Creekside Church Sermon of February 25, 2001 "Transformed" Luke 9:28-36	Rev. David Bibbee
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Who would you say is the most recognized man in the world? Though not in his prime nor in the media spotlight as he once was, he still draws crowds wherever he goes. People are in awe of him. He inspires something like reverence. Whether in a far away country or quietly walking through the neighborhoods of South Bend as he occasionally did in recent years, everyone knows Mohamed Ali.

Ali had an enormous ego. At the peak of his boxing career he called himself "The greatest." He was arrogant, but he backed his boasting in the ring. Few wanted to challenge him, but one day a United Airlines Stewardess went toe to toe with the champ.

After boarding a United 747 at O'Hare, Ali refused to fasten his seat belt. His refusal was delaying departure. Finally the senior stewardess stood before Ali with iron resolve. "Mr. Ali, you have no choice but to put on that seat belt. It's Federal regulation, and we're not going to leave the ground until you do so." Ali snapped, "Superman don't need no seat belt!" In a snap, she grabbed him by the necktie, pulled his face to hers and replied, "Superman don't need no airplane, either!" The next sound heard was the "click" of Ali's seat belt.

Today we are here to honor another man who has been called the greatest. He has no rival or equal. He was obedient to and he did not refuse to do what was asked of him, though it meant certain death. Before Lent begins, we affirm the uniqueness of Jesus and ask what sets him apart from other great founders of religious traditions. We sometimes speak of the world's "great religions". They are called great because of the number of followers, their values and lessons, and especially because of their impact upon history. But the Bible makes claims which set Christ and Christianity apart with the uncompromising belief that Jesus is Lord of all.

Luke's story of the transfiguration is told to reveal Jesus' true identity. Back in verse 18 Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter got it right. "You're the messiah." What was tough to grasp was the manner by which he would become the messiah. Afterward, Jesus took Peter, James and John with him for a mountain top prayer retreat. They hadn't prayed long until something happened to them which happens to many of us when we pray… they fell asleep. While they snoozed, Jesus was transfigured. Like Moses on Mt. Sinai, his appearance changed. He was radiant. His robe looked brilliant like it had just come from an Ultra Tide commercial. Then came company…Moses, Israel's great lawgiver, and Elijah, Israel's greatest prophet. The three conversed as equals, discussing among other things, the death which was waiting for Jesus in Jerusalem…the death he predicted to Peter back in verse 18.

When the disciples woke to the incredible sight, they fell over each other like the Three Stooges, and before they could say much, a cloud enveloped them. The cloud had a voice and an announcement. "This is my Son, my chosen. Listen to him." Moses and Elijah had huge roles to play in the pilgrimage of God's people, but the voice didn't say we should listen to them. Moses and Elijah were close to God's heart, but the voice didn't call them sons. When the cloud lifted, the company of three was down to one.

In this luminous moment, God parted the curtain to reveal the one in whom his life and love had come to dwell. Jesus was as full of God as a person could be and still remain human. There are many ways to know ABOUT God. I know a little more each time I'm on a north woods lake. We can know about God by peering through telescopes and microscopes at galaxies and genes. We can know about God through the occurrences and coincidences that happen all around us. We can know about God through the giving of others. But none of these things can help us know God PERSONALLY. There are many glimpses of God to be seen, but the best and only glimpse we have of God's fullest incarnation is when the curtain parts on the world's stage and we see a single, solitary man… Jesus. "This is my Son, my chosen. Listen to him."

Years ago the Coca Cola Company adopted a new sales slogan. "Coke… it's the real thing." You don't settle for seconds, or substitutes, or imitations. You want the original… the real thing. Have you noticed how "spiritual" things are these days? It's the latest real thing. Spirituality is popping up all over. There are books on men and women's spirituality. There is the spirituality of work and play. You can explore sexuality and spirituality. In my hand I'm holding a book on the spirituality of aging, and another on the spirituality of imperfection.

Entertainers and public figures are willing to talk about this dimension of themselves. I've noted that most of them describe themselves not as religious, but as spiritual. To be tied to a religion is too confining. You have to believe and behave in a particular way. Being spiritual, on the other hand, is open-ended. Being matters more than doing. You're part of something cosmic. You're a child of the universe.

We often hear comments like, "God is too big to be tied to a set of scriptures or a religion." "All beliefs about God are valid." "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe in something and live by it." "God is whatever you conceive God to be." Maybe this would be okay, except for the fact that lots of ideas about God are completely wrong. I have heard people say, "God is a human invention." I love Will Willimon's response, "That shows how dumb you are. If God is our invention you would think we would have come up with something a lot better and less demanding than the one we've got."

