Imitating God

The scriptures referred to are Philippians 3:17-4:1 and Luke 31:31-35.

I took care of my littlest patient for almost 2 years, starting when he was 5 months old. And he is a real mimic. Unfortunately what he seems to have picked up from me is a mixed bag. He says "thank you" a lot, which is good. He loves hand washing, which I understand since babies are messy and nurses are supposed to wash their hands often. But he also imitates other habits of mine. He grunts like an old man when getting to his feet. And if there is a Kleenex box around, he will pull out tissues, hold them to his nose and blow a raspberry, presumably to echo what he thinks I sound like when my allergies are acting up. Still it's better than when he was crawling and imitating the dogs, down to eating from their bowls!

Children learn a lot by imitating others, especially their parents, babysitters and older siblings. They learn language that way and if we are not careful, pick up our bad habits. And in today's reading from Philippians, Paul asks his readers to imitate him and other exemplary Christians. This is a frequent theme in Paul's writing, going right back to the earliest letter we have. In 1 Thessalonians he says, "And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you received the message with joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction." He also talks of this in 2 Thessalonians, and 1 Corinthians where he writes, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." And in Ephesians he says, "Therefore be imitators of God as dearly loved children, and live in love just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God."

Often people think the Christian life consists of following rules. And certainly there are rules. The Ten Commandments are basic parameters of  behavior for believers. Jesus' commands to love God and love others, including enemies, are foundational to those who wish to follow him. But as I recently mentioned, C. S. Lewis said following Jesus is more like painting a portrait than just checking off rules. Or if I may be so bold, it is like acting, of which imitation is one type.

I've been in plays, on and off, since elementary school, though my 3rd grade turn as a Thanksgiving turkey didn't garner me any Tonys or require method acting. But acting does require you to think about the character you are trying to portray. You have a script which gives you the character's words and actions. The director will give you further instructions on how to move and speak. From these you have to figure out what your character's reasons are for doing and saying what he does. What are his needs, his desires and his fears? How does he feel about the other characters? How does he feel about himself? Is he conflicted about others, or about himself and what he has done, is doing or considering doing?

And I submit that imitating Christ is very much the same. It is not aping what Jesus said or did, because, for instance, healing people on the Sabbath is not really controversial today, even if you did have the gift. To really answer the question what would Jesus do in today's world means understanding him. And to do that, we must read and inwardly digest his words.

One telling thing Jesus said about himself is recorded in Mark 10:"…even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve…" Jesus is the Son of God and yet he never plays that card to get privileges. We know that he and the disciples rarely got time to eat or to sleep properly. In fact, we know that Jesus was trying to find a private place for himself and his apostles to get some rest, when the crowd anticipated where they were going and got there first. And when Jesus sees them, he could have said, "Clear off! The Messiah needs some 'me' time!" But he didn't. Rather than be irritated because he and the 12 weren't going to be able to take a break, Jesus feels compassion for them and begins to teach them and eventually feeds them, all 5000 of them. In the same way, when a leper comes to Jesus, he says, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." "I am willing" Jesus replies and heals him.

Paul sees this as a key to understanding Jesus as well. In Philippians 2 he says, "You should have the same frame of mind among yourselves that was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to cling to, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross!"

So we see that Jesus' needs are the same as any other human being: he needs food and drink and rest. But his desire is to serve others, to the point of self-sacrifice. But why? Is he just a pleaser, a person who wants to be liked so badly he'll do whatever others want? No, because he knows he is making enemies of the religious and secular leaders and he doesn't care. So why does he serve the poor, the sick, the disabled, the disreputable and the foreigners but not the powerful who could do him harm? Because, as Mark tells us, of his compassion. He sees the crowd as sheep who need a shepherd. The key word is "need." He is not interested in fulfilling their desires (we find out later they desire to make him an earthly king and Jesus disabuses them of that idea). He is interested in meeting their needs, both physical and spiritual. He is like a doctor, going to those who need him, not those who say they don't.

Is that why he's so abrupt with the Pharisees and the Herodians? Is he ignoring his own principle of loving your enemies? No, because, for instance, what he says in today's passage from Luke shows anger at Jerusalem's violence, sorrow at their willful rejection of him and yet an almost maternal love for the people. What could be behind all that?

