March 18, 2025

Today's Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Daily Lectionary: Genesis 21:1-21; Mark 6:35-56

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so the saying goes. While it is often attributed to Oscar Wilde, the concept of honoring admirable behavior by imitation has a long history. Imitation is fundamental to the master-disciple relationship, which is the paradigmatic relationship of the Bible. 

Just as Jesus called His disciples to imitate Him, for example, by washing their feet to demonstrate how they should love each other, St. Paul invites his disciples to imitate him. But Paul did not originate; he, too, imitates. The example he sets is also the one that was set before him by his Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

If you don’t imitate, then you’re an enemy. Paul doesn’t allow for much middle ground. Walk according to his example or walk as enemies of Christ. This walk idolizes the belly, celebrates shame, and always puts the mind in the gutter. 

It’s important to note the goals or the destinations of these two diametrically opposed courses of life. “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things,” St. Paul writes of those who walk as enemies of Christ and do not imitate him. It is a dead-end road. On the other hand, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” The goal of imitating the walk of St. Paul is heaven. Even as residents of Earth, we attain heavenly citizenship in imitation.

But imitation alone can be simply superficial. Imitation without transformation is hypocrisy. The transformation comes by faith—first in a hidden way in this life and then revealed in the life to come, when we are glorified in our bodies as Christ is glorified in His body. 

While imitating behaviors and actions can have some benefit, St. Paul’s invitation is to imitate his faith. For faith trusts the power of God to make all things new.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, by the patient suffering of Your only-begotten Son, You have beaten down the pride of the old enemy. Now help us, we humbly pray, to imitate all that our Lord has of His goodness borne for our sake, that after His example, we may bear with patience all that is adverse to us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord (Treasury of Daily Prayer, Collect for 18 August)

-Rev. Jacob Ehrhard, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Chicago, IL.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

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