Loving God, you ask us not only who Jesus is, but what he means in our lives.  Grant us this day such glimpses of your glory as will sustain us in the weeks to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Imagine that you are at the MTS Centre for a Jets game.  (Or perhaps there’s a concert going on, if that’s more to your liking.)  While you are there, Jesus walks up to you in order to have a little conversation.  He starts with a relatively easy question: Who do people say that I am?  You think about it for a moment, and then you say something like this: Well, for some people you’re a swear word.  And some think that you are a pretty good teacher, and some think that you are one of the prophets.  And then there are lots of people who probably don’t know what to think. (An honest enough response!)

    However, as the cheering gets louder and everybody’s attention is on the show, Jesus asks you the clincher.  “But what do you say?  Who do you say that I am?”  And in that instant you know that how you answer this question might be more important than the Jets game - more important than the concert - more important than being on the field with the Bombers.

    If your name is Peter, and you live in the first century, and you have grown up expecting God to send the Messiah, your answer is short and to the point: “You are the Messiah” (Mk. 8:29).  However, if you live in 2016, and you haven’t spent your whole life looking for the Messiah, you are likely to give a different answer.  You might say, “You are the Son of God.”  You might say, “You are the Saviour and Redeemer.”  You might say, “You are my Lord and Saviour.”  And then again, you might not know what to say.

    The thing is that some responses to this question are going to require more of you than others.  If you really don’t know who Jesus is, then anything he has to say isn’t really going to have much bearing on how you live your life.  At the same time, if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God but don’t really see how he relates to you, this probably won’t have much of an effect on you either.  However, when we are able to say to Jesus something like, You are my Lord and Saviour, this absolutely affects how we live our lives and how we make our decisions.

    The same was true for Peter and the other disciples.  The whole reason that they had left their homes and were following Jesus around was that they believed him to be the Messiah and the Son of God.  However, they had no idea what this was actually going to mean for Jesus or for them.  They weren’t thinking about a suffering Messiah.  They weren’t expecting the Son of God to be put to death.  They had visions of power and glory.  They had visions of somebody like King David who would put their enemies to flight.

    Because of these expectations, Jesus repeatedly tells them about his coming suffering and death.  And every single time, it is clear that the disciples do not understand.  What a blessing for those of us who also do not understand!  We sometimes have trouble understanding why Jesus would have suffered and died the way he did.  We have trouble understanding why God allows suffering now.  We have trouble understanding why tragedies happen and why people die when they are still young.  Yet, there it is in the gospel - suffering and heavenly glory all mixed in together.

    And then there are those cryptic statements from Jesus about how those who want to save their life will lose it and about how those who lose their life for the sake of Jesus and the gospel will find it (Mk. 8:35).  And then there’s that bit about denying yourself and taking up your cross and following Jesus.  It’s not really the way to make friends and influence people, to be honest.  As marketing campaigns go, it’s hard to imagine Jesus attracting many followers with statements like these!

    Yet, in these statements and in Jesus, we find the truth.  We find the truth that sin has had a profound effect on this world in which we live.  We find the truth that God could not simply ignore the effects of sin and just take everybody to glory.  We find the truth that sometimes the power of God is most evident during our times of sorrow and suffering.  And, we find the truth that sometimes it is in serving God and others that we truly “find” ourselves.

    I recently came across the story of a Canadian nun who was kidnaped in northern Cameroon in April, 2014.  I’m glad that I saw this story after traveling to Cameroon, and not before!  However, as Sister Gilberte Bussiere told her story, she said that after the initial stress of her capture, she felt the serenity and the peace of God’s presence.  In fact, she said that she never felt God’s presence at any other time as much as she did during her captivity.  In spite of material deprivation, she felt as though God was providing everything that she needed.  She was held, along with two Italian priests, for 58 days and then released.  She shared her story just last month in Montreal at a public lecture.

    It strikes me as a story of losing your life in order to find it.  It is a story that has been repeated many times over in the lives of those who follow Jesus.  And it is a story where having had at least a little glimpse of the glory of God would go a long way.

    One has to think that Peter, James and John often went back in their minds to that time on the mountain with Jesus.  It was like a spectacular confirmation of who Jesus is – complete with a shining light and a voice from heaven.  The glory of God was quite literally emanating from Jesus, who was fulfilling both the law and the prophets.  And the voice from heaven confirmed Jesus’ identity as God’s Beloved Son.

    However, for both Jesus and his disciples, the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah and the Beloved Son of God would not wipe out all suffering and sorrow.  Instead, Jesus would enter into that suffering and sorrow and would invite his followers to do the same, never staying there, but transforming it into a revelation of God’s power to give new life.  For after suffering comes healing, and after death comes resurrection.

    “Who do you say that I am?” says Jesus.  May we be able to see not only the Son of God, but the one who lives and who is with us always.  May we be able to see the one who suffers not only for us but with us.  May we be able to see the one who transforms our darkness into light and who leads us from death to life, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Transfiguration (NL 2)                            Mark 8:27 - 9:8
February 7, 2016
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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