Discipleship & Inclusion

These days, a lot of Christian leaders from many different backgrounds are discussing Christian discipleship. That is, there is a renewal of studying the concept of the Kingdom of God, of reflecting on the character of Christ, and of taking initiatives to facilitate these themes in contemporary society. An atmosphere of struggle in Christianity in the West seems to be producing somewhat of a "theological revival." A friend from Sacramento best sums all this up, when he asks the question about every aspect of ministry: Does it look like Jesus? Of course, the challenge here continues as we must realize who Jesus was in HIS original context in order to know who He is today in ours.

This evening I was reading Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context by Glen Stassen and David Gushee. As I read, I came across this statement: The delivering righteousness that Jesus taught therefore exceeded that of the Pharisees, for they excluded outcasts and the impure from their community of righteous practice (2003:70). I've come to appreciate this about Jesus. It was the Pharisees who thought cleansing their community of all sin and sinners was the answer and Jesus seems to really go after them on this point, to the extent of telling His followers -- don't be like them at all! Now, the Pharisees were the "good guys." They kept everyone in check. They kept everythinig pure. They made sure that the righteous were in and that the unrighteous knew that they were unrighteous. Jesus doesn't stand for this.

Jesus calls his followers to be more inclusive than the Pharisees. To include the sinner in their midst. To practice table fellowship with someone in the First Century context, was to commit to the deepest act of fellowship. Jesus calls us into the places of great messiness and compassionate fellowship with the world. But Jesus doesn't just say, It's all good either. He calls His followers to a deeper holiness. Don't even be given to lust or greed or resentment or worry!

I have grown to have a deep appreciation of this aspect of imitation of Jesus. I find myself (along with others) living in this embrace of the sinner while holding out the call to follow the Master. In imitation of Christ, we even sometimes find ourselves in settings where the unbelievers, the struggling, and the marginalized outnumber the followers of Christ. At its core this is an embrace of the Mission of God and is imitation of Christ.