or two, but even then, he often tells the miracle recipients "not to tell anyone about it". So, on the whole he may have seemed just like everyone else. But the reality was that he was not like everyone else. He was God Incarnate. He was the One True Living God here on earth. Yet, he was walking around looking like the ordinary person, like "Joe every day".

And at this point, as Jesus was heading to Jerusalem and the cross, I believe that God felt it was important to let the disciples in on the truth. Before Jesus gets nailed to the cross, God wanted the disciples to know who this guy really was. It was almost like God asked Peter and the boys on the mountaintop, how big is Jesus? And they were unable to answer. Then in an incredibly powerful moment, in a moment of sheer glory beyond our wildest imaginations, God yelled out at the top of his lungs: "SO BIG". And to their credit, I believe this is one of the times they actually got it. Often times the disciples missed the point, didn't understand what Jesus was saying or what he was about. But this time they got it, because visibly, they were blown away. They fell to their knees, could not look up and were "overcome by fear". It reminds me of one day when John was just an infant. He was sitting in his high chair at dinner, eating and making a big mess. And I looked over and said "how big is John". And in a moment of incredible unison, Kathy, Emma, Tess and I all shouted at the top of our lungs: "So Big". At that point John hesitated for about 2 seconds, looked at us stunned and proceeded to melt down and cry uncontrollably. That is how I imagine the disciples - just totally in shock at what they were witnessing. Stunned. It was beyond anything they had seen and anything they could imagine. Who was this guy, really? Maybe he is more than just Mary's little boy. Maybe he is more than some wandering miracle worker and teacher from Nazareth. Maybe he is in fact the Son of the Living God, the Most High. Maybe he is God Incarnate. Wow. So Big! Indeed.

So let me ask, how big is your God? In the Exodus study being done after worship, you folks are reading about a God who is about send 12 amazing plagues, about to split a sea wide open. That is a big God. But how big is your God? I have a friend who is part of a family that could not be more down to earth. They take everything in stride. Nothing seems to faze them. I enjoy being around them, but sometimes they are just too low key. Let me give you and example. My friend has told me that for each of the siblings' birthday, and the parents, they gather at the parents' house in order to celebrate. And here is the extent of the celebration: every one walks in and throws the birthday card down on the kitchen table, and at some point in the evening says "hey, happy birthday" to the birthday person. I wonder if they ever play our game with their babies. I can picture them asking the baby, "how big is Johnny", then replying in a soft voice, "about that big".

I think many people tend to do that with God, particularly because of Jesus. Many of us are not exactly "high church". I think we tend to downplay who he really was and is. Now, maybe that is because we are afraid of being disappointed; we are afraid that if we believe God is this sovereign, powerful and amazing God, and things don't go our way - our prayers are not answered how we would like - then that calls into question whether or not God is all that powerful. Or maybe it is because we are like the disciples and afraid of being blown away so that we cannot even look up to see our God. There is a great story in the Old Testament about two brothers and the presence of the LORD. They addressed the Shekinah, the presence of the LORD with deference, too lightly, with a lah-de-dah attitude and an unholy attitude and they were consumed by fire, the power of the LORD (Leviticus 10). Our God is not one to be taken lightly. And I believe that is one of the prime reasons 3 of the gospel writers included this passage. They wanted to remind us just how powerful and magnificent our God is. The God we are dealing with, the God who came to be with us in the person of Jesus Christ, is the incredible powerful force in the world. This God is the God of all creation. This God is powerful beyond our wildest imaginations. And this God is who we encounter on the person of Jesus Christ - remember that when you think about Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus was this incredible, powerful, majestic God. That is why it is important to consider the Transfiguration. Because it shows us just who this guy really was. He was not in fact some "average Joe".

And yet, for whatever the reason, I don't believe we give Jesus his due. And I know I am one of the worst culprits. I tend to downplay the presence of God in Christ in a way that is not disrespectful to God, but in a way that I believe makes Jesus, and thus God, accessible. I rarely wear a robe, because it feels very "high church" to me. I want people to feel like they can connect with God and Christ in a very powerful, personal real way. I want people to be able to identify with God in Christ, and sometimes that means down playing God, like my friend's family downplays birthday celebrations.

But today, my brothers and sisters, this morning, that is not the direction we are headed. Today is not about the accessibility of God but about the power and might and awesomeness of God in Christ. Only a couple of times per year do I bring out the hoopla and tambourines and cymbals and bang them loudly. Only a couple of times per year will I ask you how big God is and then scream at the top of my lungs, "SO BIG". Today is one of those two days.

Now, the reality is that nothing I can do or say will make you understand just how immense, incredible or powerful God really is. It is real, but it is beyond our comprehension. And that is okay. The Psalmists tried and tried to capture the hugeness of God, and even they were unable. So, I turn to someone else who I believe has captured the essence, the power of this passage, Pastor Dan Clendenin from California. He writes the following:

The voice from the cloud affirms this - Jesus, whom the disciples followed, was not just an itinerant rabbi, a clever sage, a socio-political provocateur, a subversive wisdom teacher, an ascetic, or a failed apocalyptic troublemaker. The transfiguration portrays Jesus as the Cosmic Lord of all human history. He is God's beloved and specially anointed Son.

It's easy for Christians who have become over-familiar with the gospel texts and traditions to domesticate and diminish them Ñ to tame the overwhelming, trivialize the indescribable, to cut and trim God down to our size so that we can manage Him. In his book What Jesus Meant, Garry Wills recaptures the radically subversive life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth: "He intended to reveal the Father to us, and to show that he is the only-begotten Son of that Father. What he signified is always more challenging than we expect, more outrageous, more egregious." The transfiguration of Jesus belies (disguises) all the ways we dilute the stringent wine of the Gospel. The blinding light and the voice from the clouds challenge faith that has turned halfhearted, mechanical, and bored.

In her book Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard thus asks: Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets! Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews! For the sleeping God may awake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us to where we can never return.

So, as we enter Lent with Jesus, as we walk to Jerusalem with him and see him hang on the cross, let us remember who he really was - not just some average Joe, but the living, loving all powerful awesome God. And he did all this just to reach each of us.

So, my friends, how big is God?