THE WAY: PART I
The Jesus way plus the Jesus truth equals the Jesus life. That’s a line similar to one Eugene Peterson uses in his book, The Jesus Way. What Peterson actually says is this: “The Jesus way wedded to the Jesus truth brings about the Jesus life,” but I like my wording better. The Jesus way plus the Jesus truth equals the Jesus life. The question now is: What is the Jesus way, what is the Jesus truth, what is the Jesus life…and how do we get there?
Once upon a time, a man dreamed that he died and he was met at the Pearly Gates by none other than St. Peter himself. St. Peter said to the man, “Welcome to the kingdom of heaven. Would you like me to show you around?” The man replied, “Oh, I’d like that more than anything else in the world.”
As St. Peter began to show the man around, he was surprised to discover that the kingdom of heaven was like a long hallway with an unending series of doors. As the two of them approached the first door, the man heard beautiful singing. The man said, “What’s behind that door?” St. Peter replied, “Oh, that’s the Methodists. They just love to sing.” As the two of them approached the second door, the man heard fiery preaching. The man said, “What’s behind that door?” St. Peter replied, “That would be the Baptists. You know how they love their fire and brimstone.”
As they approached the third door, St. Peter stopped the man and said, “Shh. We have to be very quiet as we go past this door.” The man said, “Why is that?” St. Peter replied, “Because behind this door are the Presbyterians. They think they’re the only ones here.”
Now of course, Presbyterians don’t really believe that, but it’s always safer for me to make us the brunt of the joke rather than to pick on someone else. Yet the fact of the matter is, there are some Christian denominations who truly believe that they’re the only ones who are going to end up in heaven. Why do they believe that? They believe that because they have somehow come to accept the fact that they have cornered the market on truth. In other words, if you don’t believe exactly as they believe – and speak the exact same religious platitudes they speak – then in their minds, they are right, you are wrong, and you’re not going to make it to the kingdom of heaven. Personally, I’ve always liked C.S. Lewis’ take on that. He once said, “When we get to heaven, I think we’re going to be very surprised by some of the people we see…and I think we’re also going to be surprised by some of the people we don’t.” Now there’s some food for thought.
Jesus seems to address this issue in the passage we read from the gospel according to John. The context of our passage is an upper room in Jerusalem. Jesus is sharing his last supper with his disciples shortly before his arrest and crucifixion. Prior to their departure to the Garden of Gethsemane, he shares some words of wisdom with them. He tries to tell them of how soon he will be leaving them, yet somehow they fail to understand just exactly what he means.
Jesus says, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also.” Then he adds, “And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas, of Doubting Thomas fame, quickly replies, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus then utters some of the most profound words in all of Scripture: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father…but by me.”
Why, it’s almost as if Jesus says it himself: The Jesus way plus the Jesus truth equals the Jesus life. In other words, the Jesus life is not found by cornering the market on the Jesus truth alone. One must also follow the Jesus way. It’s the Jesus way PLUS the Jesus truth that equals the Jesus life, and therein lies our problem. We seem to have lost sight of the Jesus way. We are quite well-versed on the American way, but we seem to have lost sight of the Jesus way.
The curricula of the American way is designed to help us get ahead in whatever field of work we find ourselves – be it sales, politics, business, or even church. We take courses that instruct us in skills and principals that we are told are foundational for success, and then we are taught how to use those skills and principals to get what we want out of life. We seek to embrace the methods and techniques of successful people, who then write books and give lectures telling us how we can do what they are doing if only we follow all the right steps. Of course, this all plays right into our consumer mentality. And it all works wonderfully, as long as getting ahead and achieving worldly success are our ultimate goals. But that’s not the Jesus way. That’s the way of the world. And the way of the world is often in direct contrast with the Jesus way. Eugene Peterson has an interesting take on the contrast between the way of the world and the Jesus way. He writes:
To take a person trained in ways and means that are custom-formulated to fit into the world’s ways, and then place that person in the worshipping, evangelizing, witnessing, reconciling, peace-making, justice-advocating people of God, is equivalent to putting an adolescent whose sole qualifications consist of a fascination with speed, the ability to step on the accelerator, and expertise in operating the radio, behind the wheel of a brand-new Porsche.
Any of you who have ever had teenagers know exactly what Peterson means. In fact, I know of two fathers in Meadville who did just that. One put his sixteen-year-old son behind the wheel of a brand new Mustang G.T., and the other put his sixteen-year-old son on the back of what we call a crotch rocket motorcycle. Guess what? Both boys ended up in the hospital after high-speed accidents, and both are lucky to be alive today. Just as you can’t put a sixteen-year-old boy behind the wheel of an incredibly fast car or a high speed motorcycle, you can’t expect a person equipped in the ways of the world to be proficient in the way of Jesus. We need to learn, as Jesus says time and time again, to repent. To repent is to have a change of heart or to have a change of mind. It has to do with reversing our current direction. It has to do with a radically different way of life.
The Jesus way plus the Jesus truth equals the Jesus life. To find the Jesus life entails more than having a handle on the Jesus truth. It also demands that we follow the Jesus way. That’s where we seem to come up short, and that’s what we’re going to be exploring over the course of the next few weeks. We’re going to be seeking the Jesus way. It may not be easy. It may even require some sacrifice or some change in the way we live our lives, but I think it’s worth exploring, just the same.
From the time of Abraham to the time of Jesus Christ, the Hebrew people – our ancestors in the faith – lived in proximity to a succession of some of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known. There was Sumeria, Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece and Rome. Their leaders stand tall in the Leadership Hall of Fame: Hammurabi, Ramses, Tiglath-Pilesar III, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great, and even Caesar Augustus.
But think about this. For many centuries, with all of this empire-building going on around them, the Hebrew people kept to their own ways and maintained a unique counterculture. It was a unique counterculture in terms of the way they worshipped God and the way they lived their lives. Ultimately, however, they wanted to be like everyone else. They wanted to have a king of their own. Finally, God acquiesced. The prophet Samuel was called to anoint Saul to be the first king over Israel. Then David became king. Then Solomon became king. Then it all fell apart over the course of the next five hundred years. When all was said and done there were no more kings over Israel. In fact, there was no more kingdom of Israel at all. And it was all because they abandoned their unique counterculture. It was all because they came to neglect the way of God.
Then Jesus came and showed the world how to live in what he called the kingdom of God. That’s what we need to recover. That’s what we need to rediscover. As Christians, we need to become a unique counterculture once again. We should be different than the world around us. We should have alternative priorities. We should seek to live the Jesus life by encountering the Jesus truth and following the Jesus way. Perhaps then people will see us and say of us as they said of Christians some eighteen hundred years ago, “See how these Christians love one another, while we ourselves are ready to kill one another.” Do you see the difference?
While I cannot give you a definitive description of the Jesus way in the time we have left this morning, perhaps I can give you a glimpse into what a part of it might look like. Many years ago, there was a minister and his wife who had two sons and a daughter. The minister and his wife loved their family and they loved their congregation. Then one of the couple’s boys was killed in a tragic shooting accident.
The minister and his wife were devastated beyond belief. Yet when they came to the church that night, nearly half the congregation was in the fellowship hall to offer all the love and support they could. Love and support in a time of desperate need: That, my friends, is the church being the church. And that, my friends, is what the Jesus way looks like.
Over the course of the next few weeks, we’re going to be examining how we can approach the way of Jesus on a more frequent and regular basis. I invite you to come along for the ride. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment