The story is told of an Easter dawn in a Russian prison camp in the days of the USSR. A voice called out, ‘Christ is risen!’ and, despite the command for silence, a chorus of voices responded, ‘He is risen indeed!’

The events of the first Easter Day awakened the world to the dawning of a new era and with it the assurance that there is more to life than our experiences now.

In our troubled, conflicted and war-ravaged world, how encouraging this is. The resurrection of Jesus reveals that death need not be the end, but the door to life in all its fullness and joy.

Now you may dismiss the resurrection as fake news because it conflicts with the natural laws, the regularities scientists observe about the operation of the universe. However, such laws don’t prevent God from intervening and overruling whenever he chooses – bringing about an event that we speak of as a miracle.

In the opening lines of Luke 24 we read: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they (the women) came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.

The first witnesses. There would have been no joy in the hearts of those women in that early morning. They had watched as Jesus died. Now, filled with grief as they trudged to his grave, laden with heavy spices and ointments for his burial, they were confused and despairing.

But more distressing news was to come. When they arrived at the grave, they found the massive stone that had closed the grave entrance, had been rolled away. What could have happened? Was it thieves? Was it some underhand action on the part of the authorities? They were totally out of their depth.

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. And as they were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen…” (24:4-6a).

‘If you want to find Jesus, you’ve come to the wrong place,’ the angels said. “Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again…’” (24:6b,7).

The angels themselves could have explained the empty tomb. But instead, they focussed on the weight and authority of Jesus’s own words: ‘Remember what he told you,’ they said.

This is so important. The gospel writers want us to hear Jesus’s explanation of what he did and why. He had spoken of the events that had now come to pass. He had already explained why it had to happen. And, with this reminder, the women remembered (24:8).

It is easy for us today to forget Jesus’s words when we learn troubling news. We forget that Jesus not only predicted his death and resurrection, as well as the fall of Jerusalem (which occurred in 70AD), but he also spoke of earthquakes, conflicts and wars that would occur before his return.

As Paul in his Letter to the Romans writes, We know that the whole of creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved … But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Romans 8:22-24a, 25).

During his ministry, Jesus had spoken twice about his death and resurrection. He had come as the savior who would address our greatest human need. He would deliver us from God’s just judgement and open the great doors into God’s kingdom.

Jesus’s words at the Last Supper are key: ‘This is my body given for you,’ he said. ‘This is my blood shed for you.’ Scholars agree that these words are probably the most reliably preserved statements of earliest Christianity. We find them in First Corinthians, written around 50AD, and also in Matthew, Mark and Luke, written no later than the 60s.

‘Love it or hate it, the evidence that Jesus thought of his death as a sacrifice or ransom for sins is strong.’ In fact, when we read Luke as a whole we see that his emphasis on Jesus’s death is so strong, we begin to understand that the crucifixion is about God’s justice and love. It was why Jesus came.

Love and justice both matter to God. To say, as some do, that Jesus’s death was some kind of cosmic child abuse, is to forget that the New Testament insists he was not coerced into dying at Calvary. Jesus laid down his life voluntarily. In John chapter 10, verse 18 we read Jesus’ words: ‘No one takes it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…’

The New Testament is clear. In the case of men and women God is the wronged party. Yet, in his love, he chose to enter the world in person and bear the punishment that we, the wrong-doers deserve. He, the judge has paid the fine owed to him by us.

The women who went to the tomb did remember Jesus’s words. And what a difference it made. They didn’t stay at the tomb. Suddenly energised with new vitality and joy they rushed off to tell their friends the breaking news. Who doesn’t want to share good news?

And Dr Luke, that very careful historian, wants us to know that even though the first witnesses to the empty tomb were women, their witness is true. It’s one of the reasons he identifies them by name: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James (Luke 24:10). They were perfectly sane and sensible people, people of integrity. In fact, Luke implies, if you want to find out for yourself, go and talk to them.

