He Lives in You

Have you ever noticed that the longer people are married, the more they look alike? Or that children who are adopted often look like their adopted parents? There’s a reason for it. When we spend a lot of time with someone, we begin instinctively to copy one another’s facial expressions. Over time, our muscles and tissues are reshaped by those expressions, and we really do begin to look more like one another.

One of my favorite movie scenes is in the Lion King. Rafiki, the wise mandrill, declares to Simba that this father is alive and he will show him to Simba. He leads him to a pool of still water, and Simba gazes in, “That’s not my father, it’s just my reflection.” “Look harder,” urges Rafiki, “you see, he lives in you.” On All Saints’ Sunday, we give thanks and remember the people we have known who resembled Christ, and now see Christ face to face. Part of the final prayer that I often include in graveside services celebrates that the person we grieve will continue to impact this world through their impact on us: For all that our loved one has given us to make us what we are, that of him/her which lives and grows in each of us, and for his/her life that in your love will never end, we give you thanks.

I John was written by the same writer as the Gospel of John, sometime near the end of the 1st Century, so about 70 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Remember, an average life-span 35 years. So, I John is written to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of people who knew Jesus face to face. They were starting to ask, “Was the Son of God, the Messiah, really human? Flesh and blood? How do we know who to believe? What to believe? How do we know what is pleasing to God?”

This is what pleases God, says I John. First, believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ. Second, love one another. Everyone who does these two things abides in God and God in us through the Holy Spirit. Remember that to do something “in the name of” another, is to do it as that person would do it. We pray “in the name of “ Jesus, is saying we are praying with the same attitude, the heart of, Jesus.

When we fully abide in God, when we believe with the faith of Jesus, and love one another, we will be so attuned to God’s will that our prayers will be answered, because our prayers will be aligned with God’s will.

We aren’t always going to be the spittin’ image of Jesus, though. I John says, “Whenever our hearts condemn us,” when we know we have fallen short, God knows, and God’s love is greater. Not only does God know our sins, God knows our love, our dreams/longings to be. We are bound to have doubts. Thomas a Kempis, the German priest and author of the Imitation of Christ, wrote, “Man sees your actions, but God knows your motives.” The test of God is love.

When we begin to see God in the face of the ones who stand before us, can we respond with anything other than love? Will we not experience deeply the call to devote our lives to advancing goodness in the world? Mother Teresa said it this way:

“At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by ‘I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.’ Hungry not [only] for bread– but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing– but naked of human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks– but homeless because of rejection. This is Christ in distressing disguise.”
Christ cannot live in us until we invite him in, and that invitation is extended by our interaction with other people. New Testament scholar William Barclay commented on this passage, “We cannot begin the Christian life until we accept Jesus Christ for what He is and for who He is; and we have not accepted Him in any real sense of the term until our attitude toward [other people] is the same as His own attitude of love.”

It all starts with love. “See, gaze into your reflection, look harder, BEHOLD, the amazing gift of love God has carefully and thoughtfully wrapped and given to us.” By nature, we are creatures of God; by grace, we are children of God.

Richard Hong is a Presbyterian minister now. He is currently serving at First Presbyterian Church of Englewood, New Jersey. But, before he answered God’s call to ministry, he was a computer programmer in pharmaceutical research. He tells about an experience he had on a business trip to Frankfurt, Germany. Before he left, he was given a special assignment from one of his colleagues. She collected nutcrackers, and he was to bring one back to her from Frankfurt, Germany. But, he was not to go looking for just any one that appealed to him, or that he thought she would like. He was to find a particular type of nutcracker, and therein lay the problem.

Rich’s German is, by his own description, very minimal. He jokes that if he asks a store clerk something in German, the answer will be given in English. So, he went to the closest store with nutcrackers and asked, “Do you have this kind of nutcracker?” And the answer was a curt, “We have what we have.” This exchange was repeated. Time after time. Finally, he was walking down the main shopping street and saw a Disney store….actually, he saw a massive neon Mickey Mouse. And he breathed a sigh of relief. He knew they didn’t sell nutcrackers. But he also knew the values of Disney hospitality, what Disney calls the “Be Our Guest” attitude. Rich knew that the Disney employees would be friendly and helpful as he walked into the store. He explained his predicament and the salesperson called all the other store employees together. Rich could hear the group conversation, but it was a flood of German he didn’t understand. When the group reached a conclusion, the sales person came back over to him and explained the way to the train station, and specifically to a store near the train station that sold coocoo clocks and nutcrackers. It was the most likely place, in the group’s opinion, to have what he was looking for.

As he walked toward the train station, Rich passed a church with a tall steeple, and wondered, “Why don’t I get that same sense of assurance seeing that steeple, as I did the neon Mickey?” He knew the Disney store didn’t have what he needed, but he knew they would listen. He knew they wouldn’t be able to help him directly, but he knew they would care. He knew they might not have all the answers, but he knew they would try to point him in the right direction.

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about love. You can find the passage in I Corinthians 13. He admits that our knowledge is imperfect. We look into the water, and the reflection is more us than Jesus. We try to follow, to do what Jesus would do, but we don’t always get it right. Paul says now we see in a mirror dimly – remember their mirrors were not what ours are now, they were a piece of metal that had been flattened and buffed by hand. When we see Christ face-to-face we will see and understand fully. “We know that when Christ appears we shall be like him,” says the passage from I John, “for we shall see him as he is.” In the meantime, love is our test and the answer key.