walking in the jesus way - christianity without the ... in the jesus... · the jesus way as walking...

John the Beloved distilled theJesus Way to this: “And this is love: that we walk inobedience to his commands.

As you have heard from thebeginning, his command is that youwalk in love” (2 John 1:6).

By the end of the first century, theDidache, a very early Christiancatechism / manual, summarizedthe Jesus Way as walking in love. Itopens this way, recalling the wordsof Christ:

*******There are two ways, one of life and

one of death, but a great differencebetween the two ways. The way oflife, then, is this: First, you shall loveGod who made you; second, loveyour neighbor as yourself, and donot do to another what you wouldnot want done to you.

The teaching is this: Bless thosewho curse you, pray for yourenemies, and fast for those whopersecute you. For what reward isthere for loving those who loveyou? Do not the Gentiles do that?But love those who hate you, andyou shall not have an enemy…

If someone strikes your rightcheek, turn to him the other also,and you shall be perfect.

If someone forces you to go onemile, go with him two.

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If someone takes your cloak, givehim also your coat.

If someone takes from you what isyours, ask it not back, for indeedyou are not able.

Give to everyone who asks youand ask it not back; for the Fatherwills that to all should be given ofour own blessings (free gifts).

*******See how difficult walking in love

can become? It sounds impossible—like “take up your cross.” Exactly.But Jesus meant it—walking in hisfootsteps of love is a real way of life.In his own words, “This is mycommand: love one another, in thesame way that I loved you”(John15:12).

A “command”? Yes. A tall order,yes, but it is, after all, the Jesus Way.Would you rather hack your owntrail through the jungle of life witha machete of self-effort? No thanks.Rather, to walk the Jesus Way is tofollow the Christ—the divinehuman—by the Grace of Abbathrough the power of the Spirit.

The Jesus Walk is a faithpilgrimage in the company and inthe strength of triune Love. As thecarol says, “their law is love andtheir gospel is peace.” Yes, sign meup for that, please.

THE WAY OF THE CROSS On second thought…“Love eachother as Christ loved us”? Give me amoment, please…But Christ laiddown his life for us. Is John sayinghis followers will also lay down theirlives?

“This is my command: love oneanother, in the same way that Iloved you. No one has a love greaterthan this, to lay down your life foryour friends.”—John 15:12-13

I get it now: the Jesus Wayconjoins the way of love with theway of the Cross. The Jesus Walk isthe Way of sacrificial love—cruciform(cross-like love) and kenotic (self-giving love), just like him.

But the Cross? That’s supposed tobe a done deal. Why does Christsay, “If any of you want to comeafter me, you must say no toyourselves, and pick up your crossevery day, and follow me” (Luke9:23)?

Are Christians called to becrucified? Literally, hardly ever.Okay, we talk about “dying to self,”which means something like lettinggo of self-centeredness and ego. Butit’s more than that.

I believe Christ intends thecruciform love of Abba revealedthrough him to become flesh inthose who follow him on the Jesus

Walkingin the

Jesus Way

By Brad Jersak

Way. Remember, cruciform loverefers to God’s self-giving, radicallyforgiving, co-suffering love. Thosewho’ve read A More Christlike God orarticles I’ve posted about the Crosswill recognize that three-foldrefrain. It is typically how Isummarize the nature and way oftriune Love.

But now we add to that this truth:Christ-followers who truly follow—who walk the Jesus Way—will alsomanifest his love in our lives, “onthe ground,” so to speak. Christclaimed his disciples would beknown and recognized by this love(John 13:35). They are identifiedwith Christ as they exhibit hiscruciform love in this world…

By the Grace (transformingenergies) of the indwelling Spirit,love becomes a law of nature—ournew nature. We must not reduce thisto an abstract righteousness declaredin some hypothetical heavenlyverdict. The love-righteousness ofChrist-in-us must and will “showup” as the way we walk—the JesusWalk.

THE WAY OF LOVE John, the apostle of love, is utterlyinsistent on this point. His logic isunequivocal:

First, God is love because that lovedid not hunker down in God’s heartin the comfort of Paradise. TriuneLove is a divine verb Who entered

space-time history through the Incarnation.

Divine Love necessarily appearsand acts or it is not love at all. Thatact of love is Jesus Christ—theeternal Word enfleshed as perfect,cruciform (cross-like) Love.

John the Beloved extrapolates:divine Love—Christ in us—is onlyreal when it actualizes—when itappears and acts in the tangibleworld of our relationships.

Love shows up or it isn’t love.John leaves no room for aheaven/earth, heart/hand,feeling/action dualism. As myfirstborn once said to his youngestbrother, “At some level, you arewhat you do.” Your identity andyour walk—your faith and yourlove—are indivisible.

At the same time, John is no naïveperfectionist who believes we’vealready arrived. John knows this is away, a walk, a journey. The“finished work” of the Cross has notfinished working on me. For Johnand for Christ, the Jesus Way is apath we’re walking one day at atime in fits and starts, stumbles andrecoveries. Perhaps at best we’restaggering forward, but as weimperfectly hear and follow—imitate—Christ’s faithful footfalls,life is the venue where we’relearning to love.

According to John, those who livethis way—the Jesus Way of love—

know God. Here he is verbatim: “Beloved, let us love one another,

because love is from God, and allwho love are fathered by God and knowGod. The one who does not love hasnot known God, because God islove.”—1 John 4:7-8 (NTE)

The next verse doesn’t start with“but” or “if.” No caveats orflinching. John sets aside thequestion of whether we identifyourselves as Christians or not. Hedoesn’t care who we presume toinclude as “saved” or exclude as“lost.”

For John, those who love know God.Those who do not love, do not. Period.To be blunt—and John is veryblunt—you may be a confessing“Christian,” but without love, youdon’t know God, because God isLove. Confessions and claims to thecontrary are lies.

He says, “If someone says, ‘I loveGod’, but hates their brother orsister, that person is a liar. Someonewho doesn’t love a brother or sisterwhom they have seen, how can theylove God, whom they haven’t seen?”(1 John 4:20).

Why so harsh, John? Practicallycondemning! Probably because weneed some sharp rhetoric wheneverthe name of Christ gets co-optedand associated with unChristlikeways, especially religious hate.

It’s as if John foresaw our day,when Christian faithfulness isfrequently associated more withbeing against rather than standingwith, self-righteousness rather thanhumility, condemnation rather thancompassion, and hate rather thanlove.

John must have been up againstthe same serious missteps thatplague Christianity on a grand scaletoday. For John, any so-called“faithfulness” that divorces love andtruth or love and faith is ablasphemous perversion and proofthat we simply don’t know God.

Conversely, John is entirelygenerous to those who live in theLight and on the Way of Love. ForJohn, anyone who loves knows God—anyone? Anyone who loves! q

Adapted from A More Christlike Way(pp. 56-59), by Brad Jersak.

Divine Love necessarily appears and acts or it isnot love at all. That act of love is Jesus Christ—

the eternal Word enfleshed as perfect, cruciform (cross-like) Love.