Two Sides, One Coin
FROM THE RECTOR
When the crowds asked John the Baptist what they should do to prepare to embrace the coming of God’s reign, he told them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise” (Luke 3:11). As John understood it, we offer ourselves over to God’s great reordering of the world, which would become manifest in Jesus, by caring for each other in real, tangible ways.
When Jesus likened the day of judgment to a shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats, he explained that those who would be welcomed into God’s reign were the ones who gave him food, drink, and clothes when he needed them, who welcomed him into their homes when he was a stranger, and who visited him when he was in prison. As the parable goes, those who are invited into God’s reign then ask when it was that they saw him in need and responded accordingly, and Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). Among Jesus’ principal instructions to his disciples, therefore, was the command to respond to the needs of others as if they were caring for him.
In his letter, James warns us that showing partiality between rich and poor is incompatible with the Christian life. As he understood it, we cannot claim to adhere to the “royal law” of loving our neighbor as ourselves if we treat those who have money, power, and privilege differently from those who do not. More than that, he says that we have an obligation to eliminate such economic disparity in our community, writing, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:15-17).
If we take the Bible seriously—if we take John, Jesus, and James seriously—we must recognize and respond to the needs of those around us. To ignore those needs is to abandon our faith and to give up on following Jesus altogether. We might as well go ahead and give up our place at God’s table—our place in God’s reign.
This week I had lunch with someone who is interested in exploring the intersection of discipleship and action, of theology and practice. I share that desire. He acknowledged that he comes to the conversation from an evangelical background—one that tends to emphasize the importance of salvation as the means by which our sins are forgiven so that we can go to heaven. I explained that I often feel like I come to the conversation from the opposite perspective—one that focuses so much on the realization of God’s reign here and now that we lose sight of the cross as the means by which the world is saved. Of course, it did not take long for us to acknowledge that those are two sides of the same coin.
We cannot take Jesus seriously if we ignore the gospel imperative to care for those around us, but we cannot claim to serve others in his name without first being reconciled to God through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Through the cross and empty tomb, God has defeated sin. Death and its dominion no longer have power over us. The manifestations of evil—greed, violence, poverty, disease—are still present in this world, but their end is as certain as Christ’s victory over the grave.
Only when we have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ—only when that part of us that belongs to the powers of this world has been transformed through his death and resurrection—are we free to serve others as Christ has served us. Only when the selfishness, greed, and self-serving ego within us have been put to death with Christ can we offer ourselves to the needs of others with complete surrender. Only then—only because of Christ—are we made worthy of the reign of God.
Because in Christ we are forgiven, we are free to love others in Christ’s name. Because in Christ we are forgiven, we are obligated to love others in Christ’s name. As the Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer puts it, “The mission of the church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (p. 855). We cannot pursue that unity in tangible, economic, physical ways without also seeking that unity in its spiritual manifestations, and we cannot presume to seek spiritual unity with God and each other without addressing the physical brokenness between us.
Those of us who are more comfortable talking about discipleship as a path that leads us to address the needs of others will benefit from exploring the ways in which that work is only possible because our sins have been forgiven. Those who think of Christianity primarily as a path that leads to heaven will benefit from recognizing that there is work to do along the way. I think there is indescribable power and limitless possibility when we see that the two are inseparable, and I look forward to being a part of that conversation in the months ahead.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan D. Garner