I sometimes travel up to London by train on my own and one
of the ways I pass the time (often longer than planned due to Southern Rail!)
is to look around at my fellow passengers or listen to their conversations and
look for clues to try to work out a bit more about them, what they do or where
they are going for the day and so on. I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes having
read Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories many times over, so maybe I fancy myself as a
bit of an amateur detective!
Reading this passage made me think, “What clues are there
about us that people around us might see that would mark us out as a
Christian?” And I’m not thinking about fish badges on lapels or on the backs of
car windows!
The account of Judas and the prediction of his betrayal in
this passage shows us that there are certain things that people might naturally
assume are good identifying marks of discipleship for Christians: knowing a lot about Jesus; spending time
with his followers; and even ministry for Jesus. Of course as
Christians we should want to do all these things in whatever form that looks
like, but it made me think that others could also do all these things ... after
all, Judas did!
Jesus says, “A new
command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another.”
The early church took Jesus’ command to heart and displayed
love as a mark of their discipleship. Tertullian, one of the early church
fathers, writing about a century after the gospel of John was written, said
that Roman society took note of Christians loving one another and would
comment, “Behold, how they love one
another!”
Could the same be said of us at CBC? Quite a challenge isn’t it, especially as
this may well involve loving those in our church family that we find more
challenging!
Response
How can we demonstrate
our love for Jesus through the way we love one another in our church family?
Let’s pray that those looking on are able to say the C21 equivalent of “Behold,
how they love one another!”
Paul
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