How important remembering is for us. How often we forget the words of Scripture. In good times we forget because things are going well. But we also forget God’s words of comfort and assurance when life gets tough – in times of drought or flood, injustice and war. Or you may be single, longing for a partner; you may be in a loveless marriage; you may be longing for a job; you may have a sick or dying loved one, or you yourself may be suffering.

We need to remember that we are never alone. We have a secure hope. Through his death and resurrection Jesus is the pioneer who leads us into life in a new era in all its fullness and joy.

Are you praying for three or so people to whom you would like to pass on God’s good news? Consider purchasing some copies of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs using the link on the banner below. Simply pass on a copy at an appropriate moment.

A Prayer. Almighty God, you have conquered death through your dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ and have opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant us by your grace to set our mind on things above, so that by your continual help our whole life may be transformed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in everlasting glory.  Amen.

Note: My comments on Luke 24 are drawn from my book, Luke: An Unexpected God, Second Edition, Aquila: 2019.

© John G. Mason

A Maundy Thursday / Good Friday Reflection

Why is it, that despite all the hopes and dreams of the world becoming a better place, wars, injustice and poverty continue?

Why, two millennia ago, did Jesus of Nazareth die – the most unjust conviction ever? He lived a life of unquestionable purity. He was never accused of lying; he showed a selfless service in his compassion for the needy and the outcast; and he never promoted his cause through weapons of war.

Indeed, when Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea at the time, asked him at his trial what he had done, he had responded, “My kingdom is not of this world…” There and then he implied there is more to life than our present experience (John 18:36).

Luke chapter 22 records Jesus’ words at his last Passover meal with his disciples – a meal now known as The Last Supper.

Passover is a special occasion when the Jewish people recall the time God passed over their homes when they were enslaved in Egypt around 1200BC. God had stepped in and miraculously brought about their release from Egyptian rule. Passover became the annual celebration of God’s goodness and grace and the freedom they came to enjoy.

The Passover looks back. On the night of the first Passover, God decreed that every Hebrew household should take an unblemished lamb, slaughter it, and sprinkle the blood on the door posts of their homes. Each household was to have roast lamb for their evening meal. God promised that his angel of death would pass over every household where the blood of a lamb was on the door posts.

But it also looks forward in anticipation of a very different kind of freedom – when God’s promised Messiah will step in and establish his kingdom.

Twelve centuries after the events in Egypt, Dr. Luke records that Jesus carefully prepared a Passover meal with his disciples on the night before his death. It was a time when the Jewish people had once again lost their political freedom. For some six centuries they had been puppets to super-powers and now they lived at the pleasure of the Roman emperor.

Passover signified freedom. And even the gloomiest of Israel’s prophets, Jeremiah, spoke of a new day of hope: The days are coming when I (God) will make a new covenant with the house of Israel … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people… for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

When Jesus prepared to celebrate Passover with his friends, patriotic feelings were running high. Believing people in Jerusalem would have been remembering the exodus from Egypt. When Jewish families gathered for Passover they would say, ‘Today we are slaves. Perhaps next Passover we shall be free.’

The breaking of the unleavened bread is a vital part of the Passover meal. Every Jewish family member around the table knew by heart the words the host would recite: “This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. All who hunger, let them come and eat, All who are in need and let them celebrate the Passover…”

But at the Last Supper Jesus’s words are electrifying. He didn’t say: “This is the bread of affliction,” but rather, “This bread is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance…” not “of the Passover” but, “of me”. He made his body, his dead body, the focus of the Passover meal.

And that raises something else that was strange about this Passover meal. Roast lamb would normally have been the center piece. Peter and John may have prepared the meal, but there is no mention of lamb in any of the Gospel records. Jesus was telling them, and is telling us now, that he is the sacrificial lamb around which the new Passover feast must revolve.

This is reinforced with his further surprising words. For when he took the cup of wine at the end of the meal, he said, “This cup is the cup of the new covenant” (Luke 22:20).

