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February 18, 2007 by Dan Ebbens Luke 9:28-36 Not too long ago Natalie and I watched an excellent movie about a man named Frank Abagnale, entitled Catch Me If You Can. The movie portrays the amazing, yet disturbing, life of crime the young Abagnale was engaged in during the late 1960's. At the tender age of 16, Frank ran away from home after having many difficulties surrounding his parents divorce and financial problems. The need to survive, coupled with his amazing intelligence, directed him toward a life of fraud as a con artist, that until that time had never been seen before. It started with check fraud in which he was able to make thousands of dollars in a short amount of time simply by signing someone's name. Seeing how easy this was encouraged him to open up dozens and dozens of checking accounts all throughout New York City. The problem was he knew that the police would be looking for him, so he decided to change his identity in order to avoid police. Obtaining airline identification, a pan-am pilots uniform, and an alias, Frank was able to walk into most banks in New York and open checking accounts as well as cash faulty checks for thousands of dollars. Eventually he would learn that with a pilot's uniform, forged FAA papers, and lots of studying, he could breeze through airport security and fly anywhere in the world as a co-pilot, which allowed him to start cashing checks in other cities around the world. Eventually the law caught up with him and he fled to Atlanta, Georgia, claiming to be a Medical doctor on sabbatical in order to avoid background checks by his landlord. A neighbor who was also a doctor eventually talked him into visiting the local hospital leading to him being offered a job as a pediatrician on the night shift where he worked for over a year receiving a paycheck from the hospital as a doctor. Eventually he fled this place after a close call and went to New Orleans where he met with a lawyer at a party. Without any education Frank studied law books for a few weeks and was able to pass the bar exam. Being hired on at the attorney general's office for the state of New Orleans, he was able to make a good living until a colleague started asking too many questions. He quickly went back to flying around the country eventually becoming a Professor at a university in Utah, earning the love and respect of students and fellow faculty. Eventually Frank would leave again and resume his schemes. At one point he rented a security guard uniform and stood outside a bank and collected night deposits from people who dropped them off. His bag was so full of money, $60,000 worth, that he couldn't carry it alone. Two police officers actually helped him put the bag in his car, believing his false identity. Frank would get caught in France and eventually extradited to the United States where he served out his sentence. After $2.5 million worth of fraudulent earnings, most of which was done as a teenager, and a jail sentence served, Frank resumed work in the Fraud business, this time working for the FBI in trying to make the banking business more secure. During an interview, FBI agents would share with the reporters of the difficulties they had in catching the young Frank Abagnale. One FBI agent summed it up by saying it was difficult because he changed identities so often. It took them two years to even know that it was a kid that was committing these elaborate crimes. Simply put, they didn't know who to follow, or even who it was they were suppose to be following and as a result they could not act accordingly. In the passage for today we see Jesus taking Peter, James, and John to a mountain to pray. At some point during this time the appearance of Jesus changed, and he was transformed into a glorious figure that radiated light from his face and his clothes. When the half-sleeping disciples finally figured out what was going on, they saw two other men standing there-Moses and Elijah. Not knowing what to do, Peter asked Jesus if they could build temporary shelters for all of them to stay during their time on the mountain top. A cloud then engulfed them and the voice of God proclaimed, "This is my son, whom I have chosen, listen to him." Though a peculiar passage filled with symbolism and many different truths that are applicable for the Christian life, the most striking part of this passage for me is the portrayal of the fullness of Christ-the identification of who Christ is, rather than just what Christ has done. People today have many different views as to who Jesus is. Some say that Jesus is a great teacher who brings us great principles to live by, some say that Jesus is a great prophet proclaiming release to the captives and the coming of God's kingdom, some people today say that he was the son of God, but not actually divine in himself. I have heard all these comments made in conversations with people about the nature of Christ. The head of one of our mainline denominations in the United States said recently in an interview that they could not correctly call Jesus, Savior and redeemer; rather they preferred the term friend and prophet. This was also a struggle of the people of Jesus' time. Even people close to him such as his disciples and John the Baptist didn't fully understand who Jesus truly was, and what he had set out to accomplish in his ministry. I imagine that people flocked to him at that time for many different reasons. Some saw him as a healer and wanted to just be touched by him, some saw him as a revolutionary who was going to liberate Jerusalem. Some yet believed him to be trouble maker who needed to be silenced because of his teachings which pulled at the threads of the accepted order. The interesting part of all these different views of who Christ was is that in every case, who the people believed Christ to be led to how they approached and accepted Jesus. It determined how they heard his message and how they interpreted their actions. Like the story of the FBI agents with Frank Abagnale, trying to capture him by merely following what he did from place to place, never really learning who he was in order to act accordingly. If they were seeing Jesus as merely just a healer they would react much like the ten lepers who received their healing and failed to come back and give him thanks and praise for what he has done, except for one. If they saw Jesus as merely a revolutionary they would celebrate his arrival by placing palm branches down and singing praises like in the Triumphal Entry, but when their revolutionary dreams die with Christ on the cross they abandon him as a failure. And if they see Christ as a troublemaker, as the Pharisees did, they would cry out for his crucifixion before pilot. In today's time when so many people follow only the characteristics of Christ that are easy for them to swallow, ideas that do not offend their own fragile sensibilities, it is hard for us today in light of the Scriptures to say that in these situations people are following Jesus