[Jesus said to the twelve:] “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. (Matthew 10:40)
In yesterday's devotion, we were reminded from the letter to the Romans (and Bob Dylan) that we cannot not serve someone in this life--the real question, instead, is whom we will serve. Well, today, these words of Jesus (which are also likely to have been ones you heard this past Sunday) add a corollary: we cannot not be a witness with our lives. The real question is what impression we will make with our lives, or what picture people will get of the God we represent. But since people will know we are followers of Jesus--whether by our cross necklace jewelry, fish bumper stickers, attendance on Sunday mornings, or the words that come out of our mouths--the issue is what sort of glimpse of Jesus people will get from what they see in our lives. And on that count, we have an ambiguous track record.
Jesus sends his disciples out as his ambassadors in Matthew 10 with this awareness that people will draw conclusions about what Jesus is all about based on what his representatives are like. And beyond that, the world will make some assumptions about what God is like, based on the way this people who speak about God and speak in God's name act in the world. We are all, in a sense, walking billboards with our very lives. The question is what message we will hold up to be seen by the world from what they see in us. But there is no option of not being a witness--only what sort of a witness we will be.
That doesn't mean we are supposed to put on a fake self or project some manufactured air of moral perfection so that we can impress other people into believing in Jesus. It doesn't mean we need to be the people who curate their social media posts with memes that look religious or present us as being perpetually pious. Jesus isn't asking us to pretend to be people we're not. But he is calling us to remember that our actions are often a more powerful witness of the Christ we follow than any religious pamphlets, tracts, or memes we might share. And he does challenge us to remember that the watching world will draw conclusions about what Jesus is really like from what they see in us. And that means we have to ask ourselves regularly what sort of God we hope people can glimpse in us.
When I am mean, self-centered, and petty in my interactions with other people, they'll come to the conclusion that either (a) the Christ I confess as Lord must also think that mindset is an acceptable way to live, or (b) that our faith in Jesus really doesn't make a whiff of difference in our actual lives, and therefore isn't worth paying any attention to. When we are indifferent to people on the margins and ignore folks who feel overlooked, we give the impression that those folks don't matter much to God, either. When we base our decisions on what makes us the most money rather than what love should look like in any given moment, we tell the world that our God is just as stingy as we are. When we obsess over whom we keep out rather than on ways to bring people in, we are already preaching a wordless sermon that God is a curmudgeonly gatekeeper rather than the hospitable host at a big table. When we say "Jesus loves you" but then act like there is fine-print, conditions, or limits to that love, people will take our actions more seriously than our lip service. We cannot not be witnesses, but it is very much an open question what people will come to believe about Jesus from what they see in us.
On the other hand, the other side of this amazing truth is that you and I really can offer people a compelling glimpse of what God is like from what they see in us. Jesus is not ashamed of being represented by us--us, in all our ordinariness, all of our fragility, all of our weaknesses, and all of the ways we struggle and stumble. And beyond that, Jesus is convinced that God's own glory can be conveyed through the medium of our humanity--these lives, these words, these actions. That's amazing when you consider what it's like to stand beneath a starry night sky or the splendor of the Grand Canyon and to think to yourself, "Even as majestic as this is, God is even greater!" and then to realize that Jesus doesn't say, "You people are too plain and common to be representatives of the glory of God." Jesus doesn't tell his disciples, "If you want to introduce people to God, take them to this really lovely landscape or show them the power of a waterfall." He doesn't say, "We must build magnificent towers in marble and gold to convey the grandeur of God," either. He says to his very earthy, very ordinary disciples (comprised largely of peasant fishermen and tax collectors of questionable repute), "You are ones I choose to represent God for the world. You, as you are. You, without needing any dressing up or spin-doctoring, you are the ones who will give people a glimpse of God's goodness."
And with that in mind, it really is amazing to consider that we have the opportunity every day to be reflections of the goodness of God. Beyond our accessorizing or empty slogans, we can be witnesses of what God is really like, simply in the ways we love. The willingness to go out of our way for a neighbor in trouble... the time taken to sit with someone in their sorrow... the care shown to a stranger when it would have been easier to look away... all of these and a million other actions that might not look very "dazzling" are ways we represent God to the world. And when people catch a glimpse of that kind of generosity, welcome, empathy, compassion, and integrity from us, they might just realize they have seen a hint of what God is like. They might just realize, like Jacob after his dream of angels, "Surely God was in this place, and I did not know it!"
All of that brings us back to the question that might offer some guidance for the day: if we can't help but be witnesses for something in our day, what sort of witnesses will we be? If we have the chance to send one message to the world with our lives in this day, what will convey the goodness of God? If, as the old saying goes, "You might be the only Bible someone else ever reads," how can we try to let our lives embody the Good News to be read by others?
Jesus is convinced that we are the right people to be his representatives--what if we lived today as if we believed he was right?
Lord Jesus, let your goodness be seen in us, rather than in spite of us.
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