The Vicarious Self 2

I said, previously, that vicarious living can be “desirable.”

No one knows better how this can be so than John, one of Jesus’ first Followers. He and his Brother James were among the first group Jesus called to “follow” Him. He even gave them a new name. He called them “Sons of thunder.” He’d already given Peter a new name. He’d called him “the Rock.” In each instance the new name was prophetic. Peter really didn’t appear all that “rocklike” in the early days with Jesus. James and John were no more models of the strength of God which thunder symbolized either. But they became, once Christ came into their lives in the person of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, men of great courage and power.

John, wrote a book about Jesus. We have it today. It’s the fourth biography of Jesus in the New Testament. In that book we see how the vicarious involvement of Jesus in our personal lives can really be not only desirable but beneficial to our growth into the sort of person that reveals the nobility our Creator had in mind when He gave us life.

In the next to final chapter of his book John tells us why he wrote it and why he chose to be selective in the writing. “Jesus,” he writes, “did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” “Life,” is the reason John wrote his book about Jesus. 41 times in 21 chapters he specifically uses the word “life.”

Life, and particularly high quality life, is what we’re concerned about. The main theme of our conversation about the “Self,” is quality life. And John wrote his book to let humankind know that Jesus brings the highest quality of life to those who willingly welcome Him to live “vicariously” through them. He uses strong language in his writing. Vividly descriptive words and phrases like “everlasting,” “lavish,” "full,” “welling up ‘til it flows like a river in and through someone.” There’s no doubt that John passionately believes this vicarious life is desirable. He believes Christ brings to those who welcome Him the “best” quality of life. And he chose specific incidents out of the life of Jesus Himself to convince his readers that by “believing in Him they may have that life.”

“Believing” in Jesus is, for John, the critical link to this superlative life. Of course this is true of whatever life choices we make. We believe, at some level, that all of our choices will lead to what we’re hoping they will. But it’s especially important here because we’re choosing things recommended by someone else. He’s asking us to believe two things about this man who he says can give us superlative “life.”

“I’ve written these vignettes of Jesus life,” he says, “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.” “Christ,” is “the anointed,” “the ‘ONE'.” He is the “hope" of all humankind promised on the first Christmas Eve by an Angelic Messenger. The “Good News which will be to all people … the Savior who is Christ the Lord!” Knowing all of this is one thing. Believing it is another. Acting on our belief is the ultimate step; it is the choice to “turn our life over to the management of this man, Jesus, the ‘Lord.’” Do we believe to the point where we desire His way of life to become ours? It is only when we do that we begin to experience its quality. He is the “Son of Man.” He’s profoundly familiar with humanity. He knows where the mistakes have been made and how to redirect us. He, unlike any other person, knows the “way” to live superlatively. He’s done it. He’s the answer to our “hows.”

The second thing John is asking us to believe is that Jesus is the “Son of God.” This “hope” for all people is not only the consummate man. He shares the Divine nature! God has become man. Jesus is that Person. John is asking us to believe that the Creator is here. He’s asking us to believe that the Supreme Sovereign has lived among us. He’s telling us that the one we’re saving all our questions for has come and answered them in the living of His own life.
Think of this!

Like Simon, whom he gave the name “Peter” – the “Rock,” and James and John – “the Sons of Thunder,” He has high expectations for us. When, like them, we are filled with His Spirit; His Life, we will be changed. You, “Peter,” “Bonnie,” “Brad,” will begin to take on characteristics that are unmistakably Christlike. Those early Christ-followers became bold and openly talked about Jesus in public. They were arrested. The authorities knew they were “uneducated,” swashbucklin’ Fishermen. But there was something about them. They were different. Their Inquisitors could tell that Jesus had profoundly influenced them.

That’s the way it is with this “Vicarious Self.”