Faith is less about where I stand than who I walk with

I find that the more that I learn about Jesus, the more I realize how little I actually know.

The more I learn about the character of God, the more I realize how truly limited my knowledge and understanding has been.

I sit in the seminary class I am taking right now and I just glow at times, as I absorb the ideas and energy, and engage in the discussions around me. The questions and comments of the 34 other persons in the class, persons of all different ages, genders, social backgrounds, faith. The one common thread of each person is that they are seeking. For a better understanding of God. For a better understanding of faith. For a better understanding of themselves.

The reading that I do for this class has been mind-blowing in ways. Theories about salvation and about religion that I have never known. Theories and questions that have made me question just exactly what I believe and why.

It’s heady stuff. Holy stuff.

There are times in that reading that I read something that I not only highlight but I go back and read a second time. And then a third. And then a fourth. And then I write it down because it just has that level of power to make me think.

I read a passage that had that power this week. The professor of my class, who is the author of this particular book, was going through different passages from the Bible, and one that he was referring to was in the Gospel of Luke. It was Jesus’ telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan. What the professor said was this: “In constructing the story in this way, Jesus indicates that the dominant religious, ethnic, and social conceptions of 'inside' and 'outside' have no part in the kingdom of God. Furthermore, the story of the compassionate Samaritan and similar passages suggest that Jesus believed that the outsider may have much to teach insiders.”

 

Well, let’s don’t pull any punches there.

I figuratively took a step back when I read that.

In a world where there is so much labeling of us and them, the concept that “inside” and “outside” have no part in the kingdom of God is a powerful one.

In a political climate that is so decisive and so concerned with what party or ideological viewpoint you associate yourself with, the concept is a novelty.

In a country that is so charged with opinion on who ought to be able to be here, how they ought to be able to get here, and what they ought to act like when they do get here, the concept is unique.

The concept is humbling.

As I thought about this concept, I made a connection to something I had heard said this past Sunday at a laity leadership training. At the training, the speaker quoted some different passages from a book written by a bishop. One of the passages stood out to me above all else. My paraphrase of that passage is “Faith is less about where I stand than who I walk with.” When the speaker said that, I had to pull out a pen and write it down because I realized if I learned nothing else that day, my time had been well spent by hearing that concept.

 

Faith is less about where I stand than who I walk with.

 

As I thought of that concept, as I thought about my professor’s sentiment about the purpose of the good Samaritan story, and as I thought of all the things that I have been learning about faith, and theology, and religion, and belief, I realized that what it all boils down to is this:

It matters what you believe. But what also matters is how you live out that belief.

It matters who you walk with. It matters both that you walk with the people you need and that you walk with the people who need you. It matters that you recognize that dignity belongs to each person regardless of their religious, ethnic, or social identity. Regardless of their gender, race, sexual orientation or identity, or age.

It matters that you have the humility to recognize that you can learn from each person that you meet. That each person you meet has value. To God, to society, and to you, whether you choose to acknowledge that value or not.

I began to think, what if we thought of things in that way? What if instead of worrying about what we believe, what other people believe, and whether people believe what we believe, we simply walk with people? Those we need and those who need us? What if we recognize that we have as much to learn as we have to teach?

What if instead of judging other people for things we don’t understand, we try to understand? What if we ask questions instead of give opinions? What if we seek honest answers instead of impart judgment?

What if God cares a whole lot less about where we stand than if we stand up? For the outsider. The outcast. The overlooked. The powerless. The misunderstood.  The least of these.

What if God cares more if we act like Jesus than talk about Jesus?

There is much I do not know about God. Despite all the seminary classes I may take and all the questions I may ask, there is much I will never know until I am standing face to face with God at the end of this life. More likely, rather than standing, I think I will be flat on my face, tears streaming down my face, gratitude and love filling my heart and my thoughts, worshipping at the feet of my Jesus.

I think when that happens that who I walked with, who held me up, and who I held up, is going to mean so much more than where I stood on different issues.

What will matter is that I loved well and was loved well.

That I valued and was valued.

That I cherished and was cherished.

Faith is less about where I stand than who I walk with.