‘The Passovers you have been celebrating over the years,’ Jesus is saying, ‘look forward to God’s new covenant. Well, Passover is about to find its fulfilment. This is the last Passover of the old age and the first Passover of the new age.’

Jeremiah said of the new covenant that God will forgive their wicked ways and remember their sin no more. The self-focused desires of people’s hearts had ruined the old covenant relationship with God. Jesus had not come to save his people from Roman oppression.

Nor had he come simply to restore peace, safety and security, prosperity and a good lifestyle. No. Jesus came to rescue his first followers, and you and me today, from our deepest need – our love of self and our indifference towards God. And he has done it in exactly the same way the lamb had saved the Hebrews on that first Passover night. As he said at the Last Supper, he gave his body and he shed his blood as the Passover lamb to rescue us from death.

The Russian author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once observed, “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

Imagine for a moment you were the first-born in a Hebrew family at that first Passover. A lamb had been slaughtered, the blood sprinkled on the doorposts, and you awoke the next day to the sound of wailing from every Egyptian household. For in each of their homes someone had died. You thought for a moment, and then you really woke up: ‘That lamb died instead of me! Because that lamb died, God spared me’.

“This is my body, given for you. … This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood,’ Jesus said. (Luke 22:19-20). ‘I will die in your place, to save you from the second death, God’s just condemnation,’ he is saying.

Elsewhere Jesus speaks of wars and rumors of wars in this world. And in another place he says: “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him, who after he has killed, has authority to cast you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:4-5).

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead authenticates all his words and actions.

In writing a liturgy for the Lord’s Supper that reflected the Bible’s teaching, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who was responsible for the 1552/1662 Anglican Book of Common Prayer, set out the significance of Jesus’s death as the one oblation of himself, once offered, a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.

Significantly, before we partake of the elements of the Lord’s Supper – the bread and the wine – we are called upon to truly and earnestly repent of our sins…  with the intention of leading a new life, … and walking in the Lord’s holy ways.

We are to draw near with faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, our one and only Savior (1662 BCP, Service of The Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion). Partaking of Communion doesn’t save us. Rather it is our faith in what Jesus Christ in his mercy, has done for us.

In Hebrews chapter 10, verses 12-14 we read: But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

A Prayer for Maundy Thursday / Good Friday. Almighty Father, look graciously upon your people, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Note: My comments on Luke 22 are drawn from my book, Luke: An Unexpected God, Second Edition, Aquila: 2019.

© John G. Mason

GK Chesterton once observed, “On five occasions in history the church has gone to the dogs, but on each occasion it was the dogs who died”. With the 40million Americans who have stopped attending church over the last twenty-five years, Chesterton may well have included a sixth occasion!

Are you interested in playing a part in a gospel movement today?

Over the last three weeks I have been touching on Bible references that are foundational and inspirational in my ministry. References include Exodus chapter 24 – ‘the God who rescues’; Matthew chapter 28, verses 18-20 – ‘the God who mandates his people to make disciples who make disciples’; Luke chapter 10, verses 1-2 and chapter 11, verses 2-13 – ‘the Lord who calls us to prayer’. Another key reference in my ministry is Second Corinthians chapter 4, verses 1-6.

In the opening lines Paul explains why he is passionately committed to the ministry of the gospel. Despite the obstacles, the disappointments, and the setbacks, he says in verses 1 and 16: We do not lose heart. Bracketed between these two statements he writes in an intensely personal way: ‘Why do I bother with preaching? It’s God’s way of bringing the light of Jesus Christ into the lives of men and women’.

Two themes stand out in verses 3-6: ‘Why people don’t believe’ (4:3-4), and ‘Why people do believe (5-6).

Why people don’t believe. In verses 3-4 we read: And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The references to veil and glory show that Paul has in mind a contrast he makes in chapter 3, between the old and the new covenants. There he points out that the Jewish people didn’t understand the Bible; they were spiritually blind, with a veil over their hearts and minds.

