The Kingdom Mission

Apologies for a long one. This is an edited transcript of a talk given on Sunday in our church. I felt it needed adding here for our church family - and you!


The Mission of Christ

It's Sabbath, and you are gathered in the local synagogue in Nazareth. We stand together and recite the Shema, 'Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ehad' – Hear oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Then we join in a number of other prayers, before one stands and reads from the Law of Moses.

Then comes the time when we have a reading from the Prophets. A young rabbi, Yeshua bar Yosef – Jesus, son of Joseph – stands to read. Your attention is immediately focused because of the popularity he has gained across Galilee. The talk is that he is somehow different, possibly even a prophet, certainly someone with a message and a power beyond that of a normal rabbi.

Yeshua opens the scroll of Isaiah and reads:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.

Something in the way he reads it evokes a power and engagement that was surprising and attractive. You wait. This is the time when there is, traditionally, a teaching based on what has been read. The young man looks around and says, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' Can it be true? Is it possible? After four hundred years of silence, are Jesus and his cousin John the Baptiser God's prophets proclaiming the long awaited coming of Messiah. Your heart leaps with hope...and more than a little fear.... What does this mean?????

In Luke 4 Jesus' has been baptised, confronted the devil in the wilderness, and now returns to begin his mission. Luke describes the scene I've just narrated, and it is, of course, totally unexpected. You can read it in Luke's words in Luke 4:14-30.

Jesus isn't just promising to do miracles, and his audience understood that. They understood the implications of what he was saying, and then, Jesus upturned their expectations and redefined everything they believed was true of their God and his promises to them. That's a concept we encounter a lot in the gospels, 'redefined.' Jesus was offering them the red pill, and everything would change.

The Prophet Isaiah

The portion of scripture that Jesus reads is from Isaiah 61. This is a really interesting scripture because it combines two very important and powerful cultural/religious expectations and hopes in first century Jewish life. Isaiah 61 is both messianic and promises a restoration after exile. It pictures the victory of God and the people of Israel returned to their land at the time of God's great presence of himself with his people and throughout the earth. Jesus takes these expectations and – here we go – redefines them around himself.

Jesus takes the themes of Isaiah 61 – Messiah, restoration, Jubilee – and brings them crashing into the reality of his time, but in a way that his hearers don't want to accept, and, in fact, violently reject.

The beautiful Kingdom

When Jesus' hearers listened to him read Isaiah and its fulfilment, they got it. They heard, implicit in the text, the promise of the Messianic kingdom and freedom from oppression. They heard the restoration of Israel and all that had been surrendered to the occupation of the gentiles. They heard of God becoming king and justly ruling the whole earth from his throne in Jerusalem. They heard of pure and undefiled temple worship. They heard overtones of the Year of Jubilee – the forgiveness of debts, freedom from slavery, rest for the land. They heard of all they had waited for, longed for and prayed for since the return form Babylonian captivity.

Quite literally, they heard the promise of all their dreams come true. We might say, very tongue in cheek, of all their Christmases come at once...

When we read the words of Isaiah Jesus brought to the synagogue, we hear miracles and salvation. We hear that good news is preached to the poor, which to us means 'gospel' and translates as believe in Jesus as saviour so you can go to heaven when you die. We hear of Spirit anointing and that means miracles and gifts and supernatural power. We hear of prisoner's being liberated and the oppressed set free, and think of deliverance from sin and Satan. We read of blind eyes being opened, and understand that to be either literal miracles or metaphorical of salvation. We read of the year of the Lord's favour, and celebrate that God's blessing rests of us so we can have prosperity and success in life.

I'm not saying those things are necessarily bad, but that's not what Jesus' first century audience heard. And I don't think it's what he primarily meant.

When Jesus' read these words from Isaiah, those present in the synagogue heard, 'Jubilee.'

The Messianic kingdom was marked by the reality of Jubilee. This was the sabbatical year where the ground was to lay fallow to prepare for many more harvests; Israelite slaves were to be freed; land purchased given back to its original owners; debts were forgiven and the nation gave thanks for the provision and prosperity God had given them. Although there is no evidence Israel ever celebrated Jubilee, it remained a powerful image of God's justice, mercy and blessing on his people. And what they anticipated would be a reality in the coming kingdom of God through his Messiah.

To Jesus' audience they heard of Spirit anointing and they thought of God himself anointing their king and priest – Messiah; they heard good news for the poor and they saw debts forgiven; they heard freedom for prisoners and they understood that the slaves would be released from bondage; they heard of the blind regaining sight and they thought of a restored right to worship in the temple; they heard of freedom for the oppressed and they imagined regained hope and possibility; they heard of the Lord's favour, and saw return from exile, freedom from oppression by their enemies, and a return of God's presence to his temple in Jerusalem.

