We Are Sent
Again, he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” John 20:21
Jesus came as the Messiah of the Jews and the King of Israel. He also was the Passover Lamb, the God ordained sacrifice for the sin of the world. But His life was also lived to set an example for His followers of how to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Jesus, a servant who sought only to do His Father’s will.
Here Jesus identifies Himself with His Father. Now He is telling the disciples by whose authority He did His work in this world. Now He is passing the job of spreading the gospel of salvation around the world to His disciples and as such to us today. The things that Christ said to His followers, and the things that Christ did with His disciples following His resurrection, is our foretaste of the coming Church. A Church in which the followers have peace with God and the peace of God in their hearts. Remember what Paul taught in Ephesians 2:8, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”
In the church we hear that our pastors and professional ministry leadership are “called” to the ministry. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t also called to share the good news of salvation with those we encounter.
Let’s step back in the message of the Gospel. On that first day that Jesus rose He appears to the disciples. They are huddled in a room, closed off to the outside because they feared they might be next to be sought out by the Jewish leaders. Suddenly there is Jesus in the room with them. No door knocks or walking through the door. Jesus greets them with a disarming “Peace be with you.” He shows His hands and feet to further convince the disciples. Then He commissions them to carry on as He taught and demonstrated to them. Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
In Matthew 28:19-20 we are told more about the commissioning. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
So why then does it seem difficult to share our faith? We are never commissioned by God without being equipped by God for the mission. We are called in some way to be disciple makers. We are gifted by God to witness in our world just as these first disciples were charged by Jesus.
Who will you witness to today?
Heavenly Father, thank You for the peace You grant to the faithful that guards our hearts and minds in the midst of this messy world. I pray that this peace may lead me to faithful witness to the truth of the Gospel. In the name of Jesus I pray, AMEN.