Last month, we celebrated Good Friday and Easter. We thought about how Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins when He was crucified, and how He showed that this matter was sorted when He came back from the dead. He appeared many times and in many circumstances to make it quite clear that He was alive.
So what now? Well, Jesus took His followers up a mountain and then went back to Heaven. I can imagine the disciples scratching their heads and thinking what comes next? The Jewish authorities were still violently against them and would come down like a tonne of bricks on anybody who said that this troublemaker, Jesus, was still around. The Romans would take stern action if there was any disturbance of the peace.
Twice in our career, Peta and I have worked in small island groups; once in an utterly remote island group between Fiji and Tonga and once on the Ugandan islands in Lake Victoria. In both situations I was the only doctor within several days accessible travel. If somebody got ill on the furthest island from my base it could take me more than a day to reach them and if they needed hospital care that could take another four days. So, we decided that the only way to give our population a basic health service was to train village health workers. These could be uneducated people, but people who could be trained to do certain key tasks well and reliably. In both cases the health and security of the populations in the islands increased considerably.
If Jesus had remained on Earth, He would have only been available to people in one not very well-known corner of the Middle East, so He too instituted village or perhaps town or country representatives, His disciples. Before He left Earth, He described the task that He was giving them and gave them marching orders.
And the task? In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28 and verses 18-19 we see Him telling His disciples to go and tell people what they know about how Jesus has died and paid the penalty for their sins, how they can come to Jesus to ask forgiveness for their sins and ask Him to be Lord of their lives. They are to tell people that, if they do this, the barrier between God and them has gone, and they live as members of God’s family.
Now, clearly this is a big task. All the authorities are against them, they are still playing power games. But if and as they do this, Jesus promises that He will be with them until the end of time. But they are not to get going yet!! They are to wait in Jerusalem until they are given a mentor, the Holy Spirit who will give them the ability to do this. The story of how that happened is at Pentecost and that comes next month.
But just in finishing, this commission to go out and spread the Good News of salvation from sins and admission to God’s family is exactly the same for all Christians, all followers of Jesus. This is the main task given to us by Jesus.
As we do this Jesus’ promise of being with us to the end of time will be given to us too.
Edwin Martin
Lay Leader