It may be interesting to be reminded that someone, somehow,
at some time, introduced us to Jesus. It
may have been parents, in our childhood, even before we were explicitly aware…
biblical stories read to us. It may have
been more generally, in church… or a particular youth leader we admired and
listened to. Perhaps it was a friend and
contemporary, or some evangelist up on a platform. It may have been something we read, all by
ourselves. Jesus invited people to
follow him… and indeed, in every age, people do. As Fr Laurence Freeman points out, at first
we see him as it were from behind as we follow, and catch the echo of his
teachings. “Follow” is the word so often
used. Some follow whole-heartedly,
others tentatively or timidly, intermittently…
But at some point, it may be dramatically and all at once,
or it may be much more diffused over time – which only shows how we are all
different and how the Spirit blows where it wills – at some point, it is as
though he turns and sees someone following[1]…
he asks who touched me?[2] –
he addresses us, he calls my name. At
some point, by whatever means, it becomes personal, an encounter or an
awareness we are disinclined to talk about, deeper than we want or need to try
to describe. The point is, our heart is now
involved along with mind and will.
This is part of trying to understand what makes a Christian
disciple in the 21st century.
And it is important to stress, for one thing, that the Spirit who does
this work, the Spirit Jesus promised, is not likely to be bound by our
understanding of what is proper or orderly, or to be restricted by what we
always thought, or by sacramental doctrine, or by our moral performance. We have to stress moreover what is obvious, that
this discipleship does not miraculously solve our problems. But now we are seeing them differently.
We need to make two points – they may seem to you to be a statement
of the obvious. The first is that it is
not compulsory to be a Christian. Most
people in the world are not, and some of us are personally disinclined to tell
anyone they should be. “Christian”
happens when someone is encountered by Jesus, at the level of heart and
will. It is an interchange of recognition
and love, and life is different thereafter. It is when Jesus, as it were, calls my name. The second point is that
the Jesus we encounter is not a friend of fences or walls or divisions social
or otherwise. This is reflected in our
prayer and in our life, as disciples. We
are having to say this repeatedly at present… because our world, our politics,
our social systems, our attitudes, seem to be getting more stratified and
exclusive. We are building walls. Some religion likes to divide people into
“saved” and “unsaved”, “baptised” and “unbaptised”. It may be useful for administrative purposes,
but is completely unhelpful if what we are after is to teach the way of Christ. What he “saves” us from is self, and sets us
free to live as the Creator intended.
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