One of the things I’ve spoken about in sermons from time to time is the belief that some people have, the very mistaken belief they have, that doing good works makes a person a Christian. I don’t know if any of you have ever spoken to someone who believes this, but I have, many times, over the years. People who say, and with great sincerity, that even though they never go to church and don’t really believe in God, they nevertheless consider themselves to be Christians because they’re ‘good’ people who never do anyone any harm. In fact I do remember once being told something along those lines by one person who said that he didn’t even believe that Jesus Christ ever really existed which, as Jesus repeatedly told his disciples that they must have faith in God and faith in him, shows, I think, a very strange understanding of what a Christian is.
But as strange as that may be, it’s a belief that’s not too dissimilar from another very curious belief about what being a Christian is that I’ve also come across many times, and in this case, even amongst the clergy; the belief that whatever a person might believe or whatever faith they profess, whether they’re atheists or profess and practice a religion other than Christianity, they are nevertheless, whether they realise it or not or want to accept it or not, Christians if they do good works; in particular, if they practice what the Church calls pastoral care of others. In my experience, the basis people have for this kind of belief is that they believe all pastoral care stems from the teaching and example of Jesus and so therefore, anyone who practices pastoral care is following Jesus’ teaching and example which, in turn, makes them a Christian.
But again, this is a mistaken belief. I think that people in the Church forget far too often and easily that Jesus was not a Christian; he was a Jew. His faith was based on what we call the Old Testament of the Bible. When Jesus quotes the Scriptures, or indeed when any of the authors of the New Testament speak about the Scriptures, it’s the Old Testament they’re speaking about. When they say that Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures, they mean the Old Testament Scriptures and when Jesus himself said that he came to fulfil the Scriptures, the law and the prophets, it was the Old Testament he was speaking about. So Jesus’ mission and ministry, the pastoral care he taught and practiced was of Jewish origin and it had been taught by the prophets of the Jewish faith and written in the Jewish Scriptures before Jesus came to earth. So, on that basis, rather than saying that all those who carry out pastoral care of others are Christians, we could, just as easily, say that they’re Jews. In fact, if we really wanted to, we could go back even further in time to look for the origins of pastoral care because many ancient civilisations practiced it. We now have evidence that even the Neanderthal people, people who were once thought of as nothing more than brutish cavemen, showed at least some degree pastoral care towards the sick and elderly of their kind.
So showing care and concern for others alone, doesn’t make people Christians. It might very well make those who show that kind of care and concern, good people, but it’s quite possible to be a good person without being a Christian. There are and have been many such people. We know there have been because we read about some of them in the Old Testament of the Bible. But if showing care and concern for others doesn’t make a person a Christian, what does? Quite simply it’s this; to believe in Jesus and in all he said. To believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, so deeply that we do all he told us to do. That is what it means to call Jesus our Lord and Saviour and to live as though we really believe that. And a person can’t be a Christian unless they at least try to do that. As Jesus himself said,
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do what I tell you?”
And again,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
And Jesus told us what the will of the Father is too when he said.
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
To be a Christian then, is to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and to do all he told us to do. There are, as we know, many people who do proclaim Jesus as their Lord and Saviour but, as we also know, the really difficult thing about being a Christian is living out that proclamation of faith by doing what Jesus told us to do. I’m sure we all try to do that, but it’s not easy and perhaps the single most difficult thing about being a Christian is putting into practice the things Jesus told us about forgiveness.
In the Old Testament it’s invariably God who forgives the sins of the people, but in Jesus’ teaching people are called to mirror God’s forgiveness in their own lives by forgiving one another. At one time, it was thought that this was a teaching so novel, so unique to Jesus that, for example, in his poem The Everlasting Gospel, written around 1818, William Blake could write,
There is not one Moral Virtue that Jesus Inculcated but Plato & Cicero did Inculcate before him what then did Christ Inculcate. Forgiveness of Sins This alone is the Gospel & this is the Life & Immortality brought to light by Jesus.