In chapter 4 he develops this theme to include all men and women. In the same way that unbelieving Jewish people failed to understand the significance of the Old Testament law, so too unbelievers everywhere are blinded from seeing the glory of God in the person of Jesus. The god of this age is blinding their eyes, he says in verse 4.

Much ink has been spilled in explaining these words. Many commentators view the god of this age as a reference to the power of evil – Satan. However, while in the Parable of the Sower (Seeds), Jesus spoke of the devil taking the seed of God’s word from people’s hearts, he also drew attention in the same parable to other reasons the ‘seed’ of God’s Word doesn’t grow. Let’s consider more carefully what Paul is saying.

And to do this is to appreciate the way Paul expresses himself in the original text. To be technical for a moment, the phrase, the god of this age, is appositional: one idea within the phrase explains the other. The meaning of the phrase is ‘the god that consists of this age’. In other words, Paul is saying that people make this age their god. That is what blinds them.

A similar form of phrase is found in verse 6: The light of the knowledge of the glory of God – which means, ‘the light that consists of the knowledge of the glory of God’.

In verse 4 Paul is saying that it is the idolatrous preoccupation with the material things of this world that blinds humanity to spiritual realities. In a materially obsessed world people are blinded to the reality that there is more to life than the material world.

The eyes of people who lightly dismiss the reality and significance of Jesus Christ are so fixed on life now and the pleasures the material world offers, they are blind to the larger realities of our existence. They fail to see that we are much more than the sum of our parts.

To understand the god of this world this way is consistent with the overall teaching of the Bible. Although people who don’t believe are victims of ignorance, the bottom line is that their ignorance is willful. They choose to ignore the evidence.

And because they have chosen to worship what is less than God, he has given them over to a darkened mind, and so yes, the devil finds it so easy to steal the word of God from their hearts. People are perishing because they choose to turn their backs on God.

How then does anyone come to believe? In verses 5-6 we read: For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servant for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

That is how we come to believe: God has made his light shine in our heart. Paul’s reference to God’s utterance bringing about light is imagery drawn from Genesis chapter 1. Turning from unbelief to belief involves an act of divine initiative as awesome and as powerful as the act of creation.

God says to our hearts, ‘Let there be light’ and there is light, and from that moment a new world begins. The implication is thrilling: ‘God is the light’ who has shone in our hearts’. What we see in Jesus is not some magical gift of spiritual insight. It is the miracle of seeing God. It’s so important then, that we introduce people around us to the Jesus of the Gospels.

And this, Paul says, is the focus of his ministry. ‘We don’t preach ourselves,’ he says in verse 5, ‘but Jesus Christ as Lord’. We are Jesus’s servants. It is not my gifts of preaching, my oratory, my charisma, my charm, that wins men and women to faith. Rather, humanly speaking, it is bringing them to a face-to-face encounter with Jesus.

Paul wants us to know that he tells people who Jesus is, what he has done, and why he has done it. He points out that Jesus is not just a great teacher or extraordinary miracle worker, but God walking in our shoes. Jesus is more than a prophet for he is God in the flesh.

Furthermore, throughout his ministry Paul wanted everyone, everywhere to feel the impact of our fatally flawed nature. We are all trapped by self-love rather than love for God. Yet God is not a frowning misery-bags out to get us. He is the Lord, whose nature is always to have mercy. No matter what we have done or not done, he holds out mercy and forgiveness far greater than we ever dreamed.

Furthermore, Paul is saying that as he declares God’s gospel, again and again God by his Spirit takes the veil from blind eyes and hard hearts and enables them to see the glory of God, shining in the face of Jesus Christ.

