Jesus came to us to save us and the rest of the world. He wants his followers, once they have put their trust in him and joined themselves with him (in baptism), to live out their faith by following the way he lived out his life, loving the world and all of God’s creation. It is not that he expects Christians to do everything he did, for that would be impossible; rather, they should see his way of life as an example of how to live out their lives, imitating him in ways which accord with their own particular, personal characteristics and abilities. Christ lived the way of love; he gave himself to the world, helping those in need, especially those who were mistreated by society. Sometimes, people came to him asking him for help, while at other times, he went to people, like St. Photina (the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well), and engaged them directly. He acted with prudence, knowing that it was best sometimes to let people come to him, and at other times, for him to go to them. We must learn to follow such prudence.
Christ came to change the world, healing those who needed healing, elevating the dignity of those whose dignity had been denied them by society, and calling for those who act unjustly and sin to repent and sin no more. He is willing to forgive us, to heal us, even if we have done wrong, not because he loves what we have done, not because he loves the false self we have created for ourselves as a result of our actions, but because he love us for the person God intended us to be, the person who is still there behind the mask of the false self. He is more than willing to forgive, but he wants us to change, and since we cannot do so all by ourselves, he gives us the grace we need to do so. He justifies us through his love, turning us into the people he want us to be, which is why Paul rightfully says, “But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not” (Gal 2:17 RSV).
Christ is not an agent of sin; he came into the world to conquer sin, overturning its influences upon creation. Through the cross, he took on the sin of the world; he took it upon his shoulders, and in his death he cast it into the netherworld it belongs. Those who follow him, those who seek forgiveness, grace, and justification by him, must allow him to take on the burden of their sins for them. He is able to free them from the prison which sin had imposed upon them, giving them the freedom they need to choose for themselves: are they are going to continue following after him and take the path of salvation which he established, the path of love, or are they going to return back to their old ways? We are offered grace, and Christ’s help, but we must also do our part; we must cooperate with grace, using it to help us overcome the bad habits we have established in our lives.
Throughout our lives, as we engage grace, we will find we can still falter, we can still find ourselves slipping back into our old bad habits, or worse, establish new ones, and in that way, rebuild what had been taken down. That is, we can find ourselves once again becoming sinners, transgressors of the law of love. “But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor” ( Gal. 2:18 RSV). If we do so, it is on us, not Jesus. He does not make the choice for us. He is not responsible for that choice. However, even if and when we stumble, Christ will still be there for us, offering us his help to once get us back on the path of salvation. Until we have followed that path to the end, until we have fully purified our minds, all with the help of grace, we will find ourselves capable of going astray; every moment of our lives it is up to us to take the grace given to us and cooperate with it, and again, this is what Jesus means when he says we are to take up the cross and follow him:
And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mk. 8:34-35 RSV).
We are to cast off the mask of sin and the false self it presents to the world, the false self which we have even begun to believes is who we are, and let it be destroyed so that we can live, and live not just any kind of life, but the life of Christ: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:29 RSV). When he lives in us, and we live in him, we find our true selves, we come to know who we are, and we realize we are persons in Christ, and in Christ, we find the power of the kingdom of God all around us. Many in his day experienced this, which is why he was able to say, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power” (Mk. 9:1b RSV). This was not stated only for those who lived during Jesus’ temporal ministry, but for all of us; in every age, there are those who will experience the power of the kingdom of God, those who realize their true selves before the end of their temporal existence. We should hope to be included in those number, but if we are not, this does not mean there is no hope, as God can and will continue to work with us until we are free from all the stain and influence of sin. This is why, though there will be those those who experience the power of the kingdom of God before they die, there are others, most, who will do so afterward, as God’s purifying fire of love embraces them, cleaning them of all stain of sin so that they can experience the glory of the kingdom of God, a glory which God calls everyone to enjoy.
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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.
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