Something we can’t do on our own (Wednesday)

Topic: Week 2- Jesus as Savior
Theme for 6 Weeks- Who is Jesus and what difference does it make?

Read Matthew 1:20-21

If I say that I can’t save myself, that I can’t rescue myself from sin or things that hurt me or others, than does this mean that following Jesus and his teachings are incidental? In other words, that the point of Christianity is God’s rescue effort in Jesus and that there’s nothing for us to do? That ethics, the teachings of Jesus, and the life Jesus describes is peripheral, at best?

There is a way to look at this that makes it appear that these two notions- something we can’t do on our own and something we can do- are opposites or contradictions. One way to deal with that is to decide: the life and teachings of Jesus do make sense and are important; therefore, the other part about Jesus as Savior must not make sense or it isn’t necessary.

I believe this falls into dualistic thinking and opting for an either-or approach. I want to suggest a both-and approach which is holistic and biblically rooted in the story of salvation, God’s great rescue effort!

And, it begins here- with salvation (this is one of those words that has become distorted in our setting in America; it’s unfortunate since it is rich and freeing!). Eugene Peterson’s words here hit the mark: “Salvation is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Salvation is a work of God that we cannot approximate or rival or reproduce. (p.177)…Jesus is the central and defining figure in the spiritual life. ..He is God among us: God speaking, acting, healing, helping. ‘Salvation’ is the big word into which all these words fit. The name Jesus means ‘God saves.’” (p. 32, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places).

To omit the Sermon on the Mount or Jesus’ teachings is a serious error. To miss the call of Jesus to be made into disciples- “come follow me” is to miss the life Jesus is talking about. But, to take the “try harder” approach or to think this way of Jesus is something we can do on our own is also to miss a crucial of the biblical, salvation story.

Jesus, God who came to us as a human, saves. And, and as we eagerly seek and take steps toward this, God is doing the work of transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. We follow Jesus- in our families, marriages, friendships, among co-workers who annoy us, in response to the grocery store clerk who is bored, into the pub where some lonely dudes are looking for community, among/with the poor we serve, to the discarded and “sinners,” and in loving our enemies-we follow Jesus, in all of life, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Question: Do I try to follow Jesus on my own efforts? Is there an area(s) of my life where I want I need Jesus’ saving work- doing for me what I can’t do for myself?

Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for your saving work. Thank you for doing for me what I cannot do on my own, that is, save myself. Now, empower me to follow you in the very ways you called us to live. In the name of Jesus. Amen