We see why Paul did not lose heart. He understood that God chooses to work through our words that introduce Jesus and announce God’s mercy. Given the flow of Paul’s thought from the end of Second Corinthians 3 into chapter 4, we see that it is God’s Word and the power of God’s Spirit that opens our eyes to Christ. God’s Spirit turns on the light so that we see Jesus. So, we can liken faithful gospel ministry to opening the curtains in the morning – darkness gives way to daylight.

Because God’s miracle of illumination is such a necessary part in people responding to God’s good news, we surely should be praying. In Jesus’s words we considered last week, “Ask, seek, and knock”. Gospel movements come about because God’s people are praying and looking for opportunities to introduce others to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you read The Jesus Story: Seven Signs? It’s available from Amazon using the link below. I’m praying it will be a useful book that you can simply pass on to others who don’t know what to believe.

When they’ve read it, talk with them about TheWord121 (www.theword121.com). It’s a great read through all of John’s Gospel – over coffee or in small groups.

Let’s pray that God in his mercy will awaken his people and bring about a gospel-led regeneration of lives.

Prayer. Merciful God, who created all men and women in your image and who hates nothing you have made, nor would have the death of a sinner, but rather that they should be converted and live; have mercy on all people everywhere and take from them all ignorance and hardness of heart and contempt of your Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to your flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of your ancient people, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

© John G. Mason

I have a question: What do you think of prayer? When you pray, do you pray with purpose and confidence? I ask this because prayer is integral to our partnership with the Lord – and not least in our gospel promotion.

In Luke chapter 9 we read that Jesus sent out the twelve on a mission to Jewish people. And, in chapter 10 we learn that he sent out seventy to both the Jewish and non-Jewish peoples. He not only wanted the disciples to know that the news of the kingdom of God is for all people, but also wanted them to understand they weren’t sufficient in number to do the work by themselves.

Even seventy would not be enough. The first task for the disciples was to pray for colleagues: “The harvest is plentiful,” Jesus said, “but the labourers are few; pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2). Prayer is essential if we want to play our part in fulfilling Jesus’s mandate to make disciples of all nations.

In this third in the series, ‘God’s Great Passion’, let’s focus on prayer, especially as it relates to gospel mission.

In Luke chapter 11, verses 2 through 13 we read memorable and significant words from Jesus on the subject of prayer. He not only teaches the disciples a ‘model’ prayer which we call, ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, but he also makes three very specific promises found in verses 9 and 10: “Ask, and it will be given you; Seek, and you will find; Knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Furthermore, on either side of these promises he uses two parables or metaphors to answer two questions we sometimes ask: ‘Can God be trusted to hear our prayers?’ (verses 5-8); and second, ‘Can I trust God to have my best interests at heart?’ (verses 11-13).

In verses 5-8 Luke records Jesus’s parable, often known as ‘The Friend at Midnight’. The parable falls into the category of sayings that have an underlying, unspoken question: ‘Can you imagine…?’ ‘Can you imagine a man talking like this to a friend in need?’ Jesus asks.

The key to understanding the parable is found in the word in verse 8 usually translated: impudence’ or boldness. Let me suggest this is one place where our English translations are unhelpful.

The late Dr. Kenneth Bailey brought new and helpful insights to the parables from his work in the Middle-East. He pointed out that the word translated boldness or persistence in verse 8, is a composite. In its basic form the noun has a negative meaning: shame. However, when a prefix is added, as here, there is an important shift to a positive meaning: avoidance of shame.

A careful reading of verses 7 and 8 reveals that the pronouns me and my in verse 7 refer to the householder who is in bed, not the man knocking at the door. Furthermore, the flow of verse 7 into verse 8 and the pronouns he and his, also refer to the householder.

The syntax and the narrative impact of the story has the sleeper in bed as the focus – not the man who is knocking on the door. If the sleeper, the householder, refused to get up and act, he would bring shame to his name.

The unwritten laws of mid-eastern hospitality, which are an important sub-text of the parable, required a man to get up and help a neighbour in need. If he didn’t, not only would he be shamed, he would also bring dishonor to the whole village community.

‘Can you imagine,’ Jesus is asking, ‘anyone saying to a neighbour in need, even at midnight, ‘Get lost. Don’t disturb me’?

In this parable Jesus illustrates an important line in his model prayer: Father, hallowed or honored be your name … In the parable Jesus tells us that it is God’s very nature to hear and respond to our prayers. If he didn’t, he would bring shame to his name.

God’s honour, God’s integrity, God’s name is at the heart of the way he will not only hear but he will also act. Central to the prayers of Moses and Daniel is the humble but bold request that God will act for the sake of the honor of his name (Numbers 14:13-19; Daniel 9:3-19).

When we begin a prayer relationship with God the Father we open the door to untold blessings. “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened for you,” Jesus promises (verses 9-10).

‘Can we trust God to give us good things, or is he fickle?’ we might ask. Jesus anticipated our question and assures us that God not only listens, but always has our best interests at heart. Two metaphors illustrate this.

In verse 11 Jesus says: ‘The most violent thief can be kind to his son and the most mercenary-minded father can be generous to his daughter. Is God any less open-handed?’ Jesus asks.

And in verse 12 he addresses our concern about God’s goodness with an illustration from good parenting. Parents don’t give their children things that are bad for them. We need to trust that God is good and wise in the way he responds to our prayers. He is neither capricious nor malicious and will not spoil us with over-indulgence. Just as a loving father will give good gifts wisely to his children, God uses his discretion as to how and when he will act in answering our prayers.

Prayer is a precious privilege. It brings us into the presence of the God who is at the heart of the universe. CS Lewis observed, ‘God has so ordered the governance of the universe to include our prayers’.

God is a father who loves to give. “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” Jesus concluded (11:13).

Why did Jesus raise the subject of the Holy Spirit here? In the sweep of Luke’s narrative, we see Jesus was anticipating the great gift of his Spirit following his resurrection and ascension.

His Spirit opens our minds to hear God’s voice through his Word; his Spirit opens our hearts to God and enables us to call him ‘Father’; his Spirit opens our lives to God and empowers us to trust him and to follow him.

To return to Jesus’s words in Luke chapter 10, why don’t we pray more consistently for the promotion of the gospel, for the raising up of colleagues? The fields are ready for harvest. Ask, seek, knock.

In Luke chapter 19, verse 10 Jesus says that he came to seek and to save the lost. Think of God’s passion for the lost and the cost it was for him to pardon and deliver us from our self-centered lives.

Let me encourage you to pray for five people you would like to see come to know the Lord. If you will allow me a personal note, the task is simple: you can pass on a copy of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs. The link is in the banner below.

Prayer. Let your merciful ears, Lord God, be open to the prayers of your people; and so that we may obtain our petitions, teach and direct us to ask such things as will please you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason

Today’s ‘Word on Wednesday’ is adapted from my book, Luke: An Unexpected God, 2nd Edition (Aquila: 2019)

In the light of Dr. George Barna’s Reports in February and March this year, I am touching on Bible references that have been foundational and inspirational for me.

The Barna Report in February revealed, “that while 71% of adults” (in America) “believe in the existence of one or more gods or spiritual authorities, far fewer said they believe in the existence and influence of Jesus Christ (59%) or the God of the Bible (40%). Barely half of all adults (54%) said they worship or follow Jesus Christ with only one-third (34%) saying they worship or follow the God of the Bible”.

In this second week in the series, ‘God’s Great Passion’, let me take up another reference that is significant in my ministry: Matthew chapter 28, verses 18-20. In verse 18 we read that the resurrected Jesus said to his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”.

Jesus’s words reveal the supreme power and authority over the universe, the whole created order, that has been given to him. He is far superior to all earthly human authority and power that has existed or will exist – be it a president or prime minister, monarch or governor. He is, as we read twice in the Book of Revelation, King of kings and Lord of lords (17:14, 19:16).

