A Magnificent Mission
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Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 3449 Missions a Lunatic Project?
The British East India Company said at the beginning of the nineteenth century: “The sending of Christian missionaries into our Eastern possessions is the maddest, most expensive, most unwarranted project that was ever proposed by a lunatic enthusiast.”
The English Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal said at the close of the nineteenth century: “In my judgment Christian missionaries have done more lasting good to the people of India than all other agencies combined.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.
In his sermon on this text, Dr. Luther said the following about the disciples on that first Easter:
Luther’s Church Postil: Gospels: Epiphany, Lent and Easter Sermons I. Christ’s Manifestation after His Resurrection
The disciples are gathered there together in seclusion. They are afraid of the Jews and are, indeed, in danger of their lives; they are fearful and fainthearted and afraid of sin and death. Had they been strong and courageous, they would not thus have crept into a corner; even as afterward they were made so courageous, when the Holy Spirit came and strengthened and comforted them, that they stepped forth and preached publicly without fear.
God can either be a relic that we dust off like a fire extinguisher in an emergency, but otherwise respond to with rejection or worse, indifference or, He can be the one of whom we join in with the choir in singing,
“We have come to praise and magnify The Lord
For all that He has done
And for the victories He has won.
In the good times and in the bad times,
In the happy times and in the sad times;
Having You there made the difference,
Just having You there (having You there).
Today is the third Sunday after Easter, but our Gospel text is still focused on that first morning. The Lord is allowing us to take our time with this day because there is a lot for us to process. We spent the season of Lent focused on our sins and our need for change. We denied ourselves something that we would normally take pleasure in to remind ourselves of the seriousness of sin.
Lent really isn’t that hard; in fact, the inward focus of Lent lines up perfectly with our natural inward curvature and introspective efforts to improve. Embracing the Gospel in all of its purity does not come easy, no matter how we testify to others to the praise of His glorious grace. Jesus is risen… but every morning, the Old Adam rises up too and every evening, we find ourselves saying, yet again, “Lord, be merciful to me, a poor sinful being.”
See, we aren’t that different from the disciples that Easter day. They were trying to process the strange things that they were hearing from Mary Magdalene and the other women. In addition, two men came from Emmaus declaring that they just had dinner with Jesus, and Peter and John said that the tomb was, indeed, empty. How were they to reconcile these reports with what they knew had taken place just two days ago? In the midst of all that confusion, Jesus Himself appears without knocking or opening the locked door. How would you have responded if you were in their shoes?
Basically, the same way you have responded to the preaching of the Gospel. Until you believe it, you don’t. The only way that you will believe it is through the Spirit opening your mind to receive what the Scriptures are telling you. The relationship between prayer and evangelism has always been a curious one. All the great periods of spiritual power have involved intense prayer, and yet prayer, both individual and corporate, is difficult to launch and sustain among many of us who name the name of Christ.
That day, Jesus showed them His hands and feet, then invited them to share a meal. He hasn’t changed His way of revealing Himself. Today, in the pure Gospel, He shows that He is present in the Body of Christ, and people still disbelieve and marvel, then He bids us to join Him in a meal. He wants us to know that He is real, and that He is God-With-Us, and for us.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
Jesus did everything that the Scriptures said He would do. Now the Church, Christ’s Bride and Body, is doing everything that He said she would do. She brings “a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name” (Hebrews 13:15), offering with the Divine Service the sacrifices of Witness - Mercy- Life Together, fulfilling the Word that the author of Hebrews wrote,
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
We are Christ’s witnesses, stretching back through the centuries, across continents, in various cultures and contexts, but united by the message of Christ and the sealing of the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. That witness has consistently delivered people from the wages of sin, and it is just as powerful when called pastors deliver it as when it is shared by the rest of the Royal Priesthood, “through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters.”
The only thing that they needed to make sense of everything that day was what Jesus supplied as He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. We need to pray for that same understanding today, so that we don’t miscommunicate the Gospel, and even then we still need to pray that those around us have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying through the proclamation of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments.
That is a prayer that God delights to answer, for He delights in the salvation of His children. He supplies the grace that saves, the Word that delivers, and the Spirit who sanctifies, so that we can say:
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Why do people reject Jesus? Perhaps it’s because their natural minds cannot embrace a true gift, offered without strings. Instead, they would rather believe that they can do better next time, or they blame the system, or their parents, or the man, or their money, or their spouse… or maybe, they don’t want forgiveness.
Neither do we! We don’t want forgiveness, we want the Father to do us a favor and look the other way because we give Him a hearing every week. But them, especially if what they did can fuel our anger, give us a reason to curse the darkness, indulge some “righteous indignation?” No - instead, they need to be punished for offending us.
But the Father cannot look the other way for our sin, or theirs, not when the Son stands before Him making intercession for us all, stretching forth hands that are forever scarred with the payment for our sin, and not ours only, as the Apostle John writes:
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
God doesn’t look the other way - He forgives! He forgives us, He forgives the strangers whom we don’t know, and He forgives those who have made themselves our enemies. He does it freely, because He paid the price to do so, His own blood.
There will always be reasons to be angry in this world, because there will always be people who are not Jesus, people who are not without sin, people who are not faithful, people who do not love you enough to die for you. But they are not worth it. They are not worth being angry and sinning by going from day to day, nurturing that anger and giving it more energy with each new injustice, each new disappointment, each new attack of the devil.
5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
The pure Gospel is the only cure for what ails this world. Philosophy won’t fix it. Money won’t make it go away. Confrontation won’t cleanse it. That’s why we pray - just to make it - today, tomorrow, and until our Lord returns in His glory. Christ for you - for your neighbor, for our community, for this world. That is the magnificent message that we are blessed to carry in this world, the magnificent message that does what it says, the grace of God that brings salvation.
48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Yes, stay, be refreshed, be encouraged, but only until you are clothed in His righteousness, His power. Let the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters strengthen you, but then go - go into your neighborhood and preach the Gospel. Go on your job and preach the Gospel. Go to your class and preach the Gospel. Go wherever He opens a door and directs your feet, shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.
And may the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds, though Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.