Who is the Greatest Christian?

Dan

The disciples of Jesus once got into a heated debate about who of them was the best. Jesus told them,  “If you want to be first, you have to be the last. You have to be the servant.”  (Mark 9:33-9:35) I don’t see a lot of servants. I see people who want to be called the greatest. I see people who want to say, “Look at me, and my great Christian faith.” No one wants to be the servant. No one wants to get down in the dirt. No one is going to want to wash the feet of another. (Jesus did.) No, I don't see a lot of servants. I see people patting each other on the back. Check me out. Be like me. Well, the praise of men is cheap.

It's easy to cast judgment. It's easy to say we are better because we didn’t vote for this way or that way. It's harder to put ourselves in the shoes of others and walk their road. Yet that is what Christ demands of us. And he asks us to engage people with grace and mercy, not constant shaming and promises of excommunication. This may surprise many people, but Jesus wasn’t an elitist snob. Jesus walked and sat in the dirt and ate and drank with the muck of the earth. He gathered up all the scummy people he could find. He asked them to pull up a chair. He fed them, he talked to them, he healed them. It’s a lot easier to throw stones like the Pharisees. Maybe these people don’t need your judgment. Maybe they need your friendship and your love. Maybe they need some gentle understanding. Unless you’re too good for that now? Is the obsession with being disassociated from Trump causing you to disown your Christian brothers and sisters while proclaiming your own greatness?

Jesus once told the story about a tax collector and a priest going into the temple to pray. The Pharisee listed all the great things he did and left. The tax collector did not even feel worthy to be there, admitted he was a sinner,  and begged for mercy. One of these is harder than the other (Luke 18:9-14).

I know there is concern with the church. Criticisms of poor teachings and flawed spirituality are fair. But while there is a ton of rotten theology being practiced out there, I believe that this one thing we may find is true:  A Christ crucified and risen, for our salvation. Unless you are empowered to remove salvation from someone, perhaps you shouldn’t be labeling someone a non-Christian. Many of these Christians now being ostracized are good people, who did what they thought was right. They aren’t hateful people. They don’t hate everyone. Many were faithful people in extraordinary circumstances making a very difficult decision. It may not have gotten your approval, but it was their choice to make. Christ is merciful in all things. If they escape his judgment, why is it they can’t escape yours? Leave the eternal judgment to Christ.

If we removed ourselves from our high places we might understand the fear and concern Christians had for themselves and their families, and their faith:  For eight years I saw a President who was hostile to Christianity and I saw a leftist culture that backed it. I don’t blame a Christian for voting against the left. Maybe you should give them a break too. ​