faithfully, just as the FBI agents could not follow Abagnale because they could not identify who he truly was. This brings us to the picture we see of Christ during the transfiguration. The Transfiguration tells us who Christ was by giving us a view of his fullness. In this scene we are able to see Christ's humanity evident in the way in which he prayed. In Jesus' changing appearance we are able to see his divinity displayed in a real and powerful way. In this passage we also see Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah. Moses was the one in the Old Testament who gave the law and Elijah was a well known prophet of the past. There presence there with Jesus symbolized the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. Jesus was the new covenant God would make with God's people. We also find Jesus at the transfiguration speaking with Moses and Elijah about what he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem, which is reference to his victory over sin and death in his death and resurrection. Lastly we see Jesus as teacher and rabbi, taking with him some of his disciples while he prayed and allowed them to experience this transfiguration. In the transfiguration we see all the fullness of who Jesus is-human, divine, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, the redeemer, and rabbi being displayed in this one event. This leads us today to a very important question we need to ask. Why was this such an important event then and what does this mean for us today? The answer to that question is found right before, and right after our Scripture passage for today. In both, before and after, we see Jesus making reference to his eventual death on the cross. But he does not stop their. In 9:23 he says. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." And in verse 27 he says, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." After the transfiguration Jesus starts his journey in the book of Luke towards Jerusalem, which is where he would eventually be crucified. Jesus knew that there would be tough times ahead, not only for him, but also for his disciples. This scene at the transfiguration was meant for them to see because they needed to know who Christ was in order to follow him, and not just a portion of who he was or not just their own idea of who he was, rather the fullness of who he was. It was important because following him meant following him to the cross. This message is just as meaningful for us today as it was back then. Most of us will not be asked to literally take up our crosses and give our lives as martyrs for Christ, but some do. Today around the world there are thousands, tens of thousands, of lives under the threat of attack because of one reason-their faith in Jesus Christ. In India, China, Nigeria, Haiti, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and many other countries around the world Christians are being indiscriminately killed and tortured for their faith which does not waver. A fellow classmate and friend of mine from Sudan has had relatives kidnapped, young girls, never to be heard of again. Just before he left to come here he had to move his family to neighboring Uganda because of the violence being done to his people. We need to ask the question of why it is important for us to see the fullness of Christ as seen in the transformation. The answer to that question is because in order to fully follow Christ we must be ready to follow him to the cross. If Christ were only a human being and merely a wise teacher then why take up the cross? Why risk death for something that will eventually fade away as a humanly devised ethical system. The disciples where sacrificing for something so much more than that, and they got a glimpse of it during the transfiguration. The realization and belief in the fullness of Christ sustained the disciples in their struggles after Christ had ascended, it is the same realization that sustains the persecuted church, and it is the same realization that sustains us here today. This sustaining starts with the mountaintop-it starts with seeing Christ in all his fullness as he truly is, but it does not end there. Before Natalie and I moved to Dubuque we were involved in youth ministry in a small town near Davenport in a church of about 150 people. We had a great group of youth there who we really loved and enjoyed being with. After a while I noticed a trend, not only with our group but with other groups as well. I noticed that we all desired to have those dynamic experiences where we see Christ on the mountaintop radiant in his fullness, but we didn't want to come down. We loved worship songs, raising our hands, fellowshipping together, and studying our Bible, but what we didn't want was getting our hands dirty by coming off the mountain and bearing our crosses. It was difficult for youth to talk to a friend about the grace of Jesus for fear of ridicule, it was difficult to stand up for someone who was different and being ridiculed, it was hard to give a portion of allowance, or the little money that they earned working part time, to the ministry of the church instead of buying CDs or video games. When we look past the youth we realize it is not just the youth that struggle with this. I love the church universal, but it is hard not to get discouraged at what we see, the fighting, the apathy, the lack of concern for the lost, the poor, and the afflicted, and what's even more frustrating for me is that I see myself in these shortcomings in a big way. If the Church universal truly believed in the fullness of Christ, we would not stay on the mountain where it is dynamic, we would bear our crosses coming off the mountain. We would not be as the disciples were during the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus, rather we would be the kind of followers the disciples were after Christ had ascended: giving of ourselves of all we have, and are, for the glory of God and the furthering of the Kingdom. We would boldly proclaim the message of Christ with those around us, and we would radically share in the abundance that God has given us with those who are in need. The apostles, even though they didn't realize it at the time, finally understood who Jesus was and what it meant to be a follower of him. In closing I would like invite you in the weeks to follow to reflect on the fullness of Christ. Do we see the fullness of Jesus that the disciples saw on the mountaintop? If so, are we satisfied being spiritually fed, following Christ as far as the mountain, but no further? Next week starts the beginning of Lent where we reflect on Christ's sacrifice on the cross and resurrection. During this time I would also like to challenge you to look at what Christ might be calling you to come off the mountain for. What cross is Christ asking you to bear for his glory? Who needs to hear of the fullness of Jesus' love? Who needs the healing touch of Christ brought to them by you? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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