Who are we?

 

     Sometimes, the most “obvious” questions are the ones that allow us to better understand who we are; this morning, I invite you to reflect on the following question: What is a Christian?  Perhaps our first reaction is to say: “Come on!  If we’re here, it’s because we know very well what a Christian is.”  You might be aware that the word “Christian” only appears 3 times in the New Testament (Ac. 11.26 (plural); Ac. 26.28; 1 Peter 4.16).  It is far from being the Bible’s favourite term to speak about…us.  In the Gospels and the book of Acts, the preferred word to describe “Jesus followers” is the word “disciple”.  Let’s take a closer look at this term.

“DISCIPLES” OF JESUS

     At the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, the risen Jesus gives a last command to his apostles:

“Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you...” (Mt. 28.18-20)

This passage consists of the Church’s “job description” – make disciples.  This mandate – this “great commission” – is obviously extremely important.  So, what is a disciple?

     In the Gospels, no one becomes a “believer” in Jesus by subscribing to a Creed, no one adopts a metaphysical system of abstract speculation about the “spiritual life” or “the truth” (as an idea; cf. Jn. 14.6).  Rather, what we find in the Gospels is Jesus summoning people to follow him.  Jesus is going somewhere, and he invites people to join him on the journey.  This is very similar to any first-century Jewish rabbi who would gather a group of students around him (at the time, they were all men).  Of course, the word “disciple” means “student” or “apprentice”.  Disciples apprenticed themselves to a master in the hope of attaining their rabbi’s level of knowledge, piety and manner of “doing life”.  The idea of “being like Jesus” is one we’re probably familiar with, but perhaps we tend to relegate this to an “advanced stage” of the Christian journey, perhaps reserved for “mature” believers.  However, there is no trace of this in the Gospels.  In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, “becoming like Jesus” is simply what it means to follow Jesus as one’s Master.  The point of the whole thing is to be with Jesus and to learn how to act, think, pray and be like him as much as possible.

     In fact, we could say that the Gospel according to Matthew consists of a “disciple’s handbook”.  Chapter 5 begins by telling us that:

« When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he…taught them…” (Mt. 5.1-2)

For Jesus to “sit down” was to adopt the posture of a teacher, a master.  By climbing to the summit of the “mountain » and sitting down, Jesus reveals himself to be the new Moses.  These actions remind us of the time when Moses ascended to the top of Mt. Sinai in order to receive the Ten Commandments from God (cf. Ex. 19 – 34).  Moses was considered to be the “Teacher of Israel” (Mt. 23.2-3; Jn. 9.28).  For the next three chapters of this Gospel, Jesus will transmit a “new law” to his disciples, what we call the “Sermon on the Mount”.  This new law goes beyond the “righteousness of the Pharisees” (Mt. 5.20).

     At this point, another question arises – as we seek to make disciples, do we use the Sermon on the Mount as our core curriculum?  It could not be any clearer – in the Gospel which ends with the command to make disciples and to teach all nations to obey what Jesus had commanded the apostles (Mt. 28.19-20), we find 3 chapters containing Jesus’ teaching to his original disciples!  In fact, in Matthew’s Gospel, we find 5 “blocks” of Jesus’ teaching (cf. chapters 5 – 7; 10; 13; 18; 23 – 25).  Between each “block » of teaching are stories about Jesus’ miracles, the call of the disciples, etc.  This 5-fold structure reminds us of the « Torah », the teaching of Moses, which is found in the first 5 books of the Bible.

     In this way, Matthew is constantly winking at us.  And still, have we understood what he is trying to get across to us?  His Gospel ends with Jesus commanding the apostles to teach the nations of the world to obey his teaching.  Is this our “formula” for making disciples?  Is this how we understand ourselves as disciples of Jesus?  Do we consider ourselves to be “the people who obey Jesus”?  In short, this is what a disciple is – according to Matthew – someone who obeys Jesus.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells the apostles: “If you love me, obey my commandments” (Jn. 14.15).

     What does Jesus command us to do?  The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is absolutely radical.  Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, to practice radical forgiveness, to have an absolute trust in our heavenly Father, to detach ourselves from material goods, to do our good works without hypocrisy (Mt. 5.16), etc.  Jesus even teaches us to imitate God – “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5.48).  It is not surprising that many readers of the Gospel of Matthew – even good, knowledgeable, pious Christians – have been discouraged by the words of Jesus in Matthew chapters 5 – 7.

     Certain Christian traditions consider Jesus’ “counsels of perfection” to apply only to “people who have a religious vocation”, to those who separate themselves from society, who live together in communities and dedicate most of their time to prayer and the reading of the Bible.  However, I believe that this way of thinking is a grave mistake.  On the mountaintop, Jesus was addressing himself to his disciples, i.e. to ordinary people.  Of course, there were “religious professionals” at the time – to mention one example, the Pharisees (even they were “laypeople” who volunteered their time and energy to promote their brand of holiness).  But it is not to such people that Jesus taught on the mountain.  This is the really radical part of the Sermon on the Mount – Jesus takes it for granted that the very perfection of God can be imitated by an ordinary woman, by a completely regular man, by a stay-at-home mom, by an entrepreneur, by a lawyer, by a plumber…by you and by me.

