We have entered the season of Easter, following our celebratory remembrance of Christ’s resurrection and his bodily appearances to many. During this season, our liturgy invites us to explore how those first post-resurrection Christians understood what had happened, how it shaped their lives, and how communities of faith took root and spread throughout the Roman Empire in just a few decades. They became the Body of Christ—the Church. In the paragraphs that follow, I want to take a few moments to explore what that means for us in our own day.
To be a Christian is to be part of the Body of Christ—the Church—which is not a denomination or a collection of denominations, but the whole number of all persons doing their best to be disciples of Jesus, following him on the way of the cross.
That is a true statement, but it needs clarification.
First, the word discipleship. A disciple is a student, a learner—someone committed to moving beyond Sunday school stories toward a more mature understanding of what it means to be a Christian. There is no end to such learning. Christ always has something new to teach. God is always speaking. Creation itself is still underway. As Peter Gomes put it in The Good Book, the words of Holy Scripture remain the same, but our ability to understand them is always changing.
Disciples resist the temptation to settle into a single, fixed way of understanding the faith. They remain open, attentive, and ready to listen for where God is leading them next.
Following Jesus on the way of the cross means walking with the certainty that whatever dangers or obstacles we encounter, the resurrection is always on the other side. We can say with confidence that the way of the cross is the way of life and peace—not a way, but the way.
And yet, the way of the cross is not walked alone. There is an old spiritual about walking a lonely road by oneself. It is wrong. The cross is walked in community, with all the members of the Body of Christ, and in companionship with the persistent, substantial presence of the Holy Spirit. The Twenty-third Psalm reminds us that even in the valley of the shadow of death, God prepares a table—overflowing—not only for us, but also for our enemies. The valley is not a dead end. We walk through it into greater light.
The Body of Christ cannot be an assembly of individuals each claiming a private and exclusive relationship with Jesus, even if they are content to gather with others making the same claim. The Body cannot function—indeed, cannot exist—unless each member does its part to sustain and nourish the whole. It is a truism: there is no such thing as an individual Christian. We are called to live in community, however difficult that may be.
It must grieve the Lord when denominational leaders condemn others as dishonoring the Body, when in fact they may be discerning something new that will, in time, strengthen and deepen the life of the whole Church.
That said, there is reason for caution. The Church has often been beset by those who claim to follow Christ while engaging in words and actions that violate everything he taught and died for. Prudence is necessary. But it is one thing to be cautious; it is another to condemn simply because the unfamiliar feels uncomfortable.
The way of the cross is grounded in what Jesus taught, demonstrated in what he did, and commanded us to continue doing in his name. His authority surpasses every other authority, and nothing stands above it. It is especially tempting to assume that the social and political norms with which we are most comfortable are consistent with the way of the cross. Too often, we have allowed them to dictate what Jesus meant. That can never be the case. It must always be the other way around. Every age and every culture stands under the authority of Jesus Christ.
Finally, the way of the cross is marked by doubt as well as conviction. We can know some things with certainty, but never all things. There is always more. As Paul reminds us, in this life we know only in part. We must learn to live with that—and to trust that it is enough for those who are truly disciples, following Jesus on the way of the cross.