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Admirers and Followers

ADMIRERS AND FOLLOWERS

by Ted Schroder

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night.” (John 3:1,2)

Jesus never said anything about wanting admirers. He recruited followers or disciples: followers of his life and mission. These followers were not attracted by his prospects or his bandwagon. Jesus of Nazareth was a humble Galilean preacher, who had no great organization or backing or public relations skills. He came to the world for the purpose of saving the world, and for his life to be a pattern for those who would follow him. So, the Son of God, chose to be born in humble circumstances, and lived in relative poverty, despised and humiliated.

Why this lowliness and humiliation? If Jesus came with earthly, worldly, and material advantages he would have attracted people for the wrong reasons. If he had been an object of admiration, then people could have discounted his message. They could have said that it is all right for him to make all the claims about God that he does because he is in possession of favorable circumstances. If only we had the advantages that he had, we could become as perfect as he was. He had everything going for him, he was the golden boy. So all we can do is to admire him. He has qualifications for holiness that we do not have, and which he cannot give us. Therefore he should not require anything of us.

If Jesus had come to the world in affluent and privileged conditions, he would have provided us with a universal excuse and pretext for evasion. He certainly would not have been put to death. The admirer of such a Jesus has an excellent cover – he could protest that nothing more could be required of him than that he admired Jesus as the truth, as a good man.

But Jesus, coming as he did in humiliation, removed the excuse or the evasion that he was in possession of earthly and worldly advantages that others did not. In his actual life there was absolutely nothing to admire unless one could admire poverty, wretchedness, the suffering of contempt etc. He did not even escape the last degradation, that of being pitied, of being a pitiable object of commiseration. There was not the least thing to admire. These are the conditions which he has to offer to anyone who would join him: to become just as poor, as despised, as much scorned and mocked.

What then is the distinction between ‘an admirer’ and ‘a follower’? A follower is or strives to be what he admires; an admirer holds himself personally aloof, consciously or unconsciously, he does not discern that the object of his admiration makes a claim upon him to be or to strive to be the thing he admires.

There are situations in which the attitude of admiration is the right one. Thus I can admire beauty, wealth, extraordinary talents, distinguished achievements, success, because there is no claim upon me to become that person. Admiration is appropriate whenever it is true that through circumstances beyond my control I am prevented from being able to resemble the object of my admiration, even if I heartily wished it. If I did wish it, and want to resemble the object of my admiration, then admiration may well be transformed into envy. I would covet what is denied to me by my limitations.

It is quite different with respect to the moral actions, the behavior and character which are within the capacity of every child of God. Here admiration is entirely out of place. If I know a person whom I respect for his unselfishness, devotedness, kindness, relationship with God etc., I ought not to admire him, I ought to resemble him, and make an effort to improve myself. He has a claim upon my life, to become more like him.

It is common in Christian circles for people to admire an enthusiast, a man of conviction. We approve and admire his mission and are indignant at those who oppose him; but only so far and no farther. We will say we support the enthusiast and that they are on his side, but we can avoid coming in direct contact or conflict with his critics. We may choose a place and an environment where we can express ourselves without any danger of being implicated; the security of the restaurant, for example, where in company with the admired one, and a few intimate friends upon whose silence we can absolutely rely, we may express ourselves without danger. Without the least unpleasant consequences for ourselves, we can sound off on our opinions, and express our agreement with the hero. But if the person we admire were to challenge us to speak out or do as he did – then everything is changed. We might cautiously withdraw from the admired man. We might even become angry with him for putting us on the spot. We don’t want to stand out in the crowd, to be identified with him. He has embarrassed us.

It is then that we discover that it is only through our imagination that we admire the man. To us he is an actor on the stage. We demand the same privilege we expect in the theatre: to sit safely and tranquilly without any real relationship to the danger. We think that it is to our personal credit that we admire the man, and should share in the merit of his cause. But we do not believe his life and cause should have any claim on us. If he challenges us to take a stand then our admiration slips away. We become offended in him because of his conviction. We begin to notice that conversation with him makes us uncomfortable. We feel that our life is examined and found wanting.

Judas was an admirer of Christ. At the beginning of his life Christ had many admirers. His life, however, was the unfolding of the truth. Everything around him became revealed in the truth, or became revealed for what in truth it was. And when the time of testing came there were barely to be found twelve followers among his one-time admirers. He who is merely an admirer will at the approach of danger become a traitor.

Nicodemus initially was an admirer. The actual danger was too much for him. Personally he desired to keep aloof. Yet, on the other hand, the truth of Christ attracted him so much that he sought to get closer to it. Secretly by night he stole out for a rendezvous with Christ. It cost him an effort to seek the society of the despised man. Dark as the night was, and careful as he hid himself in his cloak, it was nevertheless possible that some one might have seen and recognized him. It was possible that he might have run into some one who promptly would have denounced him. What assurance had he that the man whom he visited might not make such a use of it as would be injurious to Nicodemus’ good name and fame?

One sees here what an admirer is. It is as if Nicodemus might have said to Christ, ‘In case we come to an understanding, I will accept your teaching in eternity – but not here in this world, no, that I cannot do. Could you not make of me one exception? Might it not be sufficient if I come to you from time to time by night? But by day I do not recognize you. By day I shall not know you.’

When a man says that he believes in something, and his life is not changed by it, is a ludicrous self-contradiction. The follower is, or at least strives to be, what he admires. The admirer is not willing to make any sacrifices, to give up anything worldly, to reconstruct his life, to be what he admires or let his life express it. In words he is inexhaustible in affirming how highly he prizes Christianity. The follower, on the other hand, aspires to be what he admires – and will encounter the same danger as Christ.

Admirers will become highly embittered against followers for showing them up by their lives. Admirers want to become honorary Christians in the same sense as honorary doctors who get their degrees without study. The ‘follower’ is what we must be guided by if we are to speak truly about Christianity. Nicodemus eventually became a ‘follower’ who accompanied Joseph of Arimathea to the Cross and prepared Jesus for burial. (John 19:38-42). He was not afraid to be with Jesus in his humiliation in the light of day.

(Adapted from Training in Christianity, Part III.vi, Soren Kierkegaard)

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