     Now, we need to look at what Jesus meant by “perfection”.  Each culture and epoch and, indeed, each individual has an idea of what perfection is.  What the Greek word “teleios” means is: “realising your potential, complete, accomplished, mature” (You’ve arrived!).  It is the word that Jesus shouts as he dies on the cross: “It is finished!” (Jn. 19.30).  What Jesus calls us to here is to fulfill our destiny as human beings created in the image of God (cf. Gn. 1.26-31; Jn. 5.19).  What sin does, in fact, is to deprive us of our humanity, sin corrupts the image of God in us, it obscures the Creator’s image.  The goal, of course, is to let God’s image shine brightly (Mt. 5.14-16; cf. 2 Cor. 4.5-6).

     Our sinful nature makes us hostile to each other.  We all compete to have more stuff, more possessions, a higher status, to protect ourselves against both real and imagined threats, to impose our will, to increase our self-esteem.  Then, Jesus arrives on the scene and says: Love!  Forget about your self, put aside your own interests, think of the good of others, even the one who is your enemy!  Christian author and apologist G.K. Chesterton said: “Jesus commands us to love both our neighbours and our enemies because most of the time, they turn out to be the same people.”  To be perfect as God is perfect means to love others selflessly, without having anything to gain.  Our heavenly Father “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Mt. 5.45).  Our love for others, Jesus tells us, should not depend on how they treat us. (wow!)

     If this, among other things, is what it means to be a disciple, I must ask myself: Am I a disciple?  I desire to follow Jesus.  Yes, I am a disciple – I am a disciple that still has a lot of things to learn and to “perfect”.  Each person who intentionally tries to follow Jesus will learn humility.  Among other reasons, each person who tries to follow Jesus will soon realize just how demanding discipleship is and how far they still have to go before resembling Jesus.  Humility is included in the « package » - as soon as we commit to following Jesus, humility will find us, guaranteed!

     So far, we have seen that – according to Matthew (Jesus) – being a disciple is quite intense, thank you very much.  Well, things have to get worse before they get better.  After the Sermon on the Mount, the next “block” of teaching is found in Matthew chapter 10, where Jesus prepares the apostles to be sent on mission to announce the kingdom of God.  Before sending them out two-by-two, Jesus tells them:

“A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.  Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Mt. 10.24-31)

The apostles find themselves to be the associates, comrades and students of a controversial rabbi!  Jesus tells them to prepare to suffer; what is more, Jesus tells them that this is normal – if the Master has been hated, the disciples should expect to be hated as well.  So, to be a disciple means to obey Jesus and to suffer as Jesus suffered.

     What is a Christian?  A Christian is a disciple of Jesus, someone who obeys him and demonstrates solidarity with Jesus, whatever the consequences.  Obedience and suffering, these are the two unavoidable dimensions of the identity of a Christian, according to the Gospels.  These two elements are necessary because, as disciples, we are on a mission.  Did you know that the Armed Forces use the word “mission” to describe their objective in a combat situation?  They will say things like: “The ‘mission’ is to neutralise the enemy; to interrupt the enemy’s lines of communication; to secure that city; to capture that enemy commander, etc.”  Obedience and suffering are the lot of each and every solider on the front line.  To accomplish a military mission, the troops have to obey their orders and persevere until they attain their objectives, no matter what happens to their unit during the fight.  Our Lord has given us the order to make disciples.  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go…”  As members of the people of God, we are God’s partners in his mission to save the world.  This is why God saved us!  So that we will join the mission that was launched when God told Abraham – “I will bless you and you will be a blessing; all the nations of the earth will be blessed because of you” (cf. Gn. 12.1-3; Gal. 3.14).

Conclusion: making disciples

     We are called to make disciples.  First of all, we are called to be disciples.  God called us to suffer while doing good:

“…if you endure when you do good and suffer for it, this is a commendable thing before God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2.20-21)

We are called to obey our Master who sends us on a mission.  In his letter to the Philippians, Paul exhorts them repeatedly to “Rejoice!”  As he writes to them from his prison cell, Paul is full of joy!  Paul experienced what is called “la joie de guerre” (the joy of the battle).  Joy takes on a deeper flavour in the midst of sufferings and difficulties, in front of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.  Our mission is indeed an impossible one; this is precisely why we are full of joy as we see God do the impossible through us.

     You know, the God of the Bible is a God who doesn’t “play by the rules”.  Indeed, who is stronger than the Creator of heaven and earth?  And yet, how does God accomplish his plan of salvation for the world?  He sends his Son, who becomes incarnate, who takes on the human condition – even more, the condition of a slave (cf. Phil. 2.7).  The all-powerful God made himself vulnerable to his human creatures, and became the victim of the fear, the arrogance, the pride and hubris, and the cruelty of human beings – in short, of sin.  The Son of God underwent the greatest possible humiliation – death on a cross.  Jesus was completely obedient to his Father, and he suffered the consequences. 

     Sometimes, we speak of the Christian life as if it were simply a matter of doing the right thing in order to reap the benefits.  However, the texts that we have seen today indicate that doing the will of God – the “right thing” – often produces results that are not necessarily pleasant for the disciple of Jesus.  Often, it is the sufferings of the disciple that make the work of the kingdom of God go forward more than anything else.  This is not an easy message to accept.  Again, even though we often seek to avoid suffering, and though our society tries to allow us to either escape it or deny it, it remains the case that we will all – sooner or later – traverse “the valley of the shadow of death.”  However, as Christians, our sufferings are never absurd.  They have meaning when they are associated with those of Christ, who “suffered for us, leaving us an example, so that we should follow in his steps.”  Amen.