Being With

I love theology and philosphy. I love to think and stretch my mind. It is one of the reasons I love to read so much. I once took a sort-of “spiritual gifts inventory” that gagued how we primarily relate to important things in our lives - specifically how we primarily find meaning in our faith. Some are primarily guided and energized by doing. Others are primarily energized by how they feel about God and their faith. Others, like me, find joy and fulfillment in thinking. It’s no wonder that one of the largest sections in my library is theology. While many pastors stock their shelves with books on leadership, method and/or devotion, those sections are small for me compared to theology and commentary.

It would be very easy for me to promote the idea that a significant part of our faith entails “right” theology. I believe theology is important and that there are some aspects of it that are vital, essential to the Christian faith.

But as I read the gospels I’m struck by how little those first disciples had right, doctrinally. They had a fundamental misunderstanding of the kingdom of God clear up until the time Jesus ascended into heaven. They often misunderstood both who they were and who God is. At best they were Jewish laymen who weren’t very good theologians at all - at least during their time walking through Galilee and Judea with Jesus. So often, even when they were trying to get it right, they continued to get it wrong. Yet, Jesus never abandoned them.

Interestingly, in Mark’s gospel we are told that when Jesus called the twelve it was “so that they might be with him….” Jesus called them into an interactive relationship with himself. Jesus never minimized the importance of “getting it right” and those disciples would have almost certainly been in some big trouble had they continued to get it wrong. But “getting it right” was not a condition of their fellowship with God. They were called to be with him.

There is a tendency in many sectors of religious life today that seem to be more concerned about “getting it right” than in “being with” God. Why is it that Jesus chose not to divide with those disciples even though their theology seemed, at times, to be so poor? And what does that say about the nature of our relationship with God? What does it say about our relationship to one another in the body of Christ, even toward those who’s theology we might believe to be pretty wrong?