This I observed and learned when I made a pilgrimage to Israel in 1983. If one would visit the palaces and shrines in Israel, the statues surrounding the pools and gardens and great halls are a beautiful sight to behold. The women are figures of perfect beauty that most only fanaticize about, and the men depict a machismo bound to foster a jealous envy. A closer inspection will reveal that the bodies are permanent and the heads removable. This was because rulers changed so frequently that artisans only had time to recreate the new heads. Perhaps even more important, those heads could only be attached to a perfect coveted body.
These statues, hundreds of thousands of them placed in the far corners of the Roman empire, were imperfect caricatures of a distant, and therefore invisible, Emperor; just as the Jews worshiped an invisible and sometimes seemingly distant God. The God of Judaism was known only through the spoken word of the prophets and the writings of the priests. The Deity was so sacred that His name could not be spoken, the Ark of the Covenant could be touched only on the pain of death, and the High Priest alone could enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year on Yom Kippur. God was a distant and formidable creature, more to be feared than revered.
The invisible God became visible in the likeness of Jesus. God was no longer aloof, but approachable. God was transformed from words on a page to a person to behold. God was no longer reserved for the few of the priestly class, but accessible by king and commoner alike. God was not to be cowered before, but the hem of whose garment could be clasped by one who sought healing.
Paul, whose theology is built upon the concept of grace, wrote, “Christ, who is the image of God.” (II Cor 4:4) The Greek word that Paul used for “image” is eikon. The best translation of eikon is “image,” or “portrait,” or “photograph.” Jesus is the exact representation of God. To know Jesus is to know God. Jesus had a self-awareness of this when he spoke these words, “he who has seen me has seen the father.” (Jn 1:18) Jesus is the visible representation of an invisible God.
To look upon the life of Jesus is to see God Himself. Though we are not blest like those who walked with Jesus, we do have the accounts of his journey. As we read through the synoptic gospels and ponder over the epistles, we learn of a God, through Jesus, who is truly a heavenly parent.
John Piper, who was born in 1946, and grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, is a Reformed Baptist theologian, who served as chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, wrote, “The essence of faith is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus.” To have faith in what we know about Jesus places us before the throne of God. There we sing hallelujah, not out of fear, but with joy. It is a chorus of gladness knowing we have a God who is personal. He is a Deity who cares about us individually and is compassionate. Jesus articulated this compassionate image with these words, “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” (Mt 11:4)
English sportsman and writer Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832), once wrote, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” The best way we can please our Lord is to be imitators of his words and actions. We are the extension of Jesus’ ministry this day, mandating us to minister to those in need of spiritual, emotional, and physical healing. We are enabled to do this, for like Jesus, we too have been created in the image of God.
In the story of creation it is attested, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness.’” (Gen 1:26) This doctrine was reinforced in the church when Paul confessed that man “is the image and reflection of God.” (I Cor 11:7) This is not to be received egotistically that we are miniature gods roaming freely about creation; but, it is to be accepted in all humility of what it means to be God’s representative.
In systematic theology the doctrine for this is imago Dei. The Latin translation for this is imago meaning “image” and dei meaning “God” To be created in the image of God does not mean that God has arms and legs and speaks as we do. The calling is much greater and far more serious for it means we share in the attributes of God. As God can love, so are we capable of loving. As God is able to create, we by nature are creators and inventors. As the wrath of God can destroy in righteous judgment, we are to be advocates of social justice. Though, we can wrongly turn our anger into the destructiveness of unqualified rage. This is why as the image of God on earth we must be imitators of Jesus in heaven.
To be imitators of Jesus requires spiritual discipline. This cannot be done in a vacuum nor can it be acquired through osmosis. Taken seriously, our calling is to embark upon the study of the scriptures, to become learned in the doctrines of the church, and to accept the responsibility of partaking in the mission programs of a denominational church.
Pope John Paul II in his Veritatis Splendor, issued on August 6, 1993, instructed that one of the best means to develop our inner spirituality is to adhere to, as he wrote, “the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, the ‘magna charta’ of Gospel morality.” He continued, “In this way, moral theology will acquire an inner spiritual dimension in response to the need to develop fully the ‘imago Dei’ present in man, and in response to the laws of spiritual development described by Christian ascetical and mystical theology.”
If we are to walk in the footsteps of our Lord that we may minister in his name, this necessitates that we cultivate the spirit of the Lord within our souls.
Charles Sheldon accepted the pastorate of Central Congregational Church in Topeka, Kansas in 1889. As the church grew it incorporated four meetings each Sabbath Day. The evening service suffered in attendance, so he incorporated the unique practice of what he called “sermon stories.” The sermon would be a story, a chapter told, each with a cliffhanger ending so one must return the following week.
On the night of October 4, 1896, he began the story series titled “In His Steps.” The story began by describing self-satisfied congregants of a Midwestern church. One Sunday morning, during worship, a tramp wandered into their sanctuary. The man challenged these complacent Christians to live daily by the declaration of their faith. The tramp then died in their midst. Overwhelmed, as the initial story goes, the pastor appealed to the congregation to live a year by this pledge, that all actions and words would be preceded by this question, “What would Jesus do?” Then during each evening service, a sermon would share a story that reflected a response to this question, and then …, well, come back next Sunday evening for the rest of the story.
The sermon series became so popular that The Advance, a weekly periodical, published the sermons. Shortly the articles were combined and published as a book. In the early 1900s the book had a greater circulation than any other except the Bible. When asked about the popularity of the book In His Steps, Sheldon replied, “No one is more grateful than I am, as it confirms the faith I have always held that no subject is more interesting to the human race than religion.”
Our friends and neighbors sincerely desire to know more about Jesus and the place of religion in daily living. As we dwell among them in the image of God, we must be imitators of His work: healing the spiritually wounded, accepting the outcast, sharing the good news.
“What would Jesus do?”
WWJD