The only Word I could Say

For just about one year now, I've been thinking about what it means to be a Christian, in the simplest terms.  I've been thinking through our systematized theology.  I've been thinking through how we let it shape how we live.  I don't have many real answers yet, but I'm finding that we've made up our own set of qualifiers, our own language, our own definitions.  I'm coming to realize that we're not necessarily off-base biblically, but I don't think the reformation is done yet, if I could even claim what I see as happening, at least in my own thinking, as something joined to the long-line of reformers.

I read a blog-post by someone I respect dearly the other day that was a walk-through/series of meditations on the Sheep and the Goats passage from Matthew 25.  If you read that passage (verses 31-46), Jesus talks about how the sheep, the true followers, are those who visit prisoners, feed the hungry, clothe the poor.  The blog post describes this passage as a "hard passage" because it seems to fly in the face of the Evangelical "By-Grace-Alone" mindset.  This blog's author goes on to rationalize this passage with the grace-alone tenet by saying that said actions making one a sheep and not a goat are the sign of an inner-change.  Maybe that's true.  But I don't see where it says that in this particular passage, and I don't see how people are judged for their works in the grace-alone passages.  This isn't to say there isn't an inner change that can lead to good works.  But Jesus doesn't count those who don't do his work among his true followers.  As he says near the end of John: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  But what are Jesus' commandments?  Are they to "have a personal relationship, keep a quiet time, hand out bulletins, teach sunday school, run a soundboard, lead a bible study?"  Unfortunately, outside of a very broad interpretation of one word in the great commission, none of those general Christian expressions of good works and service to God are actually commanded by Jesus, even in their 1st century equivalents (whatever those may be).  The greatest commandment is to Love God.  The 2nd is to love others.  What really, are the things Jesus does command- to meet the physical needs of others, as he does, to put others over self, to seek peace at all costs, to bring the disenfranchised into the fold- but expressions of love for our neighbors?  Jesus' way is the way of love.  That's all he did, all he could do.  It's, per the 3rd chapter of John, the reason he came and his constant exhortation for all of us.  I'm not sure what I'm saying because I'm not quite sure what to make of all of this, but I know, for certain, that even a hint of greed is the opposite of Jesus' way...and what's more, not just greed, but doing anything at all that comes at the expense of another, is not Jesus' way.

When I look at all Jesus did, the sorts of things he said, what often strikes me much of the time is how he seems to choose the people with whom he disagrees.  The rich, who refuse to surrender their place of power from wealth.  The synagogue leaders, scribes, pharisees, sadducees...though all different sects in their own way, they all refused to give up their power as religious leaders.  But he never had beef with someone because they were a sinner.  I imagine they were repentant sinners, but there are actually few accounts of repentance and I can't recall any where Jesus actually require it.  By encountering Jesus; who he is, how he acts, what he says; those are when stories of repentance come about.  I can't help but think it has much to do with the lack of judgment and condemnation he with which he handled them.  It's about love.  It's all about love.  Jesus' love transformed people.  Even at his sternest, he expressed love for the downtrodden.

Maybe I'm selectively reading. Maybe I'm just missing something.  But I can't find a single instance wherein Jesus commands anything but love.  This isn't to say he gives license to sin.  If anything, it's more and more an implication of grace.  Jesus seems to speak so little of specific sins simply because he openly acknowledges that everyone is a sinner.  But even so, as such, as anything, they are in need and deserve love.  In fact, as far as I can tell, it seems "evil" is most often identified by Jesus as an infringement upon another, less fortunate person.  This isn't to say that personal sin doesn't matter to Jesus.  But Jesus is much less concerned, it seems with the "personal relationship stuff" we've essentially fabricated through systematic theology in the last 80 years, than he is with proclaiming a new way, a new thing...the Kingdom of Heaven, come to earth and demarcated by the way people love one another and love God.  It seems to me we've stripped the Gospel Jesus actually preached of much of its potency, of much of its point.  Yes, Jesus said believe in me and you'll have eternal life.  But more often than that, he told people about the Kingdom of God and urged them to live as if it's real and can be realized here and now in even some small way, ever increasing til the end of days.  But that's not the Gospel we preach.  We, I, InterVarsity, most churches, teach that Jesus came so we could go to heaven.  He came so he could die so we could be made right with God.  That's all true, it is, it happened, it's the result of his life on Earth, resurrection, and ascension.  But it's so small a part of the larger story, at least content wise...and I can't help but think that that matters.  It matters, it seems, that Jesus told people to love one another and to love God in real, tangible ways, but never told them "believe in me, do all you can to get close to me, and when I'm done, you'll go to heaven"  He expressed something like that and it goes something like this "When I was thirsty, you gave me water, when I was hungry, you gave me food, when I was in prison...." yeah, the sheep and the goats thing.  It's how we express our devotion to Jesus, beyond all else.  If that weren't true, if Paul came along and set the record straight, as we often act preach in a twisted sort of way, why did Jesus say what he said?  Yes, believing in Jesus, that he died for your sins and rose from the dead is all it takes to "get to heaven."  But I don't just want to do what it takes to get to heaven. I want to actually follow Jesus.  He said make disciples, not believers.  Disciples do as their master did and as their master commands...and my master commands me to love.  How that plays out varies depending on the person I'm engaged in loving at the moment, but I'm positive and convinced it means much more than a bridge or four circles.

-Zack

"When those men were ready to stone Magdalene, I hated them, I wanted to kill them.  But the only word I could say was 'love'"
-Nikos Kazantzakis