Beyond the Memes
A shocking command and strange companions
Believe in God; believe also in me. (John 14:1)
Either Jesus is God in the flesh, or this command is idolatrous. Those who believe in one God cannot believe also in someone or something else.
This passage alone puts Jesus beyond the memes that try to contain him as a symbol for this or that cause or “side.” I won’t share any because I think they’re as bad for our brains as going to bed without brushing is bad for our teeth.
One thing we know about God in the flesh is that he did not surround himself with like minded people. Among his chosen apostles were
Simon the Zealot — the Zealots were Jews seeking to foment rebellion against the Roman occupation of their land. They engaged in violence against the Romans and against other Jews who weren’t supportive of revolution.
Matthew the Tax Collector — the tax collectors were in active collaboration with the Roman occupiers.
I can’t imagine what it was like for those two to be together, at least at first. Believe in God; believe also in me, said Jesus, and I am the way, and the truth, and the life. (John 14:6) Following God in the flesh displaced their previous identities.
After Jesus ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit (also God, not another god) guided the church, the strange companionships spread, as the Apostle Peter received a vision that led him to baptize a Roman officer named Cornelius (Acts 10).
Oh, and Jesus had appeared and turned Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of the church, into its formidable evangelist and teacher, the Apostle Paul. Paul would express in a single verse the strange companionships formed by the divine Jesus,
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
John the Evangelist would see strange companionships in the vision given him by the divine Jesus,
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands… (Revelation 7:9)
Jesus calls for strange companionships in a sin-sick world that is always pulling hearts apart and hurling clenched fists back.
The conflicts of our news cycles seem like utimate issues. But Jesus said, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. (Matthew 24:6)
Even as we are moved by the competing claims sounding all around us (it is human and inevitable that Christians will sympathize with this or that “side”), it is important that the church not lose confidence in the value of our prayers for the struggling world. It is important that we stay close to Jesus’ teaching and prioritize the eternal kingdom values he revealed to us, knowing that things that seem ulitmate right now will pass, and similar troubles will flare up and fade until the end of time.
People will do horrible things during these human struggles. And they will need the Gospel to be preached when they come to themselves and realize their need to receive and to show mercy. The church must keep preaching the Good News that the Lamb of God has put away the sin of the world.
In a world where sin and death are always assertive, Christians need to keep offering our testimony to the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting.