BLOG 10/19/16. FAITH: WOULDN’T IT BE ‘WILD’ IF …?
Given all of the mindless religious claims floating around in this confusing political season, I have to ponder: Wouldn’t it be totally ‘wild’ if all the people who profess to be followers of Jesus actually lived out his teachings in their understanding of life, of his role as the inaugurator of a New Creation, his patterns of behavior (righteousness), and his relationship with God the Father? Just think of it! Jesus stepped onto the stage of human history as a non-descript peasant from a small Palestinian town with little fan-fare, … and within a couple of years had launched a new reality, a community of followers which would spread into most of the known world within a century. Why? How? I mean, … the world was full of religions of all sorts to attempt to satisfy the spiritual vacuum of the masses. But his summons was into a counter-cultural movement that was unlike any other.
He appeared in the rural countryside teaching that the Kingdom of God (whatever that was) was at hand and that folks should have a total change of mind, and should believe this new reality. Face it: that’s a lot to swallow. And yet … something about him was so compelling that a few who heard him asked him: “Teacher, what gives with you? Where do you live? What’s this all about?” His answer: Come and see. So they followed him. His summons to others was, likewise, obviously, compelling: Follow me. But soon he dropped the other shoe: If anyone will come after me, let him forsake all that he has and follow me. Or, If anyone wants to be my follower and is not willing to let go of his father, his mother, even his wife and children … he can’t be my disciple. It gets even more intense: Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (That ‘did it’ with a lot of his followers, and they went away.)A normal response to such nonsense would be: “Yuk!”
Yet, the crowds following him multiplied, even when his teachings began to sound serious and make such costly demands. Still … we, today, need to remember how tragically we have muted Jesus’ teachings. After all, he came to inaugurate God’s promise to make all things new. There was no cheap way to accomplish such a counter-cultural movement. For one to come to Jesus, one must be utterly-totally convinced that he is who he says he is and that he will do exactly what he promises that he will do, … and the consequences of our responses can be either radical new and selfless life of love and good works, … or in refusal: death.
One classic theological definition of true faith is that such is composed of three responses on our part (in Latin): notitia, assensus, fiducia, or: knowledge, assent to its truth, and a whole hearted embraced of self-renouncing trust—“But to all who did receive him … he gave the right to become the children of God.” That sounds forthright enough … but to assent involves (in genetic terms) having the genome of Jesus implanted in our human lives so that it determines who we are and how we respond. Jesus becomes my identity, determines my priorities, forms my behavior, shapes the stewardship of all of my life … so that I/we literally incarnate Christ when and wherever I am. Such response is an intentional act of our wills. We believe and begin to live under new authority. It is never something one, if sane, would ever pursue lightly. It is anything but polite church membership. It has a cost that is total. But those who understand Jesus, know that all things exist by and for him, that in him is ultimate meaning, hope and love. It produces true joy even in the most desperate of settings. His calling is likened to a treasure found in a field, or a pearl of great price for which a person will forsake everything else to obtain it.
Wouldn’t it be wild if ….?
