Moral Example
Telling my brain that this is moral example instead of molar exemplar is sometimes easy and sometimes not. It’s not a tooth in a dentist’s office there to show patients the structure of a tooth and teach about decay and cavities.
And yet… There is some correlation. We see our failings as human beings easiest when there is a direct comparison to something Christ did. We best understand Christ’s sacrifice as something we will have to do to follow God fully and completely, that is, to die to self in order to follow God. We should not physically die to emulate Christ, but we will need to let go of selfish desires, foolish aspirations, and other inhibiting and all too human instincts. To value others more than yourself sometimes gets labeled as altruism and sometimes as Christian acts of service. Often depends more on motivation than actual act.
So… who are the moral examples in the world today?
Well… I tend towards no one is a pinnacle of human perfection as we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so I can follow the example of a person in something without misattributing sainthood to them. Mother Teresa, Fred Rogers, even Martin Luther King Jr. All of these people did things that I admire, that I look up to, that I find inspirational and aspirational… but they are all human. They had their own struggles and their own vices. It feels a bit bleak doesn’t it? That no one has gotten a 100% on living as a human since Jesus (because life is a perfectly normal thing to expect a grade in… ) but there’s still good news here. It’s pass/fail. Life is pass/fail instead of being a letter grade or percentage system. And it’s not even that the good you do must outweigh the bad you do (though that does tend to help people remember you more fondly). Life is often about learning from your mistakes. And striving ever more towards Christian perfection. That’s the goal, while we are yet alive, to be so attuned to God’s will that we are entirely sanctified.
Today is the ides of March and I find myself wanting to quote Shakespeare. In the big monologue that starts with Friends, Romans, Countrymen… “the evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar.” And I know this is a question you’ve probably heard from a pastor before, but what is the legacy you’re hoping to leave? Is it a good one? One that seeks to help others or one that is self-serving? One that says when I saw something unjust, terrible, oppressive, or evil, I did all that I could to make sure that no one else ever had to experience that because no one should? Speaking out against corruption, injustice, oppression, ostracization, or otherwise downtrodding of humanity is a part of our life as Christians.
As ever with Lent, nice light questions to ponder. (And I realize that sometimes my sarcasm is just words on a page, but I think y’all are smart enough to catch it.)
Coming full circle, your dentist takes care of your teeth, might show you how to floss, use a big tooth model to explain how decay and cavities come to be, or otherwise instruct you in dental hygiene. It’s that moral exemplar that I am hoping will help you think about Christ as a moral example. We know what we’re supposed to be doing (never lie to your dentist- they know you haven’t been flossing, okay?) so why aren’t we? What is it that keeps us from following Christ’s example? What keeps us from eating with those society calls sinners and treating them with love and respect? What keeps us from staying in our own lane and not judging our neighbor?
As far as this as an atonement theory goes, it is one of the few that pairs well with others. It can be entirely true while another is also entirely true so there are elements in most of the atonement theories that nod this way. Magra DeVega once again with those helpful definitions from Savior:
“Definition of Sin: We have tarnished and corrupted the image of God that was originally created within us. It has rendered us unable to fully reflect the love of God before others and causes harm to each other and the world.
Definition of Salvation: Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus demonstrates for us the way to live and love and empowers us to follow his example. “
Be a moral example, but remember, Jesus told others to follow him and did so without judgment. We can do it too.
