Fear of the Real Jesus

People were always trying to put Jesus into a box, not a physical box like this, but they were trying to define him, contain him, and maybe even control him. The disciples tried to keep Jesus in a box by trying to keep all the children away from him. The disciples saw Jesus as an important teacher and a powerful healer who had vital things to do and so he couldn’t be bothered with children. But Jesus said, no, let the children come to me. Jesus broke out of the box the disciples tried to keep him in and he made sure he spent time with children and with all the people who weren’t seen as being very important in the world.


Many of the religious leaders of his day tried to keep Jesus in box. They defined Jesus as a crazy, out of his mind heretic whose teachings were at best foolish and at worst from Satan himself. But when Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, restored sight to the blind and drove out demons – Jesus destroyed their box. They could no longer contain him or define him as one who wasn’t from God when he was not only doing the work of God, but doing the work of God that no one else could do.

The crowds who followed Jesus also tried to put him in a box. They wanted Jesus to always be their hero and helper. They wanted a Jesus who would feed them when they were hungry, heal them when they were sick and lead them in a revolt against the oppressive Roman government. They wanted someone who would feed them and free them. They wanted someone who would restore the fortunes of Israel and give them all that they waned, but when Jesus told them they needed to turn the other cheek, forgive those who persecuted them, and deny themselves and take up a cross, once again, Jesus was out of the box.

His friends, his enemies, the crowds, everyone tried to put Jesus into a box and so do we. Maybe we want Jesus to be the good teacher who just gives us wisdom and knowledge that we can take it and apply it ourselves to our lives and our agendas and the purposes and plans for our lives. Or maybe we want Jesus to be the ancient miracle worker who did great things long ago that inspire us but who doesn’t do anything miraculous or out of the ordinary in our lives today. Or maybe we want Jesus to be that good luck charm that we take out when we are trouble and need help. We want Jesus to make all our problems go away but then we want Jesus himself to go away when things are going well. Or maybe we want Jesus to just be that great man of faith and history who we visit and worship on Sunday and we celebrate and recognize his great power but again we are happy when he stays right here, kind of like how we visit a lion in the zoo. Amazing to look at, awesome in power, but we want him to remain safe in his box and not walking around in our lives.

There are a lot of boxes in which we try to keep Jesus and we try to keep Jesus in a box because as long as he is in a box - we are safe. As long as Jesus is in a box we don’t have to deal with who he really is and what he really wants from us, but the problems is that there is simply no box that can hold Jesus and that’s what Peter James and John found out on the mountain top.

In the scripture reading we just heard, Jesus took his three closest friends, his top three disciples, Peter, James and John up to the top of a mountain and when they got there Jesus was instantly transformed into dazzling brightness and light. It’s not as if light fell on Jesus, it’s not like the spot light of heaven shone on him, it was like the light of the sun radiated out of him. Jesus’ very being was filled with the power and glory of God and then suddenly Jesus was not alone. Standing along side Jesus and his 3 friends were now Moses and Elijah, the two men who represented all the history and hope of Israel, the law and the prophets. And in the midst of all this light and power and glory Peter says, Jesus it’s good we are here, if you want I will be build a booth here for each of you. Hey Jesus, let’s put you in a box!

Now we aren’t exactly sure what Peter was thinking when he made this offer to build booths for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, but I think ther are 2 ways Peter was trying to put Jesus into a box. By offering to build booths for Jesus, Moses and Elijah we see that Peter wasn’t looking at Jesus as being greater than Moses or Elijah, they were all going to get their own booth. They were all on equal footing. For Peter, Jesus was simply one of the great men of Israel’s history and if that’s true then Peter is trying to define Jesus as just a great man of God. Maybe Peter is trying to keep Jesus in the box labeled prophet and teacher because that is all he can comprehend. As long as Jesus is like Moses and Elijah, as long as he is just a great man – Peter is somewhat safe.

Another way Peter may have been trying to contain Jesus is by memorialize this special moment and keeping Jesus forever in that glorious state where they could worship him but not have to follow him back into the real world. If Peter could institutionalize the power and glory of God on the top of the mountain then they wouldn’t have to leave the mountain top and return to the life Jesus was calling them to live. If they could stay on the mountain they could escape all the doubts and fears and questions they faced as they walked with Jesus. Haven’t we’ve all been tempted to do that at times, leave behind the difficulties of life and live on the mountain top with God. No matter what Peter was thinking, what he’s trying to do is to keep Jesus in a box, either a box labeled: Great Men of Israel’s history or a box were we can escape this world and live with Jesus. Whatever his box was labeled, God would not have it.

