Interactive Gospel
- The Example of Jesus - by Paul Hazelden
1. Summary
We believe that Jesus' followers have
never managed to live up to His example, but that does not
invalidate His message.
One of the key aspects of the Christian faith is that we
believe Jesus was - and still is - perfect. His
followers are not, and (should!) never claim to be.
Of course, we seek to follow His example. We
believe that He helps, guides and strengthens us. As
we grow spiritually, we become better people. But
none of this prevents us from falling short of His standard.
More than this, many people who follow Jesus, or who claim to
follow Him, have seriously misunderstood Him and the nature of
His teaching. Nobody who understands the Sermon on
the Mount - for example - can possibly be involved in something
like the Crusades and believe that such an activity is
compatible with following Jesus.
At times, the 'official' Christian churches have seriously
failed to teach abouut Jesus, or have mis-represented
Him. Like any institution, the church can fail and
become corrupt.
But sad and depressing though this may be, the failures of the
people who followed Jesus do not invalidate His message or
ministry. After all, we do not imagine that, if a
Physicist leads an immoral life, that this reflects on Isaac
Newton or throws the law of gravity into doubt. The
followers are less than the master. It would be
strange if this were not so.
People certainly expect the followers of Jesus to be leading
lives of greater moral purity than the general population. And
this is not unreasonable in itself.
But there seems to be a great gulf between the feelings and
words of people in the Church, and what the people outside the
Church pick up.
People in the Church are very often terribly aware of their
moral failures and weaknesses: they know that they should be
good, and deeply regret the fact that they are not - while (it
seems to me) they often do far better than they realise. But
people outside the Church seem to hear them claiming to be
very good, and denounce them as hypocrites when they fail to
live up to the standard of perfection they set for themselves.
Which is not to deny that sometimes prominent Christians
are dreadfully hypocritical. They are, after all, human.
But the fact remains: the Church is a sanctuary for those
who know they are sick, who recognise they need help. It is
not, and never claims to be, a place for the perfect to meet
each other.
Christians do bad and stupid things, just like everyone
else. But the surprising thing is the amount of grace and
love and forgiveness you can generally find among these
weak and fallible human beings.
Jesus said that people will recognise His followers, not
by their perfection or holiness, but by the love they have
for one another. And in every church I have visited, that
unexpected love can be found.
The only alternative - the claim that the failure of Jesus'
followers to live up to the example He gave somehow invalidates
His message - has never been seriously presented, as far as
I am aware.