You are the presence of Christ
Readings: Matthew 10. 40-42 & Romans 6. 12-23
As you probably noticed the Gospel passage for today is incredibly short. And upon opening the lectionary a few weeks ago to check I thought I’d lucked out. 2 days into my role here and I’ve got a mere 3 verses to preach on. But actually these three verses are Jesus summing up, gathering together the teaching he’s been giving for the whole of chapter 10 which have made up our Gospel readings for the past few weeks. So, whilst it’s short it’s packed with some really significant teaching.
Jesus begins the chapter by gathering the 12, giving them authority to heal and drive out unclean spirits and he then sends them out to proclaim the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God and to perform the miracles Jesus has done. And as he sends them, he reminds them to travel light and warns them that they will face persecution, that their allegiance to Him will cause division. But that all those who lose their life for His sake will find it.
And so we arrive at today’s passage which as I say sums up everything he has said in this chapter. Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me.
That’s huge.
Have you ever thought about that? Whoever welcomes you welcomes Jesus.
The latter part of this teaching is familiar isn’t it. Whoever welcomes me (Jesus), welcomes the one who sent me. Throughout the Gospels we hear Jesus say many times that he only does what he sees his Father doing, that he only speaks what his Father is saying. That he and the Father are one. Whilst Jesus and God the Father are separate, they’re not the same, they are perfectly aligned in will and action and mind. Jesus is clear that however people react to him is also how they are reacting to God the Father, you can’t drive a wedge between them and say I like God the Father but I don’t like Jesus, or vice versa. In Jesus we see the Father perfectly, you see Jesus you see what God is like, and so our response to Jesus is our response to the Father.
Now you might be able to get your head around that, that might even seem fairly simple. It’s part of the Doctrine of God as Trinity. But in this passage Jesus extends that imagery, that reality. If our response to Jesus is our response to the Father, our, and everyone else’s, response to followers of Jesus, is their response to Jesus. In other words just as when we see Jesus walking and talking and acting we’re seeing the Father, so too when people see us walking and talking and acting, they’re seeing Jesus.
That’s an amazing thought, but also perhaps a troubling one.
When I was in school and we went on school trips, and perhaps you remember this too, we were always told ‘be on your best behaviour as you’re representing the school’. Do you remember that? And when we did misbehave on school trips we were always reprimanded more harshly as we had damaged the reputation of the school.
Perhaps you feel some of that pressure when you hear that when people see us they see Jesus, and when people react to us they’re reacting to Jesus. The pressure to live up to that, better be on our best behaviour constantly.
Well here’s the issue with the metaphor, an issue which may actually bring us some comfort. It’s not that when people hear we are Christians they are now judging our faith by our actions, that we’re simply representatives of Jesus, like turning up to a school trip with the school logo on our polo shirt of tie means we’re representing the school. It goes much deeper than that. The surface level is true to some extent, if people discover you’re a Christian and then they go on to discover that you’re an awful person who hates puppies and yells at co-workers, that isn’t going to reflect well on what being a Christian is about.
But that’s not what Jesus is talking about here. We’re not simply called to represent Jesus, we’re also empowered with the power and presence of Jesus. Just like it’s not that Jesus represents the Father, that he’s his spokesperson, instead Jesus and the Father are one. It’s also true of us, we and Jesus are one. In the Book of Acts when Jesus appears to Saul, later Paul, who wrote the letter to the Romans we heard part of earlier, Saul is obsessed with destroying the early church, with killing off Christians so that this heresy is dealt with swiftly and decisively. And when Jesus appears to him in that dramatic moment on the road to Damascus Jesus doesn’t say ‘Saul, why are you persecuting my followers’, nor does he say ‘Saul, why are you persecuting my children, my family’. No he says ‘Saul, why are you persecuting me’. We and Jesus are united, so tightly bound together that we are one. We’re not Jesus’ salespeople, stick a badge on the uniform, perhaps a cross around the neck so we can be his spokespeople, no. Instead the Holy Spirit given to us by Jesus, the Spirit that within us testifies to our faith, that day by day helps us to be more like Jesus, that Spirit makes us one with Jesus.
Wherever we go we aren’t just representatives for the Christian faith. Instead wherever we go the Spirit goes within us which means wherever we go Jesus goes. Just as in the first century the very presence and power of God was made real through Jesus, so in our day the very presence and power of Jesus is made real through his people. Through our ordinary lives God is bringing in the Kingdom little by little.
And us representing Jesus isn’t about what we do in some sense. It’s part and parcel of being a follower of Jesus. To be a Christian, to be a disciple of Jesus and to be daily filled anew with his Spirit means that we are the presence of God in our contexts, in our families, workplaces, communities. It’s a simple fact. God’s power and presence in and through us is just part of being a Christian.
But there’s a responsibility that comes with that isn’t there. If people’s response to us is their response to Jesus, well then we had better look like Jesus hadn’t we. It’s no accident that this chapter and section of teaching begins with Jesus sending his disciples out with his authority to do the things that he has been doing. Imagine for a moment that you get in the car now after the service and off you go to drive home. And instantly you get stuck behind a cyclist and you’re in a rush, and now the road is going uphill so they are even slower and there’s no way round them, and you lose your temper and start yelling at them to get out of the way. I’d hazard a guess that that’s not particularly Christ like, I’d also hazard a guess that if they have a go at you, it’s not because of the presence of Jesus in you, it’s because you were being a jerk.
But when we are truly serving Jesus, living for him, people’s reaction is both to us and to Jesus, so let us not be surprised when we receive rejection or hatred, Jesus spends most of this chapter warning us that will happen. But let us also rejoice when we find a warm welcome, when we are welcomed as a disciple, as a prophet, as someone who speaks for Jesus, when people are open to hearing about the great hope that we have, for in welcoming us, they are welcoming Jesus.
Christ’s very presence dwells within us, it’s there to shine out of us into the world, to bring the dark places of the world into the light and joy of Christ. So as Paul exhorts us to this morning let us lay aside the call of sin, the drive to live selfishly, the drive to go our own way and not God’s and instead present ourselves to God to live for him in this world. Let us be those who live generously with others, who have compassion on the suffering and weak. Who show love to those whose life is hard, whether through their own fault or not. Who are found with the poor, the marginalised, the sick, the forgotten. If wherever we go Christ goes, then let us go where Christ went. We’re not called to be soft, to be doormats, we’re not called to affirm the world around us, nor are we called to condemn at every turn. Instead we are to live in our community as salt and light, bringing both blessing and challenge.
As we begin this new chapter together let us remember that the presence and power of God didn’t return to heaven with Jesus at the Ascension. Nor is it hidden away here in this building for us to come and access when we need it. Instead as we meet with Christ here this morning, as we are challenged by his word, find forgiveness and grace and compassion in our need in abundance, as we are fed by him at his table, we are then sent out in his name and in his power not simply as representatives of the faith, but empowered with Jesus’ power and presence, to bring his presence into our world. May he, by the work of his Spirit, make us worthy of that calling.
Amen.