One of the greatest challenges I had as an actor was playing the detective in an mystery called Ravenscroft. At the very beginning of the play I am interrogating the chief suspect in the murder, a governess at an isolated mansion. Throughout the play we get into heated exchanges, me trying to get answers from her, she being sarcastic and evasive. At the end of the play, I solve the murder and we become lovers. The play had other problems as well but for me and my leading lady the biggest problem was, as she put it, "why do we get together at the end?" And then one day as I was running lines by myself, it hit me. We know the governess reminds the detective of his dead wife. Some of her dialogue with the detective is oddly flirtatious. I called the actress and said, "What if we don't fall in love at the end? What if we fall in love in the very first scene?" We played it like that and the whole drama came together. Our clashes turned from me badgering her to give up incriminating evidence so I could arrest her, to me desperately trying to get her to give me something that would exonerate her. The arguments played more like lover's quarrels. So when I solved the mystery and cleared her, we were at last free to drop the roles of hunter and hunted and to show our love for one another.

What can you do when someone you love is on a self-destructive course of action? You warn, you plead, you scold, you do everything you can to get their attention and try to change their mind. It may not sound like love but the person obviously cares deeply what happens to the other. The opposite of love is indifference. Enemies can reconcile because they do care deeply about the same person or issue. The person who doesn't care about you isn't going to make the effort to clear up your differences.

And Jesus did make friends out of those who ought to have been his enemies. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were his followers, though they also belonged to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, which eventually condemned Jesus. And then there was the scribe who praised Jesus' summary of the law into 2 great commandments. Jesus tells him that he is not far from the kingdom of God. There is the Roman officer who understands Jesus' authority enough that he says he knows that Jesus can heal his slave at a distance. Jesus says he has greater faith than anyone else he's encountered. And most remarkably, Jesus manages by his manner to convert a robber on the next cross who earlier had been jeering him. He's the only individual we know who, based on Jesus' personal assurance, went to paradise after his death.
 
Just as an actor must learn or hone certain skills to portray some characters, like fencing if one is playing Cyrano de Bergerac, slight of hand if one is playing Houdini, or an instrument if one is playing a musician, so there are things we need to master to do justice to Jesus. Like getting to know scripture so well that one can recall an appropriate verse for just about any occasion. It's not just prooftexting. It's not wrenching verses out of their context to win arguments. Jesus saw the unity in the Bible, the underlying meaning. He was able therefore to get to the heart of a matter, rather than split hairs or argue technicalities.

Jesus also did not let himself get pulled into irrelevant issues, no matter how hot a topic they were at the time. So he did not get into the discussions about taxes, except to say both Caesar and God had claims in their respective domains. He did not try to be holier than thou on the matter of adultery when a woman's life was at stake. He didn't get into the trivia of washing hands or fasting or food laws. Saving lives, both physical and spiritual, and  mending broken bodies and relationships, both human and divine, were his top priorities and he stayed on message.

Of course, there are areas in which we shouldn't do what Jesus did. I don't think we should physically assault merchants, even if we find them hawking their wares in church. I don't think we should try healing the sick with a mere touch if we don't have the gift or try raising the dead without CPR or a defibrillator. Nor should we presume to give new commandments. There are things only Jesus can do because of his unique authority. Sometimes the appropriate question is not "What would Jesus do?" but "What would Jesus have me do?"

The key to imitating Jesus is serving others out of compassion. And it is not about pleasing them so much as meeting their needs, spiritual and physical. He is, through serving them, serving God. Because it is God's holy love he is showing, not desperate human love. It is love that does not care about making a person temporarily happy so much as making them eternally whole and healthy. Happy comes from the old word "hap" which means "chance." God doesn't settle for us being happy when we can manage it; he wants us to learn to be joyful in all circumstances.

But what if you don't feel love for others? Lewis said act as you do and eventually you will come to do so for real. And he's right. The body and mind affect each other. We usually smile when we feel good. But psychologists have found that it can work the other way. Smiling can help lift a bad mood. And we all know of actors who act as if they are in love and find themselves falling in love with their costars. It's not inevitable. I've never fallen for a costar. I think you have to be open to the possibility of it becoming real. Which is what you are trying to do if you are imitating Christ. I can tell you that, as a nurse, taking care of someone's needs does make you come to care about them. It wasn't hard with my littlest patient. I am no longer his nurse but my wife and I still see him nearly every week. And I have bonded with people who weren't cute and pleasant, people who were in fact quite prickly and demanding. I have come to care about inmates who have done very bad things. I'm not blind to their faults and their crimes. But I am called to serve whomever God presents to me and to proclaim the good news of redemption in Jesus. I sow the seed; the soil is God's responsibility.

I read a story once (I don't if it's historical or a fable) about how a group of poor boys were invited to dine in a palace in India. One clever boy imitated the table manners of the aristocrats who had invited them and so was selected to be the new rajah. We are told that in the new creation we will rule as vice-regents under Christ. Then we better start preparing by imitating his gracious manner of ruling by loving and serving.