"My life is My message"  | By Rev. Jack R. Miller
 
A man lived alone and was confined to bed. His parish priest came to see him. After a short visit, the priest stood to leave and said, "I'll pray for you." The bed-ridden man replied, "I can pray for myself, Father. If you really want to help me out, you could take out the garbage and do the laundry."  It appears the man had been studying the Book of James, which teaches that, as Christians, words without actions are useless. (James 2:17 NLT)
 
How do people know that we are Christians? What identifies us as a follower of Jesus? The cross around our neck? The Bible under our arm? The fact that we walk into and out of a church on Sunday. Does that make us a Christian? If we meet a stranger on the street, how would we know if they are a Christian? Do we really know what a Christian is? Would we recognize one if we met one?"
 
We live in a world infatuated with labels. Act or dress in a certain way and you are given a label. Drive a certain type of car, work in a certain industry, convey certain mannerisms, talk with a certain inflection, pitch, or accent, and you are given a label. If you carry a Bible, wear a turban, have tattoos or facial hair, you are given a label. Where we live, what we eat, where we shop, who we call a friend or enemy, everything we do or do not do results in being labeled. Our society is obsessed with labels and putting them on other people or groups. What label has society placed on us, and more importantly, does that label really identify who we truly are?
 
In our scripture reading this Sunday, Jesus uses a parable about two sons to show how we perceive others. A person's outward actions and appearance do not necessarily reveal who they are inside; labels we, our society, or our culture place on others can be deceiving and may not define a person's true nature. The son who said “no” but changed his mind, the son who said “yes” and did not go, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and even the chief priests and elders were all given labels by the times and the culture Jesus lived in. But as he points out to his listeners, these people truly were on the inside and defied the label they had been given on the outside. The seemingly disobedient son became obedient; the apparently obedient son was, in truth, disrespectful; those who should have shown faith in the kingdom lacked the capacity to recognize it; and those who society and culture had marginalized became welcome and accepted because they openly embraced and boldly expressed their faith.
 
The foundation of Jesus' teaching upholds the sacred dignity of all men and women in God's eyes: the poor, the powerless, the ignored, the forgotten, the marginalized, and yes, those wrongly labeled. Christ calls us to look beyond hasty impressions and faulty perceptions; he asks us to seek out and lift up the goodness that resides in every person, like each of us, a child of God, our brother or sister in Christ. Compassion, forgiveness, and mercy are only words until our actions fully express those values in our relationships with others. How much better would our opening story have been if the priest had said, “Let us pray together,” and then asked if there was anything he could do to help out afterwards.
 
Identifying ourselves as Christians and calling ourselves disciples of Jesus means nothing until our lives express that identity in the values we uphold and the beliefs we live. True discipleship requires us to embrace the Gospel not as an unattainable ideal, but as an attitude and perspective for approaching our world, and a compass that guides us on our journey.
 
Let us be the bearers of the Good News in all that we do and say. Let God shine through our lives as we humbly, willingly, openly, and lovingly place all that we are on the altar of God's service. Above all, let us follow the example of Jesus, who tells us to love God and one another as he loves us. Let us live the faith we possess. "My life," said Gandhi, "is my message."  Christ wants the same for you and me. Let the label we wear on the outside truly express the contents of our heart on the inside; let our words and deeds speak the same language.
 
Amen? Amen!