In response to Peter’s suggestion of putting Jesus into a box, look who speaks? It’s not Jesus, it’s not Moses and it’s not Elijah – it is God. It says that while Peter was still talking a bright cloud enveloped them, now a cloud on a mountaintop only means one thing – God is there and God is about to speak, and this is what God says, This is my son, whom I love;, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him! So in response to Peter’s thought that Jesus is just a great man of history like Moses or Elijah, God says, No, absolutely not. Jesus is not just a great man of history, he is not equal to Moses or Elijah, he is in fact my one and only son and I love him. God tells us that Jesus is like no one else. Even the transfiguration tells us Jesus is like no one else because what we see in Jesus on the mountain top is all the fullness of God dwelling in him, literally in that moment the glory of God radiated out of Jesus. Jesus can not be put into the box that simply says good teacher, ancient miracle worker or great man of history – the real Jesus is the one and only son of God. The real Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords; look at what we learn about the real Jesus from Colossians 1:15-20.

Jesus is the fullness of God; he is the image of the invisible God. Jesus created all things and in him all things are held together. In Jesus there is authority and power over everything - all dominions, all nations and yes even over the church. Jesus is the head of the church which means he gives us direction, he gives us marching orders – we belong to him not the other way around. Jesus is truly king of kings and lord of all which also means that he is the lord of you and me. Like Peter, James and John, when that message sinks in, when we really understand that Jesus is indeed Lord of our lives, it brings some fear. Notice where the friends of Jesus end up after God speaks; they are facedown on the ground. Did you notice that they don’t fear the glory of God they see in Jesus, the don’t fear standing in the presence of Moses and Elijah, they fear the word of God which tells them that Jesus is God’s only beloved son and Lord of all. They become afraid when God says loud and clear that Jesus is lord over them.

They become afraid when God says loud and clear, listen to Jesus. Now I don’t think what God means here is that we take the teaching of Jesus under advisement, I think what God means is that we listen to Jesus so we can obey. In my Bible after it says, Listen to Him, there is an exclamation point. When Peter, James or John relayed this story they must have emphasized that God was clear that we needed to listen to and act on the words of Jesus. This call to listen to Jesus filled them with fear – they fall face to the ground. When was the last time the word of God sent a chill up our spines because what we heard challenged the very foundation of our lives and the core of our being? So when was the last time the real Jesus, filled you with fear?

You know, before we can become fearless in the presence of the real Jesus, we might first need to feel a little bit fear. In his book Dangerous Wonder, Mike Yaconelli says, If Jesus is the son of god, we should be terrified of what he will do when he gets his hand on our lives; if the Bible is the Word of God, we should be quaking every time we read its soul-piercing words; if the church is the body of Christ, our culture should be threatened by our intimidating presence. But our culture is not threatened by our presence, it’s not terrified of the Jesus who is in our lives; and it’s not quaking at the word of God. And then he asks this question; Why? Why are we not afraid of the real Jesus?

Maybe the reason we are not terrified of Jesus and his soul-piercing word is because we have him safe and secure in a box. As long as Jesus is only the loving Messiah who forgives all my sin and holds my hand when I’m in trouble then I don’t have to deal with the difficult demands he makes on my life as the son of God. And as long as Jesus is only the ancient miracle worker Messiah who we worship on Sunday but then keep caged up through the rest of the week, we don’t have to allow the power and authority of Jesus to penetrate our lives and transform every one of our thoughts, words and actions. But the real Jesus is more than a loving Messiah and he is more than an ancient miracle worker, he is a king and Lord that still makes demanding statements that need to penetrate our lives and change us from the inside out.

Jesus said: Deny yourself, take up a cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake – you will save it. In fact this is what Jesus said right before they went up on top of the mountain, so when God told Peter, James and John to listen to Jesus maybe what God meant for them to listen to and take seriously was this very call to self denial and sacrifice. The real Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. The real Jesus calls us to stop living for ourselves and what we want and start living for God. The real Jesus calls us to fight injustice and offer mercy and grace to those in need and even those who persecute us. The real Jesus tells us to feed the hungry not by giving what we can but by giving all we have. The real Jesus calls us to live a new life, not just a better life.

So what does it mean for us to deny ourselves? What will it look like for us to stop working for what we want and start working for what God wants? What will it mean for us stop taking care of ourselves and start meeting the physical and spiritual needs of others? What does it mean for us today to take up a cross and follow Jesus? What does this new life look like? I hope you are feeling a little bit afraid right now because when the real Jesus begins to show us how he wants us to live, that life he lays before us not safe – it is a little scary. The real Jesus and the demands he makes should cause us to be unsettled and afraid, but then this fear can’t cause us to run from God it needs to make us run straight to God and to ask God himself for more faith and trust and more strength and courage so that we can follow the real Jesus.

If the Jesus who walks with us in life doesn’t make us feel a little uncomfortable at times and if he doesn’t challenge us in every area of life, then we need to let Jesus out of the box and let his glory and the glory of God drive us to you knees in a holy and healthy fear. But then we need to let the same king of kings and lord of lord lift us up and give us the strength to follow him. That is what the real Jesus wants – he wants followers who are passionate and faithful and willing to give it all for him. May the real Jesus burst through the boxes of our hearts and lives so that we may experience the very fullness and power of life and faith.