We toss around the phrase “you need to be saved.” But what does it really mean? And if we look at the life of Jesus, whom we follow, how did he use it? Who did he praise for their faith? To whom did he proclaim salvation had come? Have we made “being saved” into a cliché that has lost its meaning? Are we too glib with the word? Has it lost its deeper meaning?
In Luke 19, we see Zaccheus trying to see Jesus, in fact, climbing a tree in order to get a glimpse of him. Zaccheus was a tax collector, a betrayer of his people, working for the Romans. His people, the Jews, hated him. They thought he had turned his back on his faith and his people. He was an outcast and a sinner. Yet Jesus saw him, turned toward him, spoke to him, and asked to come to his house for dinner. The religious people of the day grumbled about this. How could Jesus want to eat with a sinner? Zaccheus speaks up for himself. My pastor (missiomenno.wordpress.com) recently pointed out that the original Greek is written in an ambiguous present-tense. Unlike some translations, Zaccheus seems to be speaking in the present, not into the future. Zaccheus says he has given half of his possessions to the poor and if he has cheated anyone, he has paid them back four times the amount. Jesus declared that salvation had come to Zaccheus. Why? Because he had said a “sinner’s prayer”? No. Because Jesus recognized the work of God in Zaccheus’ life. Zaccheus had a bad reputation, he was cut off from his community, and Jesus was restoring that. Salvation.
In Luke 7, we see a woman coming to Jesus with great love and tears. She stoops down and bathes his feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and anoints his feet with an expensive ointment. Jesus said her sins were forgiven. Why? Because she recited a list of doctrinal statements that she now believed? No. Because she put faith in Jesus and showed him great love. And even when the religious people grumbled about her, Jesus honored her and was restoring her reputation and her place within her community. Salvation.
In Luke 24, there is a thief hanging on a cross beside the one from which Jesus is hanging. This thief was being condemned justly, but Jesus had done nothing wrong. The thief asks Jesus to remember him in His Kingdom. Jesus said that he would be with him today in paradise. Why? Because he was a good person? Because he decided to “become a Christian”? No. Because he recognized something in Jesus that was true and good. And despite the crimes the thief had committed, Jesus recognized something in him that was true and good also. Salvation.
So, what is salvation if It’s not about believing the right things or being morally good or belonging to the “right” group? So many of us were taught to say “the magic words” (a.k.a. the sinner’s prayer), repenting of our sins and “accepting Jesus as our personal Savior,” and then we would be saved and get to go to heaven. So many of us were taught to make sure we believed all the correct doctrines and thought a certain “right” way about God and eternity, and if we believed all the right things, we would then be “saved” to go to heaven and not hell. So many of us were taught that if we became a Christian, joined a particular church or denomination, we would then be saved. Or if we did the correct things, following the moral codes laid out by the church, we would then be saved. But this isn’t the definition of salvation I see Jesus living out. And I hesitate to define it. Because when we box something in, we lose some of the wider meaning. So, I’ll let you sit with Jesus’ examples.
I am coming to look at salvation as knowing God and recognizing the work of God in myself and in others. Perhaps salvation is realizing that God loves me unconditionally and that God forgives me, totally and already. God’s grace extends to me. God cares about even me. And when I realize this, I want to change to become more like God. I want a relationship with this Loving Being. I want to follow this way of reconciliation. I then become sorry for the many ways I haven’t acted like God, hurting others and myself, and I want God to live within me and help me. This is an attractive Love I can trust. This is not a formulaic ritual; this is not a predetermined plan. I will experience God uniquely. You will experience God uniquely. And that’s okay. That’s as it should be. It’s not cookie-cutter. Let’s not limit God by thinking it has to be “this way” or “one certain way”. Salvation is mystery. Let it continue to be mystery.
How would you describe salvation?
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