A Radical Call

In his Great Commission, Jesus told us to make disciples, teaching them to obey his commandments. But what are his commandments? To oppose evil and fight for biblical principles? To turn our backs on ungodly people so that we can grow in holiness and spirituality? These are certainly common answers, but his actual commandments are to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek to them, to be servants of all, to take up our crosses, and many similar commands. This radical call of Jesus challenges our comfortable lives, our priorities, and our prejudices. It is not so much a call to be a missionary or minister but to let go of all that we hold dear so that we, laypersons and clergy, can bring hope to the hopeless, living water to the thirsty, and good news to a world in need.

Many of us, however, act as though once we put our faith in Jesus, we must maintain it through right living. We adopt all sorts of rules which eventually we use to decide who is righteous and who is unrighteous. We start down the slippery slope of replacing acts of mercy with condemnation of sin and sharing the good news with defending biblical principles. Yet that is exactly what Jesus criticized the religious faithful in his day for doing. Have we actually stepped into their shoes? If he were to visit our churches today, would he praise our holiness or condemn our hypocrisy and self-righteousness, which drives nonbelievers away from the faith? We might discover that he simply bypassed our churches, instead visiting the local bar to spend time with nonbelievers or a nearby homeless camp to heal the sick and offer living water to the spiritually thirsty. If we are to heed the radical call of Jesus, our discipleship cannot be measured by how holy our values are but by how we value those in need around us and what we do to meet those needs and to show God's love. It is by such acts of compassion that he will separate the sheep from the goats.