One of our central beliefs as Christians, and one that we share with Jews and some Moslems, is that we, human beings, are created in the image and likeness of God. We believe that because we read it in the Scriptures, in the first Chapter of the book of Genesis. But what does it mean to be made in the image and likeness of God?
Over the years, there have been lots of ideas put forward about how we might understand what the image and likeness of God means. Quite obviously, I think, these ideas don’t suggest that we share some kind of physical characteristics with God, we don’t look like God in a physical sense. So what people have suggested is that we share some other type of characteristics with God. One of the most well-known, and popular in a sense, of these ideas is that, like God, human beings have the ability to love.
If we think about it, that does make sense because we say that God is love and so, if we are made in God’s image and likeness, we should be able to see at least something of God’s love in ourselves and in others. But, of course, whilst we know we can and do see that, at times, we also know that we don’t always see the image of a loving god in human beings. And that’s usually attributed to another characteristic we believe we share with God, free will; our ability to choose.
That’s seen as an essential part of our creation in the image and likeness of God because without free will, we can’t love. I’m sure we all know that from our own experience. We don’t always choose whom we love; as the song says, sometimes we can’t help falling in love. But we can’t make anyone else love us. Regardless of how much we love someone else, whether they love us in return is up to them. It’s their choice because they have the freedom of will, to choose.
We see all this played out in the life of Jesus. It was out of love that God freely chose to send his Son to earth to save us and show us the way to live in loving relationship with God and one another. It was out of love that Jesus freely chose to undertake the ministry that God had entrusted to him.
And it was out of love that Jesus freely chose to suffer and die in accordance with God’s will.
But none of that forced others into believing Jesus or loving him in return. Jesus loved them, but they were free to choose whether to return Jesus’ love or not. And we know that a lot of people chose not to return his love. Instead, they rejected his love and crucified him. But even that didn’t stop Jesus from loving them.
So if we want to know what it means to be a human being created, and living, in the image and likeness of God, we simply need to look at Jesus. And if we want to be true to our creation in the image and likeness of God, and be what we were created to be, we have to try to be like Jesus.
I’m sure we all know that. Being a Christian means to be Christ-like, it’s all about trying our best to be like Jesus, to live according to his teachings and to follow his example, and if we’re not prepared to try our best to do that, there’s really no point in being a Christian. If we’re not prepared to try our best to be like Jesus, we’ll never be any more than a Christian in name only. But even if we do try our best to be like Jesus, we know that we often fail. And the reason we fail is usually because we don’t love as we should do. We don’t love as God loves us and that’s most often shown in our failure to love our neighbour as Jesus said we should and as he did. That’s not to say that we don’t love, but how many of us love, really love, those who don’t love us, let alone those whom we know don’t like us or even hate us? How many of us could really follow Jesus’ example of love from the Cross:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
It’s easy to love those who love us, and it’s easy to love those we like. It’s not so easy to love people when we know that they don’t love us or don’t like us, it’s even harder to love them when those people do things that we don’t like, especially if those things are done at our expense. But, as Jesus also said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Jesus’ teaching there is clear enough and if we’re going to be Christians, people who are like Christ, people who are not only created in the image and likeness of God but who show God’s image and likeness in their lives, we need to act in that way. And yet how many times, in the course of some argument or disagreement between Church members, have we heard someone in the Church say about another member of the Church, ‘We don’t want their sort here.’? It shouldn’t happen, especially amongst Christians, but it does. I could give you example of parishes in which entire groups of people have not been wanted in a church, and been clearly shown that they weren’t welcome when they have been in church, for no other reason than the part of town, the ‘rough’ part of the parish, they happen to live in. How can that kind of behaviour possibly be squared with Jesus’ teaching and example? What kind of image of humanity does that kind of behaviour show to the world?
Sometimes, of course, people in the Church do act in ways that aren’t acceptable and they can and do cause a great deal of hurt and damage both to other members of the Church and to the image of the Church and the Christian faith. And when that happens, something should and must be done to deal with the problem. But the answer isn’t to take the easy way out and resolve the immediate problem by simply throwing people out of the Church. The answer is to show people the right path and to try to bring them back to the right path, and to bring them back into the fold. And that applies equally when these things happen outside the Church too, in whatever area of life they happen. Again, as Jesus said, he didn’t come into the world to condemn, but to save; to seek out and save those who were lost. And we in the Church are called to follow his example.
And that is Jesus’ example. We know that he went looking for those whom other people wanted nothing to do with; tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners of all kinds, the poor and the sick, those possessed by demons, lepers, those who were considered unacceptable in the community. He even loved such hated people as Samaritans and Romans.
Jesus sought these people out. He associated with them and befriended them. He even called some of them to be his disciples. He was criticised for it, but he did it anyway because he loved them as God loved them. And so Jesus showed what it is to live as a human being made in the image and likeness of God.
We’re called to be like Jesus, to live by his teaching and to follow his example. And the closer we can follow him, the more like him we’ll become. It’s not easy and we won’t suddenly be turned into the kind of dazzling figure that Jesus displayed at his Transfiguration. But we will be changed and become more like him. We’ll be changed in the way St Paul describes in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, a case of
“…reflecting the glory of the Lord, …being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
So if we can follow Jesus more closely and love as he loved, we will be changed and become more like him. And the more like Jesus we become, the closer we’ll be to the people we were intended to be, people who were created in the image and likeness of God and who show that image in their lives.
Amen.
The Propers for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Next Before Lent) can be found here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 