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Thought for the Week 4 July – 5th Sunday after Trinity
The
Gospel today clearly calls us to consider the whole matter of Christian
Mission. But where to start such a large subject? Certainly we know what
Christ asked of his disciples and we know how they responded to his
charge. We also know how the early
church adapted to his charge by adjusting what they thought Our Lord meant,
to altered circumstances. Using that model, the church has really be adapting
the call to mission in many ways ever since, and, as we know all too well,
not always in ways in which we think Jesus would have approved. Conviction
is one way in which we can address the issue of Mission. Great saints have
been convinced over the centuries in ways that would not translate well into
our own time. Many of them, drew fervent adherents and were of huge influence
in their day. Francis and Dominic, of the same era but falling into differing
concepts of mission, are among these. In this part of the world we still live
with the remnants of Dominic’s Missionary fervor. Conviction, as we see, can
be a deceiving way of approaching Christian Mission. Conviction, in fact, can
be a deceiving way of approaching anything. Imitation
is another way of approaching Christian Mission. By looking at the words
historically distributed to Jesus, and by interpreting them literally, many
people believe they are following Jesus exactly in the task of Christian
Mission. But following literally is also deceiving, for times are not as they
were when Jesus issued his challenge to follow him. This is the way of the
Televangelists, and it is true that many of them are talented and beguiling.
Their message appeals to those who need to be told, and told unequivocally,
what is what, what to do, what to believe and what the bible says. That
of course raises the question of those to whom the idea of mission is
actually addressed. We
should be concerned about that very question because we have to be careful
that we are not like the Pharisees – at least, not too much like them. It is rather easy to be a little
condescending towards our fellow Christians if they are the kind who need to
follow a very clear and definite route, whether that route be the clear
directions received from a supreme head, or whether they are in the form of
clear and rigid interpretations of what the bible says. There
are not many hints of these kinds of distinctions in the texts we read.
Paul’s letters often have to deal with straying, or with the struggle between
the Good News of Jesus Christ and an established system of religion. Time and
distance were real enemies of maintaining a flow of encouragement and
teaching to the newly formed churches for whom Paul was responsible. As we
see in his several pairs of letters, he is often frustrated that something he
had understood to be both plain and convincing, had been reinterpreted into
something else during the months and years between his visits. In
our own day we have instant communications, and we also know a lot more about
the various kinds and forms of human temperament, how they can vary, and how
various temperaments are attracted to varying kinds of communication and learning.
Similarly, how they are repelled by other kinds of communication and leaning. Students
of psychological temperament analysis can perhaps sympathize most with the
task of mission, at least in a general way, and are perhaps better than most
of us as missioners. They can understand that the same approach does not work
for all, and that people hear the message in many different ways. Even among
ourselves, we have to admit that the same is quite true. Yet,
perhaps by grace alone, mission continues – in lots of ways, and all over the
world. A good news statistic appeared
this past week, and that is that attendance at Christian Churches around the
world seems to be increasing. No doubt
it is too soon to be crowing too loudly, but there is no doubt that the
downturns of the past two decades have brought out the best in those who work
and plan, pray and preach, so that the modern world and the Christian mission
can be seen to be compatible. In
the gospel message today, we find Luke talking about Jesus appointing seventy
others and sending them out two by two. The gospels of Mark and Matthew only
mention the “twelve”, however, in the same way that twelve symbolizes the
twelve tribes of Israel (i.e. The Jews) so the number seventy is symbolic of
the rest of the world. The Jews understood the rest of the world to consist
of either 70 or 72 nations. Jesus is therefore saying that he wants his
mission to be carried to everyone, everywhere, throughout the whole world. The
Good News, the Gospel, the source of the Mission imperative is inclusive
though, and this is a hard concept for the disciples to grasp. In that regard
we do not differ much from them, because it is hard for us to grasp as well. A
well-known theologian names Reginald Fuller offers the insight that the words
“urgency” and “detachment” must always characterize the Church’s mission. What
does he mean by that? The
condition of the world, whether we are thinking of the confines of our own
small world, or of the larger international picture, must always drive us
forward. Every life, in every generation, in every place, is a life that
needs to know about Jesus Christ. There is always urgency in accepting this,
and the task is a continuing one that needs to be close to the forefront of
out Christian thinking, constantly. How
do to achieve this in the Post-Christian, secularized world of the West? How
to do it in The Third World? In the
lands that used to be Communist? And……dramatic silence……how in our own
congregation and community? Yes, the “urgency” part is probably clear to us,
but what does he mean by “detachment”? A
clue to the answer lies in what the returning disciples say to Jesus “Lord,
in your name even the demons submit to us. In other words, they were thrilled
by their successes, even though they were willing to attribute them to Jesus.
In their minds they were the ones
who the Lord had selected over others, they
were the ones he had especially commissioned to travel, they were the ones he had personally instructed, they were the ones to whom he had
entrusted the task of going where he could not immediately go himself. They could not detach themselves from
Jesus’ own work. How easy to fall into the same trap. They thought the mission
was their own cause and their successes as their own achievement. In everyday
life we see this all the time – the more senior the executive, the more that
person tries to imply that it really all about their ability, their
influence, their genius. So,
we may do mission, and should do mission. That is our commission and the task
we take on at Baptism. But it is not our
mission – it is the Mission of Christ that we do. In
the words of the second reading we are called upon to witness the Cross of
Christ, not to glory in circumcision – that is, our own religiosity or piety.
Our real role in the work of Mission is to be teachers, evangelists, harvest
workers and bearers of the good news of Jesus Christ, that others may know
him through our work and witness. In Luke’s treatment of this concept Jesus
has the last word. “Don’t rejoice is what seem to be your own successes.
Rejoice instead that you have found your own salvation, and have proclaimed
it to others as well, even to those you do not like, or understand the least,
and those you approve of the least. Revd
Tony Jewiss: Anglican Chaplaincy of Midi-Pyrénées & Aude To return to main Thought for the Week page, click X at top right to close this window. |