Christosis: Imitating JesusÀpẹrẹ

Jesus is speaking in this text about the future home of believers. God is a hospitable God who has prepared a place for His followers.

It’s easy to focus on images of a mansion or a future home in this passage, but let’s dig a little deeper. There is a hospitable, relational, and formational invitation in this teaching from Jesus.

Jesus states:

“I’m going to get a place ready for you.”

He is thinking about His followers. He has a role for them. Jesus further states that He will:

“Take you to be with me.”

This future hope Jesus is describing is not about luxurious worldly living; it’s about being with Him. Jesus is promising that death will not keep His followers from being with Him.

And He says to His followers:

“You know the way.”

In other words, “You don’t need Google Maps,” or, “Don’t look for answers outside of Me.” Jesus is essentially saying: “You know the path—I’ve revealed it to you.” When we pay close attention, it appears that Jesus is just as concerned about the path as He is about the destination. Sometimes, when we read Jesus’ teaching through the lens of self-interest, we obsess over the destination with little regard for the path.

Jesus is revealing something about the life to come: the life to come is a life with Jesus.

Are you living with Jesus now?

If you are not with Jesus now, what makes you think you will enjoy being with Him later?

The process of Christosis is to imitate Jesus and to be conformed to His image. Irenaeus said, “God became like us, so we could become like Him.” Irenaeus is not saying that we will become Jesus; rather, we will become like Jesus. Christosis is a process that begins now and reaches its fulfillment in the life to come (Rom. 8:29). The starting point of Christosis is being with Jesus.

What steps do you need to take to further prioritize being with Jesus?