Imitating Christ
Ephesians 4:25 - 5:2
I don’t care about getting into heaven. Let me be clear, it is not as if I don’t believe in heaven or that whenever my life comes to an end I would prefer to reside someplace else. But, it seems to me that much of Christianity has proclaimed to the world that the point of following Jesus is to receive a ticket to eternal life. In response to comments about his incorrigible behavior, one of America’s most renowned cultural commentators Homer Simpson once said, “I'm just trying to get into heaven. I'm not running for Jesus.” And indeed many Americans appear to feel the same: being a Christian is primarily about heaven. Jesus certainly used the words paradise and dwelling places when speaking about whatever waits beyond this life. He wanted us to know that God would never leave us alone and that in Paul’s words, “Nothing could separate us from the love of God.” Jesus spoke poetically of heaven in Matthew, Mark and Luke, but he wasn’t talking about the afterlife when he said that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like this and he held up mustard seeds and yeast. He said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like this and he pointed to children. He said that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And in the Gospel of John Jesus spoke of eternal life as “the life of an age to come.” So, I don’t care about getting into heaven because I am not sure that Jesus did.
When I was in college and had yet to find the campus ministry group that would serve as my spiritual home for four years, I was approached by a group called the Wildcats for Christ. I was so anxious to have a safe place to grow as a Christian that I agreed to attend one of their Bible studies. Agreeing to attend also meant that my name would be entered into a drawing for a mountain bike (but that’s not why I said yes.) We hadn’t gotten very far along, before talk of heaven emerged. “You know, if you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ, you will not get into heaven.” Even though I had invited Jesus into my heart and life long before, I hadn’t heard it put in such a way- Jesus, in this framework is more like one of those gold rings I always reached for from the horse on the Carousel in my hometown. The point of accepting Jesus was about reserving a spot in heaven- and very little to do with living in this life.
You are probably familiar with the opening words of what might be the best known verse in the entire New Testament. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” And while it is used to further the notion that seeking Jesus is primarily about eternal life, Marcus Borg argues that many Christians forget the very first line: “God so loved the world- not Christians in particular, or the elect, or the church, but the world. God’s passion is the world… loving the world- the creation- as God loves the world … Believing is not about believing in doctrines about Jesus, but ‘beloving’ the beloving is a combination of commitment, loyalty, faithfulness, allegiance to the beloved, and trust in the beloved.” It is the beloving that leads to abundant life. God's very first task not to hand our sparingly the golden tickets, instead God's first task is loving the world.
So, what if the point of Jesus’ life is not about heaven but about life? In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes a long list of things we are to do here and now if we seek to call ourselves Christians. He writes, “putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil… Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear…Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us...”
In most ways, this is an impossible list, but it seems to me that the point of being a Christian is not about whether we have a golden ticket, not about what lies beyond this life, but about the call to be like Christ. Paul invites us to imitate God and to love as Christ loved. Jesus’ life is the light that illumines our path to fullness of life, the glow that guides us to the Spirit of the Living God which grounds the whole universe.
William Sloane Coffin once wrote, “We are on the road to heaven if today we walk with God. Eternal life is not a possession conferred at death; it is a present endowment. We live it now and continue it through death.” What if the point of Jesus’ life is not about heaven but about life?
Many years ago, I was asked a question that has continued to haunt me on occasion. If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Of course we live in a country in which we are free to follow God faithfully without fear of persecution. But such a question, at least for me, stops me in my tracks. What have I done with my life that would serve as evidence that I tried to follow Jesus? Would there be enough witnesses to verify that I at least longed to be a disciple? Will I be able to look at my life and say with certainty that I tried to imitate Christ? So, I don’t care about getting into heaven because I am not sure that Jesus did. Jesus has shown us that God will never leave us alone. Jesus has shown us that God is gracious and merciful. Jesus has shown us that God makes room for us all. So, what if the point of Jesus’ life is not about heaven but about life- the kind of life where we can say, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand?” The question for us then becomes not whether we are getting into heaven, but whether we have imitated Christ. If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
Jesus by Marcus Borg. (New York: HarperOne, 2006) 307.
Credo by William Sloane Coffin. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004) 170.