“Everyone
who acknowledges Me before others, I also will acknowledge before My Father in
heaven; but whoever denies Me before others, I will also deny before My Father
in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33 NRSV
This
passage gets passed around on social media and in many e-mail “chain letters”
than perhaps any other passage in Scripture – AND – in my opinion, in a most
inappropriate and shallow way. The social media or e-mail suggests that
if we do not “share” that particular post or Tweet and if we do not pass along
to our own e-mail connections that very thing which has been sent to us, then
we might as well pack our bags and prepare for the descent into the very depths
of Hell.
Surely
we can read this passage and do a better job of not only understanding our
Lord’s words in its fullness, but perhaps we can also embrace this passage as
sage advice on how to live as Christians. For instance, are we
“acknowledging” Jesus when we gossip about someone we don’t like? Or are
we denying Him? Are we affirming Christ as Savior of the world when we
decide worship just isn’t nearly as important as sleeping in or playing golf or
going fishing or hunting or entertaining family and friends? Or are we
dismissing Him and all He sought to teach those who would dare to follow Him?
Claiming
Christ as one’s “personal” Savior is a little tricky when we fail to realize or
appreciate that there is more to being connected to Him than to simply say His
Name aloud or post a thingie on Facebook. We wonder why people are moving
away from the Church rather than toward but I think if we were to study the
Scripture, really delve into the fullness of the Written Word, we would find
much more for these lost souls than professions of faith or “sinners’ prayers”.
“Only
Jesus knows what’s in my heart”, we love to say; but Jesus says something
quite the opposite: “A good person out of the good treasure of the heart
produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it
is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks” (Luke
6:45). And this, I think, is what Jesus is talking about in whether
we are affirming or denying our affiliation with Him. What we say often
becomes what we do and ultimately defines who we really are.
It
is past time to stop playing Christian and start living as disciples who are
genuinely following Christ. For it is the faithful witness of the Holy
Church by which others come to know of whom Jesus really is. A “personal”
Savior – OR – Lord of the Church? Those who are lost and lonely and
hungry and homeless need to know. What will we tell them? “Be warm,
stay safe, eat well”? OR will we say, “Let me help you, comfort you, feed
you, heal you”?
Michael
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