Spiritual Buzz & Jesus

Jesus had a mountaintop experience.

In this famous story from the Gospels, Jesus goes up a mountain with Peter, James, and John. Here, the disciples witness Him radiate an incredible light before being joined by Elijah and Moses as the voice of God calls to His Son.

It was so intense that an emotional Peter couldn’t think of anything else to say than: “You guys think Moses and Elijah need a place to crash for the night?”

The Transfiguration of Jesus is an outstandingly important event in the life of Christ. It’s dramatic, powerful, and completely supernatural.

But not every day of Jesus’ life was like this. 

Jesus is Human

The Incarnation of Jesus is central to Christianity.

This is the fact that Jesus is both God and human - two natures dwelling together in the same place.

It’s subversive, challenging, and deeply poetic.

And it teaches us an important lesson.

That God is found in the daily going-ons of life.

Much of Jesus’ ministry took place amid normal human experiences.

He spoke with common laborers, attended parties, and dealt with family matters. His 12 disciples were mostly regular dudes with regular jobs whom He plucked out of their original contexts.

Jesus’ most famous teaching, the Sermon on the Mount, contains no explicitly supernatural scenes but instead deals with how matters of faith intersect with practical, human living.

What does this tell us?

Well, it tells us that Jesus is concerned with the ordinary - that He benefited from the mountaintop but didn’t live there.

The Supernatural

But what about these high-energy moments like the Transfiguration?

It’s true that Jesus lived and worked in the ordinary, but it’s just as true that His ministry and life were marked by the miraculous and supernatural. 

When we see the miraculous and supernatural in Jesus’ life, we often see Him use it to draw attention to His identity as the Son of God - a life-changing truth that changed the way ordinary life was lived.

I believe we can draw a parallel between these heightened moments and the intense experiences of Christian conferences.

Those weeks or weekends can be very helpful. They can wake us up to the divine reality of life and encourage us in areas we’ve spiritually slowed down.

And instead of chasing the emotionality of the event, we can find ways to apply the lesson to the far more pervasive normality we return to.

We can view them as spiritual fueling stations if you like.

And what’s the road ahead?

Daily life.

More on that tomorrow.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter