When were you first called a Christian?

By Tim Hallman
Acts 11:26

The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

When were you first called a Christian? Where were you when you were publicly declared a Christian? Have you always grown up with that title? Was it something given to you as a child? Did you choose that label as an adult? Do you ever pause to consider what it means to be called a Christian?

Antioch was like an ancient Chicago, a massive trading center on the crossroads of the region. It was a place of great wealth, powerful merchants, famous politicians, and lots of infamy. Antioch was home to a variety of ethnic groups including many Jews. And this included some Jews who had come to trust in Jesus, who they called Lord and Messiah.

The name "Christ" is the Greek word for the Hebrew word "Messiah." Both words mean "anointed one." Whatever the Greek word means, it takes its identity from the Hebrew word and it's context. The Hebrew idea of Messiah is rooted in the hope that God would send a deliverer to Israel, get them out of exile and then rule them justly, with mercy, in humility. 

The Messiah, as the anointed one of God, would come from the line of King David, thus the rightful one to lead the restored nation. Jewish communities, scattered all over the Mediterranean world due to exile and banishment, longed to be reunited in the Promised Land. It'd been a long time since Israel was a sovereign nation, able to freely abide by Torah, observe the Sabbath unpersecuted, and worship in the Temple without harassment.

Some Jewish men and women, as you know, came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Based on what they saw Jesus do, what they heard him say, and what they experienced through his death and resurrection, put their faith in him as the anointed one. And this put them at odds with other Jews who remained unconvinced of his identity as God's Messiah for Israel.

Some of those unbelieving Jews were motivated by their desire to keep political or religious power, or their wealth. Others were sincere Jews for whom Jesus did not fit their preconceived notions of what their Messiah ought to do. Jesus the Messiah undercut the power of the elite and confused the hearts of the pious.

The Jewish families who came to the conclusion that Jesus was indeed Israel's deliverer came to be seen as still part of Judaism, but part of a sect. These Jesus-Jews still observed Torah, still kept Sabbath, still ate kosher, still worshipped at the Temple and visited the synagogue. But they did all of this believing that YHWH, the God of Israel, had sent Jesus of Nazareth to be the One to rescue them from exile.

Israel had been in exile to Assyria, then Babylon, then Persia, then Greece, and now Rome. Four-hundred years later, Jewish families were ready for freedom from oppression, the grinding poverty was wearing them out spiritually and physically.

One the Day of Pentecost, when Jerusalem was full of Jewish men and women from thousands of miles away in every direction, the Spirit of YHWH swept into town. Tens of hundreds of Jews came to believe that Jesus really was the Messiah. All the evidence for his identity as God's anointed one which they had been weighing in their hearts and mind came to a trusting conclusion. Now there was a city full of Jewish Jesus followers, they were a community to be reckoned with. But what to call them?

In Antioch, ten to twenty years after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the crowds finally settle on a name for the Jews (and now Gentiles) who believed. What set these Jews apart from their fellow Jews was their belief about Jesus: that he was the Messiah, the Christ, the true King of Israel. It's a particularly dividing belief, especially when you mention this king's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus was the Christ you couldn't see.

Obviously there were endless ways to mock the early Christians for what they believed. But then why did the movement continue to grow? Not only were these Jesus-followers famous for their belief in his being the Christ, but because they imitated the way of the Christ. (The "Way" used to be their other name, until "Christian" stuck.) These Christ-ians or Messiah-ians became famous for their love of neighbor, their compassion for the poor, their integrity in business, their trustworthiness in community. People could question the identity of Jesus as Christ, but they had a hard time arguing with the works of Christians done in the name of the resurrected and ascended King of Israel.

In Antioch, city of immigrants and merchants and soldiers and vagrants, Christians earned their name. They knew what they saw when Jesus was killed, buried, and raised up. These Christians grasped what God was now doing in the world. In the name of Jesus the Christ, they went about their life, in the big cities and little villages. Yes they were at times mocked for believing in the resurrection and ascension. But they were also given assurance again and again that the life of Jesus and the promises of God gave birth to light amidst the darkness of a very pagan land full of dark idols and unending empires.

What makes you a Christian? Why are you still a Christian? What is it about Jesus that still compels you to follow Him? What makes you thankful to be known as a Christian? What makes you ashamed? What's the best contribution you can make to our world in the name of Christ?