THE LAST RIVER MILE

In these days when what it means to be “Christian” seems to be up for grabs in North America, many divergent people claim to be doing what the one known as Jesus wants people to do. They can’t all be right, because some actions, behaviors, and proclamations are polar opposites of one another. So what did/does Jesus actually ask of us?

Apparently he did not say, “Believe these particular doctrines,” even though those of us who follow Jesus act as if doctrinal accuracy is the begin-all and end-all. He did not say, “Do these particular religious things.” That kind of negates twenty centuries of battles of when and how to baptize, how to do Holy Communion/The Eucharist/The Lord’s Supper, what kind of worship music is “right”, etc. There’s nothing wrong and everything right with committing portions of the Bible to memory, but Jesus said nothing about scriptural expertise being the main thing. And Jesus didn’t pitch himself as the heaven-ticket in his invitation.

To those he approached and called, Jesus asked something very specific – “Follow me.” (Mark 2:14, for example.) The original Greek is a form of the word akolouthei, which literally means to walk along or behind someone, accompanying that person in a specific direction. In describing a teacher/disciple relationship it meant aligning with a specific leader and becoming like that person.

So, Jesus wants us to follow him by becoming like him. That means SO much. Above all, it means love; not love as a feeling or sentiment, but love as a chosen action. It is a sacrificing love, penultimately demonstrated in Jesus’ submission to the killing cross. It is loving others in the same way God made known in Jesus loves us.

Grounded in this other-focused love, becoming like Jesus means being on the move. It’s about going to where people are, rather than waiting for them to come to us. It’s about being with the people whom cultures decide are worthless (Matthew 9:10-17), sinful (John 7:53-8:11), inferior (John 4:1-42), dangerous (Mark 5:1-20), dirty (Luke 8:43-48), or foreign and suspect (Luke 7:1-10). And it’s about treating all of them as if they are God’s most beloved. It’s on this foundation that grace, salvation, and transformation happen.

Jesus just asks us to follow him and to be like him in this way. Love God and love others as he did/does. That has lots of implications for me. It means I can’t just slap the label “Christian” on myself and expect a hurting, skeptical world to buy it. Among other things, it means I can’t claim Jesus as Savior and Lord and default to a demeaning, racist remark into the same microphone. (I’m not judging this incident; I’m just observing. I’m guilty of plenty of inconsistencies in my own words as well.) Following Jesus is not always easy. Sometimes we will face fierce opposition. Sometimes we will be in the difficult position of speaking grace and truth to great secular power. Sometimes we will be crushingly alone.

But in fact we will never be alone. The One we follow promised to be with us, always…no matter what.

I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.