The Great Commission of Galilee!
A reading for Friday, February 5, 2016: Matthew 28:16-20.
Have you ever noticed the Jesus offers the next steps of the mission of God, the so called "great commission," in Galilee? After all that has taken place... The miracles and the teaching all over the ancient world, in many towns and cities. The great drama of his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. Even after the elation of resurrection, when Jesus is found alive and still with the disciples... All this has taken place in Jerusalem.
But when it's time for the disciples to go back to work, to baptize and to teach others about Jesus, the call is to return to Galilee. Go back to where it all started and where the people Jesus and his disciples knew the best still live and work. The mountain to which Jesus directed them is back home, not in the big city where all the excitement is.
I wonder what this might teach us about our connection to the mission of God? Where is God calling us to live and to work, to baptize and to teach? Could it be that our calling is to return home? To move back into the neighborhood and to seek Jesus there...
Our work might not be in the places we expect, out on the mission field or in the neediest places in our city. Our work might just be in the ordinary everyday lives we already know. Who knows you the best? Who will you see today at work or in your coming and going? You know, the people you see all the time. I wonder if that's a good place to start with the "great commission?"
Jesus said, "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Have you ever noticed the Jesus offers the next steps of the mission of God, the so called "great commission," in Galilee? After all that has taken place... The miracles and the teaching all over the ancient world, in many towns and cities. The great drama of his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. Even after the elation of resurrection, when Jesus is found alive and still with the disciples... All this has taken place in Jerusalem.
But when it's time for the disciples to go back to work, to baptize and to teach others about Jesus, the call is to return to Galilee. Go back to where it all started and where the people Jesus and his disciples knew the best still live and work. The mountain to which Jesus directed them is back home, not in the big city where all the excitement is.
I wonder what this might teach us about our connection to the mission of God? Where is God calling us to live and to work, to baptize and to teach? Could it be that our calling is to return home? To move back into the neighborhood and to seek Jesus there...
Our work might not be in the places we expect, out on the mission field or in the neediest places in our city. Our work might just be in the ordinary everyday lives we already know. Who knows you the best? Who will you see today at work or in your coming and going? You know, the people you see all the time. I wonder if that's a good place to start with the "great commission?"
Jesus said, "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
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