What if it walks like a...
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount he told his followers not to be like the religious leaders who did acts of piety, gave to the poor, and prayed—all to be seen and honored by others (Matt 6:1-8). To this he adds, “That’s what they do. Don’t be like them. They have their reward.”
But are we, even at this point in our life, really that different? After many days, years, or decades of following our Savior, aren’t we still a mixed bag? Isn’t part of us still just like those “bad actors”, while another part of us longs to be different?
Thankfully, in the mind of God we are declared completely different the moment we fall in with his Son. But, in practice, isn’t it a matter of degree depending on, at any given moment, how much of ourselves is resting or working in the Spirit of God?
Seems to me that the part of us that longs to be different might be explained in one of two ways. It might be a remnant of being created in the likeness of God that causes us to aspire to be better than religious people who do what they do “to be seen by others.” Or the part of us that doesn’t want to be “performing for the crowd” could be evidence of the Spirit of Christ who was given to us when we put our faith in the Son of God.
In either case, when we hear our Lord saying things like, “That’s what they do. Don’t be like them. They have their reward,” isn’t that our signal? Doesn’t that become our chance to remember why he said things to his disciples like, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again” (Matt 20:18-19)?
And isn’t it in the next moment that we need to hear him say, “Remember”… “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5)?
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