Jesus. A controversial figure, right? At least today. Perhaps always. He’s fit into all sorts of categories. Jesus as Lord. Jesus as Savior. Jesus as your boyfriend (which, as Courtney Ressig of Her.meneutics can tell you, is not a good thing). The Teacher, the Redeemer, the Prince of Peace. A lot of titles.
This past Sunday, at our weekly associates meeting, we got onto the topic of Jesus. As a Unitarian Universalist, the Unitarian part of that identity obviously means I feel a little different about Jesus than most Trinitarians do. I consider Jesus a Son of God, in the way we are all children of God. And I believe he exemplified the kind of life that God wants us to live. He is my teacher, my model. I get into a bit more murky area when we start talking about trinitarian theology, but I’ll save that for another time.
To be Christian, to me, is to follow that model of Jesus’ life. That is the Gospel–that is creating Heaven here on earth. As a video from the Fund for Theological Education succinctly put it: “Love God, love neighbor” (might I also mention how graphically appealing the video is?). Watch it here (because BU Blogs won’t let me embed it in this post…). You might also want to take a look at a lovely article entitled “Is Jesus the Only Way to God?” The author, Steve McSwain, writes,
“Christians (and I include myself among them) have long misread and so misinterpreted the meaning of Jesus when he said, ‘I am the way…” (John 14:6). We have mistakenly assumed Jesus was pointing to himself as ‘the only way to the Father.’ Instead, he was saying that his way — that is, his life, his teachings, the way he thought and so lived –when followed, would result in an abundant, eternal life.”
My parents always told me, “People should know you are a Christian by how you act, not what you say.” In a similar vein, a quote often attributed to St. Francis (though, apparently, according to the internet, of unknown origin), is, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.”
To me, living my faith means doing just that–living it, through action. Helping people. Doing service. Being compassionate and authentic. Following Jesus’ way of life, even in my theology may not be mainstream.