The Christian Telos

There is a quote making its rounds on my socials that states, “The test of Christianity is not loving Jesus, it’s loving Judas.”

It is a clever turn and change of expectations. It is the sort of thing that preachers love to do if we are creative enough to come up with it.

The quote points out the telos of the Christian life. Telos is a fancy word that means the target or the end or the goal. For my doctoral work, I have had a decent number of conversations with people about what they would say the telos of the Christian faith is. One might imagine that there are numerous ideas. Some say the goal of the faith is to get to heaven. Some say it is to repair or restore the world. Some say it is to have a relationship with God. Some say it is to conformed in the likeness of Christ others say it is to glorify God.

The United Methodist Church suggests a telos “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” The denomination recently splintered from the UMC (the Global Methodist Church) suggests a telos “to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly.”

According to theologian and scholar Roberta Bondi, the desert mothers and fathers taught the telos of the Christian life is love. The goal of the faith is love. More often we think that we do some loving action in the service of something else. That love is a means or a way to another goal. I love my child, so that they might… Or I extend love to someone else so they will… In this way, love is not the telos just the means or way we reach another telos.

When we treat love as a means to an end, then we run the risk of not loving in order to achieve the desired end. We might do unloving actions in order to achieve the telos of say, truth. But if love is the goal, then truth will bent for the sake of love. Not love for the sake of truth.

For instance, the famous scene in Les Misérables where a thief steals silverware from a bishop but then is caught. The authorities bring the thief back to the bishop so there may be a set of charges brought against the thief, but the bishop says the silverware was a gift from the priest. In fact the bishop then tells the authorities that the thief forgot the candlesticks.

In this famous illustration of grace, the truth was bent in the service of love. The bishop understands the telos is love, not truth. If the telos was truth then the bishop would have laid the charges against the thief, but this does not happen. The telos is not truth but love.

The quote from above points out the telos of love. The test of the Christian is our ability to love - especially the thief, betrayer, and enemy. If the goal was something else then we would only need to love Judas for the sake of something else greater.

But, as Paul says, the greatest of these things is love.

There is no greater telos.

Automatic Water Faucets and Humility

The guy at the sink did every move imaginable - the standard-palm-slow-push, the blackjack-dealer-hand-flip, the peanut-butter-finger-spread, the three-stooges-hand-up-and-down, and the catch-a-fly-clap - all to no success.

And he was getting visibly frustrated that he slid down to the sink net to me, hopeful that faucet would produce the water needed to wash off his soapy hands. After he apologized for violating the unspoken rule in men’s restrooms (known in the south as the “Porcelain gap”), he then said something I will never forget. “I hate having to beg for water.”

No wonder Christianity is a tough sell to the world.

Christianity teaches about the need to let go of control, the value of humility, and how we are not self-reliant. I am aware that automatic faucets are not the greatest things in the world, but I am saying that there is something for each of us to experience being a beggar. For we are each just that, beggars for mercy and grace. The Good News is that God is the source and giver of mercy and grace.

The tough part is that when we receive mercy and grace it feels like we did not do anything to earn it or that we deserve it. It is almost as though we were beggars who received that which was given by another.

Those water faucets (and paper towel dispensers while we are at it) are opportunities for those of us who have to practice what it is like to be in need. What it feels like to beg for something and have to rely on someone/something else for help.

And if we are going to get frustrated when that water does not come out right when we ask for it, perhaps we can consider our fellow sister or brother in need who is asking and we are just as difficult as the faucet in that bathroom that refused to share the water.

Denominational Ice Cream

Over the years I have heard that the different Christian denominations are basically all the same. Yes, there are differences - one may use a little water to baptize while another uses a lake or one uses real wine another uses juice. One has smells and bells while another has a band - but in the end they are fundamentally the same.

Some time ago I introduced myself to someone and they had this mindset that all denominations are basically the same. This person asked me, “so what is your denominational flavor?” It was at that moment that a metaphor came to me to describe denominations. And while metaphors are not perfect, I offer up this metaphor to highlight what I mean.

Some of us might think that denominations are like ice cream. They are all made of milk, sugar and some various ingredients. You may have vanilla or you may have rocky road, but no one confuses ice cream (regardless of the flavor) as anything but ice cream. And so, in this way it makes sense that someone may ask what is your denominational “flavor”.

However, and sticking with the sweet theme here, denominations are all similar in that they are dessert but they are not all ice cream. Some are cake. Some are pie. Some are ice cream. Some are cheese trays.

I think one of the greatest dessert is tres leches cake. For the deprived souls who have not embarked on the journey of delight that is tres leches cake, image a very light cake soaked in a sweet milk and topped with fresh berries, whipped cream and cinnamon. It is amazing. If I were to seek out and order tres leches and the server brings me ice cream, I would know the difference. There are obvious differences in those two items - even as they are both dessert items. I would not say, “well all dessert are basically all the same.”

And here is the rub, some of us feel like the only way that we can speak about our dessert is to shame or tear down the other desserts. Some Christians feel like the only way to assert the beauty of their denomination is to talk about the ugliness of other denominations. And so there are misrepresentations and misinformation. Fear and hate are spat out for the sake of getting others to, if not join a preferred denomination, at least reject another.

Some of us are lactose intolerant and need to avoid ice cream. Some of us have a gluten allergy and need to avoid cake. Some of us are diabetic and need to consider sugar free options. We understand this with desserts and yet we sometimes overlook this practice in our search for a community of faith all because it is assumed that “all denominations are basically the same.”

They are not and that is a feature not a bug . It is important to find the denomination that nourishes your body, mind, spirit and soul.

Otherwise we may end up becoming very sick.