Belief as It Relates to Jesus

In last week's blog (July 22, 2019 - I Believe ... The Problem with Belief), I spoke of how the focus on belief has led many who call themselves Christians to act in un-Christian ways. The focus on belief is an attempt to be "right," which appeals to the ego and fosters a not-so-subtle arrogance that looks at the "other" as "wrong" and, thereby, less than. This focus on belief divides and polarizes. It is often marked by a rigid spirit that is unable to tolerate any other way of thinking, evidence that the heart is untouched and unchanged.

And, yet, belief is vitally important ... belief as it relates to Jesus, that is. 

I see belief as it relates to Jesus as significantly different from belief about some ethical or theological or political position. Belief about an ethical or theological or political position sets up the us-them polarization, the ego-driven need to be right, the arrogance that fuels disdain for those who think differently. Belief as it relates to Jesus leads to a radically different outcome.

Unfortunately, popular Christianity often places belief as it relates to Jesus in the same category as ethical or theological or political beliefs (a position on one side of an issue). It makes belief as it relates to Jesus about who Jesus is, i.e., God's son - God in human flesh. This focus on who Jesus is distracts us from what Jesus taught and how Jesus lived. It allows us to believe in Jesus but not follow Jesus. Richard Rohr notes that Jesus never called anyone to worship him; he called them to follow him, that is, to live the ways of God that he taught.

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Some today speak of the Kingdom as the Reign of God. The Kingdom was the dominant theme of Jesus' preaching and teaching. He proclaimed the Kingdom to be a present reality, inviting people to embrace it and pursue it here and now. His ministry and teachings reflected the ways of the Kingdom - a society/world patterned after the character of God and practicing the ways of God:

• everyone is a beloved, valued child of God; 
• relationships are based on grace and forgiveness; 
• power is used to serve; 
• material wealth - as a form of power - is used on behalf of the poor and powerless; 
• transformation of heart and mind that leads to personal, spiritual growth and wholeness is the Kingdom's objective for the individual; 
• a world of peace and abundance is the Kingdom's objective for society. (See my book A God-shaped World: Exploring the Teachings of Jesus about the Kingdom of God and the Implications for the Church Today.) 

When we pray the prayer that Jesus taught - the Lord's Prayer - we are praying for this kind of world to become a reality on earth: "thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."

In my mind, the primary question is not "do we believe Jesus was/is the Son of God?" (Yes, I know that sounds like heresy!) The more important question is "do we believe what Jesus taught about who God is (self-giving, servant love), about how God relates (grace and forgiveness), about using power (and material wealth!) to serve, about embracing and treating all - no exceptions - as individuals of worth and value, about a transformed society, about a transformed heart and mind?"

The two questions call for different kinds of belief. The first - who was Jesus? - calls us to accept a fact as true. It allows us to identify ourselves as a Christian without requiring much more of us. The second - what Jesus taught - calls us to act on what we say we believe. It calls us to begin to live the ways of God that Jesus taught. It calls us to face our struggle to do so, opening our hearts and minds to the transforming work of the Spirit. It calls us to follow him.

Some kinds of belief are passive. They allow us to take a position that may or may not impact the way we actually live. Belief as it relates to Jesus calls for action. It calls us to act on what we say we believe. Trusting what Jesus taught, we allow the teachings of Jesus to shape how we think and how we actually live.

I call this kind of belief, faith.