Jesus and Johnny Cash

I did the funeral for this sweet lady a few years back and one of the favorite stories her family shared about her was a time that she and a friend took a trip during which they would be passing through Tennessee and on to Alabama to visit relatives. 

On the way, they decided they’d try a side trip to see the home of Johnny and June Carter Cash, which they heard was near the main highway. 

They followed the directions they were given -- this was way back before GPS -- and when they arrived they stood outside the gate that led to the driveway up to the Cash’s home.

They were snapping photos when a beat up looking old pickup with fishing poles hanging out the back pulled up. 

The driver was a “caretaker looking man” dressed in cutoffs and an old shirt.

He kindly offered, as he opened the gate, to take them closer so they could take pictures on the porch of the house. 

They jumped at the chance and, after taking a few pictures of the house, the “caretaker looking man” wanted to know if they would like a picture with him. 

They reluctantly said “Okay” and really weren’t sure why this man would think they’d want his picture.

In the middle of taking a picture with the man, they suddenly realized it was Johnny Cash himself who’d just come back from fishing and was now welcoming him up to his home! 

They didn’t recogize him at all because he didn’t fit the mental image of what they’d expected him to look like.

He was a good sport about it and they all had a good laugh together and took a lot more pictures.

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In the gospels, there’s this story of Jesus taking some of his closest disciples with him up on a mountain and when they get up on the mountain, Moses and Elijah appear, talking with Jesus!

Moses and Elijah represented THE main ways that the Jewish people heard from God and how they knew anything about God. 

How exciting it must have been to have Jesus, your teacher, talking with the two people you’ve learned everything you know about God from!  

The apostle Peter was almost beside himself, it was such a powerful moment!  

Moses, Elijah and his rabbi Jesus – all together in one spot!  

What a confirmation of Jesus’ leadership!  

What an exciting way to see everything coming together at once!

And then something strange happened.

A cloud covered them all and God’s voice from heaven said “This is my son, whom I love.  Listen to him”.  

And the cloud went away and with it, Moses and Elijah.  

Only Jesus remained with them.

God spoke powerfully that day.  “You used to depend on Moses and Elijah to hear my voice and know my will, but now I want you to hear me directly, through my son Jesus.”

It’s hard to grasp what an enormous change it was to have God essentially say, “You’ve been looking at me and walking with me for a good while now and you just didn’t know it.  If you want to hear from me, just listen to Jesus from now on.”

And what a powerful message that is for us today as well.  

There are times when we might be tempted look to a lot of different things to hear from God…tradition, “the way we’ve always done it”, what seems most comfortable and safe to us…and God still reminds us to listen to his message to us through Jesus.

This week, remember how God accepted and related to us through Jesus.

Remember all that he has already (and completely) done in and through Jesus.

Remember that well intentioned people will sometimes talk about God in ways that almost make him unrecognizable.  

Remember he's usually way better than we speak of him.

And most of all, remember to listen to God’s message to us in Jesus.

“…if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (From 2 Corinthians 5)