I find it very hard to act normal when I am around famous people.  I get smitten.  Some people have the ability to play it cool when they encounter celebrities, but I am not one of those people.  I try to play it cool for a little while, but inevitably I get star-struck.  I can’t stop starring and that usually leads to me having to ask for an autograph or asking them a ridiculous line of questions that is embarrassing for everybody involved.

Once I was at a Presbyterian Church in California when I saw Judge Reinhold.  Now Judge Reinhold is not a real judge but he is the actor who plays Billy Rosewood in the movie, Beverly Hills Cop III.  During praise and worship a friend taps me on the shoulder and says, “Hey isn’t that the guy who was in that Eddie Murphy movie?”  And immediately I start humming the Axel Foley theme song.  It takes us a while to come up with his name, but when it comes to us I start to get smitten.  I try to listen to the message, but for some reason I keep looking over in his direction thinking about how he shot that rocket launcher backwards in Beverly Hills Cop III (all the while I am still humming the theme song in my head).

After church is over, we make our way over to Judge, just to makes sure it’s really him.  It becomes clear to me that I am standing only a couple of feet from a movie star.  I am not exactly sure if he is considered a star or not but I am star-struck nonetheless.  We go over to talk to him, and I ask him a couple of incoherent questions about what new movies Eddie Murphy coming out or something like that.  But I couldn’t stop thinking to myself I am in the presence of someone famous.  I talked about that story for the rest of the day or maybe even the rest of the week.

Before I tell a friend about my encounter with Judge Reinhold, I usually first have to describe who he is to them.  I have to explain what he looks like and also refer them to his great acting abilities in Beverly Hills Cop III and his role as the close-talker on Seinfeld in order for them to truly understand the magnitude of my brush with fame.

In Matthew 16, Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “But what about you?  Who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter answers, “You are Christ the Son of the living God.”  This is how Peter is describing who Jesus is to other people.  In order for people to understand our encounters with Jesus we have to describe who Jesus is to them.  We have to depict his goodness, mercy, justice, faithfulness, and love to them so they can have a better understanding of how we encounter the Son of the living God.

“Who do you say I am?”  This question is central to the foundation of Christianity.  Who do you say Jesus is?  How do you describe Jesus to other people?  Most people don’t know Judge Reinhold, so I have to go into impressive details about who he is in order for people to understand our encounter.

Similarly, most people know about Jesus but they don’t actually know who he is, so they need the impressive details.  We need to explain who Jesus is in order for people to truly understand the magnitude of His fame.  In Psalms 8 it says, “Brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.”   Jesus is the most famous One of all.  It’s an amazing thought to me that the most famous One of all is concerned with you and me!