It seems that people want spiritual experiences without a growing spiritual relationship. But you can't be fed by the sizzle of a steak. Anthony DeMello tells of the man who went to visit a friend who was a monk. He brought a duck as a gift, so they cooked and ate it. Soon after others knocked at the door claiming to be, "A friend of the friend who brought you the duck." Each one expected to be fed and housed. Finally the monk could stand it no longer. One day a stranger knocked at the door. "I am a friend of the friend of the man who brought you the duck." He sat down expecting to be fed. The monk set a bowl of steaming water before the stranger. "What's this?" the stranger asked. The monk replied, "This is the soup of the soup of the duck that was brought to me by your friend."

The voice from the cloud said, "This my beloved Son. Listen to him." It's why Jesus alone was standing when the cloud lifted. All we need to know about God we have seen in him. "Show us the father," the disciples once asked. Jesus answered, "If you have seen me, you have seen the father." To know him you must know for yourself. No living off of the experiences of others who have experienced him in their lives.

This leads to a contentious issue, though. We hear lots about diversity, and pluralism and inclusion these days. Futile attempts have been made to carve the different religions down to a neutral common ground, the end of which has been to rob each religion of its unique message. Invariably the question arises, "Is Christianity the only way to God?" My short answer is, "Yes!" This is why I am a "Christian" pastor, not a Hindu priest or a Buddhist monk. The person who says that all religions say the same thing is ignorant of them all. They uphold similar values and ethical stances, but they are very different at the core.

You can't reconcile all the other religions with Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father except through me." God's supreme revelation of himself wasn't a book, but a person who came to us from the outside. He had a name and a face and a message and a desire to be the Lord of our lives. Is Jesus the only way to God? Yes… but believing this doesn't give us license to trash another's faith. I have heard zealous Christians make the blanket judgment that all Hindus and Muslims are headed straight to hell. But let me remind you that Jesus didn't assault anyone's religion… except his own.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life," he said. But when he heard that people outside his inner circle were healing others, he said to his disciples who had tried to interfere, "Don't stop them. He that is not against you is for you." He said, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold." He said, "In my father's house are many rooms", which leads me to think that we'll be surprised with who we will spend eternity with. In Acts 10: 35 Peter says, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him." In Acts 14: 16 Paul said, "In past generations He allowed all the nations to walk in their own way; yet He did not leave himself without witness."

I heard of a Christian missionary who said, "I never entered a village for evangelism with the sense that I was taking Christ there for the first time, but always as one convinced that He had been there before me." The spirit of Christ is present in incredible ways among people who don't even recognize the name of Jesus. The church reformer John Calvin said that the hunger for Jesus is present among all peoples of the world. The British preacher Leslie Weatherhead said it simply and correctly… "Our job as Christians is to witness, not exclude." God is an infinitely better judge than any of us. We make God's love too narrow by false limits of our own, and we magnify its strictness with a zeal God will not own. Are there truths to be found in other religions? Yes. Do they teach lessons which improve lives if put into daily practice? Yes. Do people of other faith traditions experience God? Yes! But tell me… why would you go the way of other faiths when the clearly marked way, the shortest, most direct way, indeed, the best and only way to commune directly and personally with God is Jesus?

God made only full-fledged incarnations of himself. God has one Son who holds the keys of life and death and eternity. We gather each Sunday to shut out the clamoring, seductive voices of the false gods the world worships. We come here so the clouds will break and we can see the only one we ever need to follow, Jesus, the Son, the chosen one, who will always provide a way for us through any and every crisis or catastrophe, if only we give our lives to him and spend time with him.

Now I want you to come with me on a trip through time. The year is 1964. A 2,700-ton freighter lies at the bottom of Kuwait Harbor. The government would have left it on the bottom, but it was carrying 6,000 sheep. The thought of all those rotting sheep carcasses polluting the harbor was incentive enough to do something. But what? As they brainstormed, someone remembered Karl Kroyer, a Danish inventor and a bona fide genius. He was a multimillionaire who invented things from kitchen appliances to a non-skid highway surface.

Summoning Kroyer, he assessed the mess and concluded there was no way to get the sheep out. The ship would have to be raised. "You'll hear from me in a few days." Within days Kroyer sent a small ship to Kuwait Harbor carrying a long injector hose and 30 billion pea-sized polystyrene pellets. Twenty-four hours later, the freighter was on the surface. Job done. Today Kroyer's method is routinely used to raise sunken ships. But guess who inspired the idea…Donald Duck.

As Kroyer brooded over the problem, he had no idea what to do. Then he happened to pick up a 1949 comic book in which Donald salvaged a yacht by filling it with ping-pong balls.

Regardless of the problem, there is always a way…close at hand, a prayer away…Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.

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