Yesterday’s reading ended with a look at the lordship of Jesus, and we continue that today.
In contemporary Christianity, especially in the more evangelical branches, the emphasis is often on Jesus as savior—less so on Jesus as lord.
A few weeks ago, China Methodist Church was using the Cokesbury Worship Hymnal as a summer opportunity to sing some of the old songs. As we sang “My Faith Looks Up to Thee,” a word stood out to me that sounded out of place.
The first verse contained the phrase, “take all my sin away.” That sounded a little off to me, so I looked up the same hymn in the much newer hymnal we usually use. Sure enough, there was a subtle difference, as the same phrase read, “take all my guilt away.”
I don’t know why the change was made, or which word was used by the original author, but it struck me that the difference reflects a change in the church’s emphasis over several decades, focusing on Jesus as savior almost to the exclusion of seeing Jesus as lord. We like the message that we are forgiven of the guilt our sins, but less excited to be told that we should—and can—be freed from the sins themselves.
Traditionally the word “lord” implies a master-servant relationship, and that is indeed an aspect of our relationship to Jesus. In Paul’s words to the Philippians, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Like in so many things, though, Jesus himself reshapes and redefines the term, not overturning its earlier meaning as much as expanding and enriching it.
John, in the 13th chapter of his gospel, tells us of the night of the Last Supper, when Jesus also washed the feet of his disciples. He then explains his action this way, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”
He clearly affirms that he is Lord, but in taking on a task normally assigned to a servant, he reshapes lordship into some more mutual—into something that leads through love and example, not force and demands.
Or, to use Jesus’s words from the 15th chapter of John’s gospel, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
From the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church:
9. What is the Son’s role in creation?
Through Him all things were made.
John 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
1 Corinthians 8:6 …yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Colossians 1:16-17 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Hebrews 1:2 …but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
15. Is Jesus Christ Lord of heaven and earth?
Yes. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
Luke 1:33 …and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.
Luke 24:51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
John 5:22-29 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
Acts 1:9-11 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Acts 10:42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
Romans 8:34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2 Peter 1:11 …and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Revelation 11:15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”