A few years back, Steve Goodier was eating at a restaurant he frequented. There was a waitress there with whom he had become acquainted. They usually “chatted for a few minutes” each time he came in but only knew each other by their first names—they were acquaintances with a limited knowledge of each other’s lives and families.
On this particular day, the woman asked Goodier an unexpected question: “Do you have a son about eight years old?”
Being a father, he says his first thought was, 'What has he done?' But he didn’t say that, instead only nodding “yes,” with a questioning look in his eyes.
“Does he play soccer?” she asked.
When he said that his son did, she asked if he played in a game the previous week at a particular field. Again, his puzzlement growing, Goodier answered, “Yes.”
She smiled and said, “I thought so. I saw him and thought he must be your son.”
Goodier by now was flabbergasted. Since there were tens of thousands of young boys in the city, [he writes,] I was amazed and exclaimed, “I didn't know he looked that much like me!”
“Oh, I didn't see his face,” she said smiling as if she were keeping a secret.
“Then how did you know he was my son?” [Now he was truly confused.]
“I was just sitting in the car, and I saw a little boy in a baseball cap walking across the field to join his team. He walks like you.” [http://stevegoodier.blogspot.com/2014/02/walking-through-life.html]
In Biblical language, a child is one who is like their parent. The author of Ephesians calls on his readers to “imitate God, as beloved children.” Christians are to be like God, to bear a resemblance to our Heavenly Parent.
That’s a tall order. It may seem like an impossibility. Honestly, isn’t it overreaching or presumptuous to claim that we fallible mortal creatures could be anything like the Holy, Immortal, Creator of Heaven and Earth?
But Ephesians isn’t suggesting that we become like God in that sense. Likeness does not mean being immortal and invisible. Imitation does not mean creating universes, authoring the natural laws that govern them and raising up life. Being imitators of God means that we are to mimic the way God relates to us. It means that our characters are to become like God’s character so that we develop the habit of acting in ways that are God-like. The early Church Fathers took this idea very seriously. Clement of Alexandria argued that the truly wise Christian practices being God. Irenaeus of Lyon, speaking of Christ’s incarnation, declared, “Out of a great love for us, he became what we are, so that we might become what he is.” A century and a quarter later, Athanasius echoed this idea, saying, far more audaciously, “The Word [of God] became human that we might become God.” What they mean, in part, is that in our baptisms and through the continuing work of the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed and empowered to imitate God. Indeed, we were created for this, for as Genesis tells us, humans are created in the image and likeness of God. [Gen 1.26] Or, as our Orthodox friends read this verse, we humans are created in the image of God in order to bear the likeness of God.[1]
Notice the words that follow the call to imitate God: “live in love, as Christ loved us.” This command is an exact parallel to the call to imitate God. To imitate God is to live in love. This is not an abstract idea. The Greek word translated “live” is peripateo, which literally means “to walk around.” We are to walk through this world, to move through this life in love, in imitation of the God whose love is revealed in Christ.
Ephesians says to its original audience of Gentile Christians, you are no longer what you used to be, you are no longer like those Gentiles who are still far off from God, living without hope. You are now a part of God’s family, children of God’s household. So, you must act the part—you must live like beloved children and walk in love. You cannot continue to give free reign to your bitterness and anger, to steal and give in to your lusts, or to do violence with your hands or tongue. You must imitate your parent who is kind and forgiving. You must be like God who in Christ has shown you love and created community where it did not exist before.
This is why our text begins with a discourse on virtues and vices, things we should do and things we must cease to do. Notice something about those vices. They are balanced by their opposite virtues. It is not enough to stop doing what is wrong. You must start doing what is right. The way to overcome vice is not simply by abstinence. The way to overcome vice is to replace it with virtue. [Lewis Donelson, Colossians, Ephesians…, WBC, 92.]