On the day of which Matthew speaks, the disciples stood before the High King of the universe. In his words that follow, Jesus set out what we might call his royal mandate: his disciples were to go and as they did, they were to make disciples …

The form of the verb go in the original language is significant: it is an imperative, present participle. It implies that the disciples are to go out, not simply stand still or sit around discussing recent events. They were to go and make disciples of all nations, …

From its outset, Christianity is missional and international. Its message is not just for the Jewish people. All peoples can be beneficiaries of the ministry of the apostles, that is the disciples who were now sent (hence apostles, from the original Greek). We may be Jewish or African, Asian, or European. Jesus offers to all people throughout the world, throughout time, the full and free benefits of his work.

But to be beneficiaries we need to learn of his goodness and beauty, his greatness and his selfless love. We need to be introduced to him and discover just who he is and what he has so wonderfully done for us.

Furthermore, his people are to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In using the singular word name, Jesus is telling us that three persons constitute the one God. Everyone who is baptized is to be instructed, not only in God’s existence, but also his triune nature.

Baptism is the outward mark of a changed attitude towards Jesus Christ and our relationship with God. It signifies our identity with Jesus, in dying to sin and rising to new life with him – as we read in Romans chapter 6, verses 3 and 4.

Furthermore, there is another element to Jesus’s royal mandate: disciples are not only to be baptized, but also instructed in the faith. They are to be taught about Jesus: who he is and what he has done and in turn, the new lifestyle he expects of his people.

The central theme of Jesus’ teaching is that God’s king has come into the world in person. In this age of mercy, he calls on all men and women everywhere to turn to him, the true king, in repentance and in faith, asking forgiveness for the past, and responding to him with love and loyalty.

Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 is Jesus’s very clear commission for the disciples to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing and teaching them. To follow the logic of this, because the apostles would die, the expectation would be that those whom they had discipled, would in turn disciple others in accordance with the apostles’ teaching. Here is the biblical meaning of apostolic succession: ministry that passes on the gospel that Jesus’s apostles proclaimed together with their teaching. It is not the ‘succession of bishops’.

Three themes become evident in the closing scene of Matthew’s Gospel: the King, the Royal Mandate, and thirdly, our task. Every generation is called upon not only to respond to the apostolic gospel and teaching, but also to continue the work of making disciples, who in turn make disciples.

Because the Lord Jesus has all authority, his mandate to make disciples guarantees his own involvement and success in rescuing the lost sheep of the world. His power through the Holy Spirit assures us of this. And so he calls on us to pray and to work as he catches us up in God’s great story.

On this point Jesus’s concluding promise here is so encouraging: “Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age” (28:20). Our English translation always masks a Greek expression that we find only here. It means the whole of every day. Jesus promises to be with us as we make disciples, the whole of every day to the very end of the age. We are not alone.

Making disciples who become disciple-makers is central to our work. Disciple-making ministries build God’s new society. God’s people who are progressing in the faith will increasingly want to know and honor the Lord in their lives, serving him in serving others – in their needs and with the gospel.

In today’s world this is challenging, but we don’t need to be fearful. First Peter chapter 3, verse 15 says: … always be prepared to give an answer for the hope (or the faith) that you have in Jesus Christ. And Colossians 4:6 says, Let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Let me encourage you to pray for three to five people you would love to see come to know the Lord Jesus. And as you do, let me suggest that you will find, sometimes unexpectedly, an opportunity to open up a conversation about the faith. You don’t need to say much. Indeed, if you will pardon a personal note, you may find it helpful to pass on to them a copy of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs. It takes about an hour to read. You can purchase copies through the link in the banner below.

Prayer. Lord Christ, eternal Word and Light of the Father’s glory: send your light and your truth so that we may both know and proclaim your word of life, to the glory of God the Father; for you now live and reign, God for all eternity. Amen.

© John G. Mason