Likeness

John 20:19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

The question of how to produce an exact image of someone has always been a difficult one. Some people work in mediums of wood, paint on canvas, stone, or maybe even bronze. Some of the greatest artists history has produced have been excellent copyists, able to wonderfully create an external representation of some of history’s greatest men.

But there has always been something missing in the images which have been created, no matter how closely they have resembled the person for which resemblance is desired.

God knew the shortcomings inherent with all of man’s attempts at resemblance. He also knew of man’s desire to produce resemblances for himself, as an indicator of man’s desire to cling to a hero or leader, once that leader has gone and is no longer physically present. In many cases, this desire of man to identify the greatness of a particular leader and to emulate that life can be admirable, as it is with Christ.

The problem is that no matter how lifelike or “perfect” the representation of the person to be emulated is - there is something huge which is missing: Life itself. I’ve seen some really great statues of George Washington in my life, (having grown up in Washington, D.C.,) but none of those wonderful statues truly captured the essence of Washington because the life was not ‘in’ the statue. The lights were on but no one was home. This is why God abhors idols and idolatry and idol-worship.

Jesus comes to His disciples and says, “I want you to be like Me. I want you to emulate My life. In fact, they will eventually call you “Christians” in My honor, because your very lives will be ‘Christ-like’”, (what the word, ‘Christian’ means.)

In order to accomplish this awesome goal, Christ could have handed out small statues of Himself to each one of the disciples to carry around in their pockets, to pull out and look at and be reminded of Christ each time a decision was necessary. Would this bring them into “Christ–like-ness?” No. Jesus’ answer was to breathe His life INTO the disciples, that their lives might be changed into the image of Christ from the inside out. Jesus lets us know it is the INSIDE which counts in the kingdom of heaven.
- Pastor Bill