In every story about Jesus, it is important to recognize who Jesus really is. Yes, Jesus was a great teacher. Yes, He was a visionary leader. Yes, He was a reformer, and an activist, and a prophet. Jesus was all of those things and more. Focus on that word, “more.” Jesus was much more.
One of the most revealing stories about Jesus is recorded in Mark 9. He was alone with his inner circle of Disciples when suddenly He started to shine like the sun. The Disciples literally saw Him glorified before their eyes. Can you imagine? I mean, He’s just standing there, talking, and suddenly, it’s like an atomic bomb explosion. For the first time, they could see who He really was. One minute He was their leader; the next, He was God.
For years when I read that story I thought the miracle was how Jesus suddenly started shining like that, but that’s not it. The miracle of that story is that He didn’t shine all the time.
You see, Jesus didn’t surrender His deity when He came to Earth. He cloaked it in human skin, but it was there! Even while He lived here, Jesus Christ was God, and the people who came in contact with Him, even those who opposed Him, sensed that He represented something beyond the man they saw before them. Every miracle; every teaching; every interaction pointed to something bigger. That’s why Jesus can say in verse 46, “Whoever sees me sees Him who sent me.” Translated: “If you have seen me, you have seen God!”
Paul said it this way in Colossians 1: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Jesus was glory in human flesh, and here is a thought to chew on today – we are, too! We are called to be like Jesus, and even though we are not “God in flesh,” we are more than the meets the eyes. With the Holy Spirit living inside, our lives represent something greater than us. Everyone who see us should has an opportunity to see His glory.
