The 13th

What does it mean to be a Christian? What does a follower of Jesus Christ mean? Let us take a look at Matthew 10: 37-42 to get an answer for these questions. In this particular Gospel passage, being a Christian or follower of Jesus is not a question of who. It rather tells us something about relationships. There is this relationship WITH FAMILY –as Jesus mentioned about the love of father or mother and son or daughter. There is a relationship WITH ONESELF –as Jesus mentioned about taking up a cross and finding or losing one’s life.

In both relationships, it is a prerequisite that any Christian or follower of Jesus should LOVE his/her mother, father, son, daughter and even himself/herself. But such a LOVE should be next to one’s LOVE of God. One should prioritize one’s relationship WITH GOD over his/her relationship with his/her family and himself/herself. To explain a little, a parent who loves his/her child who happens to be a doctor will advise the latter to refrain from treating a patient who is suffering from COVID-19 or else he/she may get infected with the virus due to his/her exposure with the patient. But for a Christian parent or a Christian child who happens to be a doctor, he/she will take the risk of helping the patient because he/she does it for the love of God. Despite the great risk, any Christian or follower of Jesus is willing to offer his/her life for the sake of others. He/she can only do this because of his/her love FOR God.

Being a Christian or follower of Jesus does not only revolve around these three relationships. There is this relationship WITH OTHERS as Jesus said, “he who receives you receive me.” Jesus did not mention the word “love” in this relationship but rather used the word “receive”. The subject of the verb “receive” is “he” which refers to other person, person aside from his/her mother, father, daughter, son or oneself.

What does the other person receive? He receives a reward. What is this reward? The reward is the overflowing love of God. Any Christian or follower of Jesus becomes a channel of God’s love being poured out to those who receive him/her. In other words, a Christian or a follower of Jesus should love others with the love OF God. In return for this, others will love the said Christian or follower of Jesus not according to his/her own merit but because of the God whom they see in him/her. The reward for them does not come from him/her as a Christian or as a follower of Jesus but from God whom a Christian or a follower of Jesus loves above all else.

Going back to the questions: What does it mean to be a Christian? What does a follower of Jesus Christ mean? It means the willingness to offer one’s life for the sake of others and the reason for this is his/her love FOR God and for the love OF God.