We now know that this understanding of forgiveness was already present in the Judaism of Jesus’ day but, nevertheless, forgiveness, both God’s forgiveness of sinners and our forgiveness of one another does lie at the heart of Jesus’ teaching. So one of the most important things we’re called to do, as Christians, something we really must do to be Christians, is to accept our own need of forgiveness and forgive the sins of others. But isn’t this teaching of Jesus, one that’s so essential to his message and ministry, the one that we find the hardest of all to carry out?
How many of us are really willing and able to see ourselves as sinners in need of forgiveness? How often do we try to hide our faults and failings behind excuses; it wasn’t really our fault; I only did it because someone else did this to me first; it’s only a little thing, and no one was hurt so it doesn’t really matter? How often do we try to divert attention from our own faults by pointing out the faults of others; I don’t know how they’ve got the nerve to call me after what they’ve done? How often do we claim that we never do anything wrong, or if we do, it’s nothing like and nowhere near so bad as the things others do? How often do we, in effect, point out the specks in other people’s eyes and ignore the logs in our own?
Forgiveness is really about wiping the slate clean; it’s about putting what’s past behind us and moving on without letting what’s happened in the past affect our future relationships with those whom we feel have hurt or wronged us in some way. But isn’t this something we find so difficult to do too? We’re all sinners in need of forgiveness but how often do we try to take the moral high ground in disputes; we’re right, they’re wrong? How often are we tempted to or actually do remind people of their faults and failings; of the things they’ve done wrong in the past? And how often do we get a sense of pleasure from doing that because it makes us feel good about ourselves and probably superior to them? We’re called to love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves, but can we honestly say that, if someone has hurt or wronged us, we don’t let that affect the way we treat them in the future? We are all sinners in need of forgiveness from God and from one another and yet how often are we unforgiving of others because we’re unwilling to see ourselves as doing or being wrong? In The Everlasting Gospel, William Blake wrote
‘If you forgive one another your Trespasses so shall Jehovah forgive you That he himself may dwell among you but if you Avenge you Murder the Divine Image & he cannot dwell among you…’
We believe that we’re made in the image and likeness of God and our forgiveness of one another is a mirror image God’s forgiveness of us. If we can’t or won’t forgive others, aren’t we doing exactly what Blake said – killing, murdering the divine image within us and preventing God, Christ and the Holy Spirit from dwelling within us? So, whatever else we may do that’s in keeping with Jesus teaching and example, if we can’t or won’t see ourselves as sinners in need of forgiveness, and/or can’t and won’t forgive others, how can we be or call ourselves Christians?
One day, we’ll all have to stand in front of Christ and give an account of ourselves. If we’ve called ourselves Christians, what will we say when we’re asked to give an account of how we showed that in our lives? If we’ve acclaimed Christ as our Lord and Saviour, what will we say when we’re asked how often and how well then, did we do what he told us to do? What will we say when we’re asked to account for our sins? Will we still try to plead our innocence and that we never did anything wrong? We won’t get away with that, but we’ll all want God to forgive us, so what will we be able to say about our own willingness and ability to be forgiving of others?
In 10 days’ time, we’ll celebrate Ash Wednesday and the start of the season of Lent. As we know, that’s a time for self-reflection and penitence in preparation for our Lord’s supreme sacrifice on the Cross, a sacrifice which was all about forgiveness; our forgiveness and even the forgiveness of those who plotted and caused his death, and for the great foundational event of our faith, his Resurrection on Easter Day. What better time could there be than to think about our own attitude towards forgiveness? What better time could there be for us to ask ourselves how willing and able we are to see ourselves as sinners in need of forgiveness and how willing and able we are to forgive others? What better time could there be to ask if we really are the Christians we claim to be, whether we’re people who simply call Jesus, Lord, or people who live as though we do truly believe that he is our Lord and Saviour and show it by doing all he told us to do?
There’s a lot more to being a Christian than many people seem to think, but whatever else we do, our willingness and ability to see our own need of forgiveness and to forgive others is perhaps a very good test of how well we really do live up to the name so perhaps it’s a test we should all take this Lent.
Amen.
The Propers for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time (2nd before Lent) can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 