Not Good Enough to be an “Anonymous Christian “

12 September 2025  Luke 6:39-42

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:42

Judas was at the Last Supper. He very likely received the first Holy Communion. And he handed Jesus over to be killed.

Being near Jesus, similar to Jesus, has never been enough. There is a path to Hell even from the very gate of heaven.

Pretty much every time Jesus uses the word “hypocrite” in the gospels, He is talking about the Scribes and the Pharisees, often using even stronger language than that – “false teachers,” “blind guides,” “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” “full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” What is most striking about this language is that, of all the people Jesus ever spoke to, He had most in common with the Scribes and Pharisees. They all loved scripture and read it faithfully, committing large swaths of it to memory. They prayed daily, many times a day, sometimes for hours at a time. They loved the Law of Moses – Jesus said He came “not to abolish, but to fulfill the Law” point by point, as any of the Scribes and Pharisees would also have said. The spirituality of the Scribes and Pharisees was nearly identical to that of Jesus.

And it was the Scribes and Pharisees who conspired to kill Him.

Having a lot in common with Jesus is no assurance of salvation. After all, even Judas was at the Last Supper.

Karl Rahner was a German Jesuit priest who in 1961 published an essay in which he defended the idea of the “anonymous Christian,” by which he meant people who genuinely seek goodness and truth, and live morally. He said that such people are implicitly responding to God’s grace in Christ, even if they are not aware of it, or belong to another religion, and so can be saved. This idea was very influential at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) as bishops debated problem of salvation for those who have never heard the gospel, or who are not formally a part of the Church, or even of Christianity. In the years since Vatican II, the “anonymous Christian” claim has certainly gained in acceptance and popularity, even while it has raised some serious questions. If it is possible to be saved outside the Church, or even outside of Christianity, what function do the Church and sacraments have? Do we even need them, or need the Bible? An even more serious question is this: is similarity to Jesus enough? After all, the people most similar to Jesus in the Bible, who unquestionably lived pious and moral lives, either plotted to have Him killed, or ran away when He was.

Even closer to Jesus than the Scribes and Pharisees was Judas, and he was at the last Supper. He was the one who handed Jesus over.

Clearly similarity to Jesus is not enough.

Those most similar to Jesus need moments of conversion, too. They need occasions to make up their minds, in front of witnesses, times to renew that commitment, as well. That’s why there are sacraments of initiation (baptism, eucharist, and confirmation) when we are welcomed into the community of believers, sacraments of healing (reconciliation and anointing) when there are sins or illnesses that may have disturbed faithfulness, and sacraments of vocation (marriage, holy orders) that empower specific ways of serving God. Each of the sacraments is an occasion for receiving saving grace to make or renew commitment to God, occasions where there is always at least one witness.

Judas was at the Last Supper, close enough to Jesus that they could take bread from the same plate (see Matthew 26:23). The people in the Bible who had the most in common with Jesus all denied, deserted and betrayed Him. They all had logs in their own eyes that they had to take out so that they could see clearly. If that was true for them, how much more is that the case with those who are unaware of Jesus, the sacraments, and the Church.  

It is not enough to be similar to Jesus, never has been. Grace is never denied to anyone, but grace is something we all have to make up our minds about – and be converted – over and over again.