Some saints, by God’s grace, become so transparent to Christ that they become stars and heroes of the faith. I mentioned her example last week, but think again about Mother Teresa, who lived out her life caring for the dying beggars in the slums of Calcutta. The whole world noticed her. But what did the world see? From our perspective as Christians, we know that people were seeing in her Jesus. People learned Jesus from her.
In the example of Mother Teresa we find the core conviction and experience that has formed the communion of saints through all the centuries: We are saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but that is much, much more than simply a "favor" done to us by God; it is in a real way a "gift" that enables us to share the wonderful life of God through the Spirit that comes to us from Jesus. In the saints, we meet and learn the living Jesus.
This seems to be what Jesus was teaching in our gospel today. Addressing the disciples, but also the whole church that was to follow, our Lord said, "If you love me, you will do what I have said, and my Father will love you. I will also love you and show you what I am like." (John 14:21) Jesus’ commandments and teachings are more than rules to be read in books, doctrines taught in classes, or Bible verses to be memorized. What we really need is to learn and live the pattern of his Life—a pattern that over all means obedient faith and self-giving service to others. "I will show you what I am like." Our resurrected Lord does that now through the faithful lives of Christians. The church exists to show and tell Jesus.
Picking up on this show and tell idea, St. Paul saw the pattern of his life in Christ as an example of Christ for God’s people. Consider these words that he wrote to the Christian community at Thessalonica:
When we told you the good news, it was with the power and assurance that come from the Holy Spirit, and not simply with words. You knew what kind of people we were and how we helped you. So, when you accepted the message, you followed our example and the example of the Lord. (1 Thess. 1:5-6)Paul wasn’t interested only in writing great theological letters! He believed that his very life was an example of the Good News of Jesus. The Spirit came to the Church not to merely give it correct teaching, but to begin and sustain a life-changing, community challenging presence of the Risen Christ in the world! People learned Jesus through the very presence of St Paul, not just from his letters.
St. Paul and Mother Teresa may be heroes of the faith, but it’s not just the superstars who are saints. St. Paul wasn’t just schmoozing when he called the ordinary members of the faithful community saints. Saints means, people of faith, ordinary people who by God’s grace have been called to live in Jesus and in whom Jesus lives in order to be "learned". Along with all the other faithful through out history, you and I are saints. Our very existence is the compelling evidence of the resurrection of Christ, and as we live and learn Jesus together, others may also come to know his living presence in and through us. This idea is important, for many of us learn best from others, not from books.
Think of this down home example: Before I began our kitchen tile project at home, I went to a class at Home Depot and learned by observing Dan the Tile Man just how to do such a project—he showed us to how plan the layout, showed us what tools and materials were needed, and demonstrated how to use them. Thank God for Dan the Tile Man!
In a similar way, we learn Jesus from others—from the saints whom God brings into our lives. I wonder, for example, how many of you older Christians remember much of what your favorite Sunday School teachers actually taught you, in terms of lessons? More than likely you learned Jesus, not just from the Bible stories they taught you, but from the example of those ordinary teachers who were, so to speak, living texts, teaching you by their lives, Jesus’ love for children.
It’s all part of the great tradition of faith, passed on down through the generations of the saints. Perhaps during Communion this morning, when we are united with all the saints of heaven and earth in the body and blood of the Lord, you might take some time to reflect on who has showed you some of what it means to be a Christian by the way they have lived and spoken. Sunday School teachers? Parents? Some great saints of the past? Pastors? Friends in the church? If you look at it honestly, you will see that when it comes to learning Jesus, we often learn best by watching how others "live Jesus" and others learn by watching us try the same thing!
One of the most powerful examples such learning happened for me here in Rio Linda when, several years ago, in response to the horrible hate crime graffiti smeared on our church buildings, we planned and held the anti- hate crime rally at Depot Park. This was the first ever such event in Rio Linda, and was a bold and even risky stand against certain attitudes in the community that promote racial hatred and discrimination. On the evening of the event, over 200 people--local community members, leaders in law enforcement and government, as well as Christians from all over the greater Sacramento area--came together to take a stand for a better community. As I think back on it now, I believe that this was the living Spirit of Jesus, fleshed out in our town. Over the months of planning, we learned Jesus more clearly and at the Rally helped others also learn something of what our Living Savior really is about.
Because of our flawed humanity and the nature of the world, this task of learning Jesus and being saints by whom others learn Jesus never ends. Indeed, only by the power of the Spirit can we ever hope to be a sign of his True Life for others. "And that is why, finally, [we must always] pray that God might shape us into saints, so that we might become living texts speaking Jesus in the world—saints from whom others also might learn Jesus." (Living Jesus, page 203) After all, if we truly love our Lord, then in the words of Frederick Buechner, the whole point is to be brought to "the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need." [Wishful Thinking, page 119] And that place is always our Living Lord Jesus, fleshed out and learned among the saints called the church. Amen.