This is what is meant by eternal life in the Gospel reading [John 6.35, 41-51]. Eternal life in the Gospel of John is the abundant life that begins in this world. It is a life of virtue and love. It is abundant because it is life lived in community, it is life lived as part of God’s family, as part of the one new humanity forged by Christ. It is a life founded on the sharing of God’s abundant gifts with one another and trust in God’s generosity and care. It is abundant because we give ourselves away in love, following Christ’s example. I am reminded that Jürgen Moltmann once wrote, “The opposite of poverty is not property [nor wealth]. The opposite of poverty…is community”—relationships of mutual care, compassion, equality, sharing—in other words, the abundant life of Christ-like love. [Moltmann, The Source of Life: The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life, Fortress Press: 1997, p. 109] Thus, in this abundant life of loving community, we speak (and post on social media!) kind uplifting words rather than insulting, hurtful words that tear others down. We show compassion toward the needy and the lonely rather than questioning their character—we don’t ask if they are deserving of our help, but instead respond to their need with mercy because they are our fellow humans who, like us, are beloved by God. Following Christ into abundant life means we give generously rather than hording. We forgive rather than holding on to anger, seeking reconciliation rather than seeking to get even. We listen rather than shouting. We seek to understand rather than immediately belittling another’s beliefs. In short, we imitate God, who is generous and forgiving, and seek to love others as Christ has loved us.
When we do this, we are not only imitating God, but also showing others what God is like and inviting them to join in our imitation. Dom Helder Camara was a Brazilian archbishop known for his commitment to social justice. He oversaw the building of apartments for those living in slums and the development of social service programs to help the poor. He was also openly critical of the harsh, violent tactics employed by the Brazilian police and military, especially their use of torture. Fred Morris, a former United Methodist missionary writing for Time, once described Camara by saying, “Being with him, watching him, listening to him, one is less and less aware of him and increasingly aware of the reality to which he points—a God who cares about the little people of the earth.” [“Saints Among Us,” Time, Dec. 29, 1975, accessed on-line 8-12-06]
Camara imitated God’s compassion and generous care toward humanity. He walked around in love, embodying the Divine nature in concrete acts of compassion and justice. His character had been so shaped by the Holy Spirit, through a life of prayer, that he related to other people in a God-like manner—he became increasingly like his Father in heaven.
On a more personal level, I think of my parents. Once they took me along as they and some others from their Sunday School class delivered food and gifts to a needy family one Christmas. And I remember how my Dad always welcomed visitors to church. Especially I remember how he welcomed a tired, unkempt homeless man who many in the church just didn’t seem to see.
My parents were imitating God’s compassion, God’s welcome, God’s love. In the process, they were teaching me what God was like and how we, as God’s children, should live; how we should walk through the world. God loves, God forgives, God forms community. We should do the same. [Donelson, 94] We should “live in love.”
Ultimately, as Lewis Donelson observes, “we are not Godlike in our knowledge, in our sinlessness, in our power, but only in our love.” (95) For God is love—generous, forgiving, life-giving, community building love. And the imitation of that love is the foundation of everything in the Christian life. [John Chrysostom] It is the path we are called to walk on our journey through life.
When we walk in love as Christ did, when we embody love in imitation of God, then we are living in a manner worthy of our Christian calling [Eph. 4.1], for we are truly acting as those who bear a familial likeness to God; we truly are living as God’s beloved children. May it be so for each of us as individuals and for all of us together in this community of faith we call St. Peter. Amen.
Walks like me? Now I was curious. How do I walk? Since I'm doing the walking, I don't notice how I look to others. Maybe I could watch him amble around to get an idea.
That said, how we walk down a street and how we walk through life are very different things. Perhaps I can't help how I walk down a street, but I want to be intentional about how I walk through life.
Through life, I want to walk gently. I want to treat all of life – the earth and its people – with reverence. I want to remove my shoes in the presence of holy ground. As much as possible, I want to walk in peace.
I want to walk lightly, even joyfully, through whatever days I am given. I want to laugh easily. I want to step carefully in and out of people's lives and relationships. I don't want to tread any heavier than necessary.
And throughout life, I think I would like to walk with more humility and less anger, more love and less fear. I want to walk confidently, but without arrogance. I want to walk in deep appreciation. I want to be genuinely thankful for life's extravagant, yet simple, gifts – a star-splattered night sky or a hot drink on an ice-cold day.
If life is a journey, then how I make that journey is important. How I walk through life.
But still I wonder how I look when I walk down a street.
– Steve Goodier [http://stevegoodier.blogspot.com/2014/02/walking-through-life.html]
Imitating Christ, journey of discipleship, walking like Jesus
[1] One might think of the image of God as the capacity to imitate the character of God, while the likeness of God is the actual enacting of that potential. For example, the image includes the capacity to love; the likeness is seen in the act of loving.