Like Jesus?
Read Mark 9:38-50.
We're so not like Jesus.
I had a college dorm mate who was zealous for his faith. He spent a lot of time in the dorm talking to other guys about Jesus. And that's great. His actions put many of the rest of us to shame. But one day, in a conversation, I learned he believed that it wasn't enough to be baptized. To be truly saved, you had to be baptized in the church he was a part of in the way they believed was absolutely correct. Everyone outside of their church, he believed, was condemned to hell.
I've known others who are adamant that unless you read the translation of the Bible they prefer, you are lost. I've been in arguments with people about particular translations (those are arguments, by the way, you usually don't "win"). I've had people discount my baptism and call my faith into question. I have been told I'm not serving communion right and had people refuse to receive communion as long as I'm serving it. And I shake my head in sadness and realize...
We're so not like Jesus.
The disciples, though, wanted to be that kind of believer. Exclusive. Knowing who is "in" and who is "out." It's comforting in a way. "In" was their group—the twelve. They alone had authority and they alone knew the real Jesus. So when they encounter a person who is casting out demons in Jesus' name who is not a part of "the in group," they make him stop. Can you imagine?
And can you imagine how proud they are when they run to Jesus and tell him about this incident? Look what we did, Jesus! We cleaned up the kingdom for you! Then comes Jesus' crushing response: "If they are not against us, they are for us. If they're not working against me, they are for me. If they are doing miracles or if they are handing out cups of cold water and doing it in my name, they are not harming my cause. Leave them be."
I have to tell you, it does give me some strange comfort that even the disciples of Jesus were so not like Jesus.
His love and welcome is so much more expansive than mine ever has been or, most likely, ever will be. I am not arguing for a "universalist" view of salvation here. Salvation still comes through Jesus Christ. What I am saying is that it's obvious Jesus was not as concerned about the small man-made boundaries of practice and permission as we are. Our focus on certain formulas or praying particular and specific prayers to get people "in" aren't Jesus' focus. His focus is on the broader kingdom. In other words—there will be people in heaven whose presence there will surprise us. And our presence just might surprise them as well!
I have experienced such kingdom-mindedness only a couple of times in my ministry. There have been rare occurrences where a concerted effort was made among pastors of different stripes, different denominations, different theological perspectives. We chose to not ignore those differences but to put them aside and, in the spirit of John Wesley say, "If your heart beats as mine, give me your hand." We may not all believe alike, or baptize alike, or serve communion alike—but we can all love Jesus alike. If that other person is not against Jesus, not actively opposing Jesus, if he's working in Jesus' name just not in the way you might prefer—relax. He's (or she's) a potential brother or sister in the faith.
And maybe, just maybe, as we begin to see others through those eyes, through God's eyes, we'll become a little more like Jesus.
We're so not like Jesus.
I had a college dorm mate who was zealous for his faith. He spent a lot of time in the dorm talking to other guys about Jesus. And that's great. His actions put many of the rest of us to shame. But one day, in a conversation, I learned he believed that it wasn't enough to be baptized. To be truly saved, you had to be baptized in the church he was a part of in the way they believed was absolutely correct. Everyone outside of their church, he believed, was condemned to hell.
I've known others who are adamant that unless you read the translation of the Bible they prefer, you are lost. I've been in arguments with people about particular translations (those are arguments, by the way, you usually don't "win"). I've had people discount my baptism and call my faith into question. I have been told I'm not serving communion right and had people refuse to receive communion as long as I'm serving it. And I shake my head in sadness and realize...
We're so not like Jesus.
The disciples, though, wanted to be that kind of believer. Exclusive. Knowing who is "in" and who is "out." It's comforting in a way. "In" was their group—the twelve. They alone had authority and they alone knew the real Jesus. So when they encounter a person who is casting out demons in Jesus' name who is not a part of "the in group," they make him stop. Can you imagine?
And can you imagine how proud they are when they run to Jesus and tell him about this incident? Look what we did, Jesus! We cleaned up the kingdom for you! Then comes Jesus' crushing response: "If they are not against us, they are for us. If they're not working against me, they are for me. If they are doing miracles or if they are handing out cups of cold water and doing it in my name, they are not harming my cause. Leave them be."
I have to tell you, it does give me some strange comfort that even the disciples of Jesus were so not like Jesus.
His love and welcome is so much more expansive than mine ever has been or, most likely, ever will be. I am not arguing for a "universalist" view of salvation here. Salvation still comes through Jesus Christ. What I am saying is that it's obvious Jesus was not as concerned about the small man-made boundaries of practice and permission as we are. Our focus on certain formulas or praying particular and specific prayers to get people "in" aren't Jesus' focus. His focus is on the broader kingdom. In other words—there will be people in heaven whose presence there will surprise us. And our presence just might surprise them as well!
I have experienced such kingdom-mindedness only a couple of times in my ministry. There have been rare occurrences where a concerted effort was made among pastors of different stripes, different denominations, different theological perspectives. We chose to not ignore those differences but to put them aside and, in the spirit of John Wesley say, "If your heart beats as mine, give me your hand." We may not all believe alike, or baptize alike, or serve communion alike—but we can all love Jesus alike. If that other person is not against Jesus, not actively opposing Jesus, if he's working in Jesus' name just not in the way you might prefer—relax. He's (or she's) a potential brother or sister in the faith.
And maybe, just maybe, as we begin to see others through those eyes, through God's eyes, we'll become a little more like Jesus.
As I drive for Lyft and Uber, I've become increasingly sad when conferences from all different Christian denominations and groups and they leave a very bad impression of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
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