“Jesus didn’t come to make Christians.”
It’s something I said, practically in passing, at a faith discussion group that I help facilitate in my neighborhood. I recall that the discussion was making a turn toward identity politics (Who is or isn’t a Christian) or confessional pride (as in saying, “I believe in Jesus” and really meaning it, marks us off for salvation as opposed to others). It’s that feeling I get when things start feeling a bit self-righteous when I’m in discussions about faith. And I confess, the statement was intentionally provocative. Yes, the simple truth is that “Christian” as an identity / label did not exist when Jesus walked the earth.1 But I said it because people often take too much pride in the label and don’t take time to question what it means. In a sense, Jesus did come to make Christians, but that’s dependant on what we mean by the label.
Because many people call themselves “Christian.” In some traditions, “Christian” has become shorthand for someone who’s had a “born again” experience. It can also mean someone who affirms the Trinity or any number of “biblical” or “orthodox” doctrines. For many who have grown up in church spaces, we’ve been taught to not be ashamed of being a Christian because if we are, Jesus will be ashamed of us!2 We’ve been formed in spaces that affirm this identity such that any question of its relevance, we almost feel at a personal level.
When people came to Jesus, he rarely gave them doctrine (and in the rare cases that he did, it was far from central to his interaction). He came and proclaimed blessing upon the lowly (the poor, the mourning, the meek, the hungry and thirsty, the persecuted). He would call people to follow him — to live sacrificially for others, to feed the hungry and thirsty, to welcome the stranger, to clothed the naked, to care for the sick, to visit the prisoner. To be a Christian (“little Christ” if we’re to use the term anachronistically), is to live in this way. Jesus called people to turn from their ways (repent) and orient themselves toward the coming Kingdom of Heaven.
Throughout his teaching, Jesus would call out those who performed religiosity for others to appreciate. It could be prayer in public for others could see. It could be performing generosity before your neighbors. When Jesus first encountered the religious leaders in the Gospels (Matthew 3 and Luke 3), he challenged their security in calling themselves “children of Abraham” by saying, “God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham!” I think today he would say to many of us who are too prideful in the “Christian” label, “God is able to from these stones to raise up Christians!”
I am a Christian! But I confess my relationship with the identifier is changing. A big part of that change is fueled by what it means today. I do not own the term. I cannot define for everyone what a “true” Christian is (nor do I want to!). Communities of mercy and grace call themselves Christian as well as groups who stoke fear and division. I cannot be sure that “Christian” means what I hope it to mean. In some ways it has become meaningless. It don’t doubt that it can have meaning within a closed system (like a particular church community that have a shared understanding of its meaning and can “amen” and “hallelujah” or “Mmmmm!” one another). But in mixed company (which is most of life and where we are called to live our faith), it has lost its meaning. It’s actually very similar to my feelings around being “American.”
When I travel outside of the states, I often find myself not wanting to be identified as an American because of the way we are stereotyped around the world as brash and uninformed (and to be honest, there’s a lot of merit to this). And in the states, I can appreciate the display of an American flag here and there. But if there are too many American flags (like if your lawn is practically littered with them), I pause; this house might not be safe. In the same way when someone is “too Christian,” I pause. Maybe this person has yet to examine themselves or their faith.
Lives of justice and righteousness are what mark us off as God’s people. In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus says that anyone who does God’s will is his true family.3 Jesus in the Gospel of John tells says that everyone will know we follow Jesus by our love.4 And there does not seem to be any other qualification here for this recognition. They do not have to identify as “Christian” (or a child of Abraham!) to truly be good and of God. We can recognize goodness plainly without have to parse out if it was truly good or reach into our frameworks of Common Grace to give warrant to goodness outside of explicit Christianity. God’s goodness is all around us; who am I to gatekeep it?
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