How does a person meet Jesus? As a Christian, I tend to think that I own the market on selling Jesus. Indeed, different Christian denominations tend to have proprietary ways to ensure that the outsider is included in salvation: a person must affirm a traditional creed, or come to the altar and recite the Sinner’s Prayer,” or be baptized, or speak in tongues, or pass a catechism, etc. It is easy to fall into thinking that outsiders cannot come to know Jesus and the grace of God apart from a particular method. We tend to pass over texts in which, after stating that God does not show partiality (Rom 2:11), Paul argues that even Gentiles who do not have the Law sometimes do that which shows the Law is written in their hearts, the means by which they will be assessed by God (2:13-16). They may regarded as circumcised (sign of God’s covenant people) of heart, a characteristic for which they receive praise from God (2:26-29).
More directly, Jesus tells us how people encounter him. When people have practiced righteousness toward their neighbors, it is Jesus they have fed, clothed, and visited (Matt 25:31-40). Jesus tells us how all of the law and commandments (by which the community of faith obediently responds to relationship with God) are fulfilled by loving God and loving one’s neighbor (Matt 22:37-39).
So, by loving one’s neighbor, one encounters Jesus? Yes, Jesus says that. Remarkedly, I have never heard that proclaimed at an evangelistic meeting. However, loving one’s neighbor is one way of seeking God, even if the person does not know she/he is seeking God. Of course, I agree that Christians should encourage other ways of seeking and knowing Jesus: worship, prayer, meditating on Scripture, etc. However, I should never disparage the person who is meeting Jesus by loving their neighbor.
Lord, bless those who are coming to know you by loving their neighbors. Help me not to hinder them but rather to help enrich their knowledge of you. Amen.
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