They heard that Jesus was now proclaiming that God's Jubilee, the kingdom of the Messiah was finally here.

Initial Reaction

There's an old saying, 'If something's too good to be true, it usually is.' I remember the first time I got an email from the Nigerian Royal family letting me know that if I could give them my bank account details they would deposit a million dollars into my account. Or when I got a text in the early hours of the morning from the UK or US to let me know I'd won the lottery and they needed to know where to put the funds. It's just too good to be true.

I think those listening to Jesus were in that state of mind. They were, we are told, speaking well of him, and obviously excited by the possibility that he really was a prophet who was breaking God's long silence and indicating the day of deliverance was at hand.

But then the doubts crept in. It seemed too good to be true. After all, wasn't this Joseph's son? The carpenter's boy? How could he be such a prophet?

Jesus responds by reminding them that often prophets aren't appreciated in their hometown, and perhaps they will want some sort of miraculous proof of his credibility.

But then he takes this theme of Jubilee and the Messianic kingdom and does the unthinkable.....

All are welcome

• 'I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet none of them was cleansed – only Namaan the Syrian.'

Jesus, with those words, made it clear that this great visitation of God, this kingdom that is characterised by restoration and jubilee is not only for the Jews, but is open to gentiles as well. The second temple Judaism of the time predominantly believed that if Israel, the Jewish people, were righteous enough, if they followed the Torah closely enough, if they were devout enough to the religious observances given by God, then God would deliver them through his Messiah.

Notice how Jesus characterises this new Messianic kingdom he is proclaiming as crashing into history at that moment. It is for the poor – marginalised by their economic status; for the prisoners – marginalised by their legal status; for the blind – marginalised by their physical/religious status (unwelcome in the temple by a religious expansion of Mosaic law); for the oppressed – marginalised by the authority and power structures of their time. Jesus' message is good news for all these groups, and for the gentiles, for those who are marginalised by their ethnicity. At no time does Jesus proclaim or infer that this kingdom is for those who see themselves as righteous!

Jesus has just explicitly proclaimed that the kingdom of God, the Messianic age, the great time of Jubilee is for the outsiders, the unacceptable, the unwanted, the powerless, the marginalised, the weak, the poor and the needy. The God of Israel is now the God of the whole world. He hasn't abandoned his ancient people, he has expanded his welcome through Jesus and all may come in.

Jesus words, as usual, exposed the hearts of those listening to him – they were furious. They sought to be the privileged ones, the special ones, the superior ones who were to enjoy the blessing of God. The ones whose righteous lives were recognised as worthy of the kingdom. But Jesus wrecks all these pretensions and exposes the heart of God for his creation: God is for all who are outsiders and calls them into his family.

Good News

This is good news. It's good news for everyone of us, and everyone we know. God is for us, he is so for us that instead of leaving us lost and separated in sin and selfishness he calls us to connect with him through faith in Jesus and find wholeness and community.

This is good news. It means we can never work hard enough, be good enough, earn or deserve God's favour – it is given freely in Jesus the Messiah. God the creator has, through Jesus, issued the proclamation that the kingdom is here, the Messianic age has begun, the time of Jubilee is now. This kingdom is veiled, it is immature, it lacks clarity, yet it is here and is seen in and through the worldwide community of people who claim Jesus the Christ as their Lord and King. We live in hope and anticipation of that day when the kingdom will be unveiled, the mature kingdom is revealed, we see it clearly and explicitly when Jesus returns to God's good earth.

Until that day we enjoy and live in the light of Jesus' kingdom on earth. As followers of the Messiah, Jesus, we are to live in a way that is different and counter-cultural to this world. Our lives are to challenge the world-views, the attitudes, the power-structures and the expectations of all who would marginalise and exploit the poor and the enslaved and the blind and the oppressed and the excluded. We are to speak and to be for those who have no voice and no power. We are wonderfully blessed to enjoy and to carry into our everyday lives God's favour and grace.

Jesus' mission to challenge and subvert every power, every authority, every dominion, every principality, every cultural influence or force that seeks to dehumanise and destroy people is our mission as well. Followers, disciples, of Jesus have been changed, called and empowered by the Spirit to be shaped into the image of Jesus, to become more like him and more human, and in turn are sent to be for their world what Jesus was for his – proclaimers and examples of the presence of this new age and kingdom of love and justice and grace and peace.

In the appropriately named movie, 'Kingdom of Heaven,' Orlando Bloom seeks to defend Jerusalem against Saladin. Despite the historical inaccuracies and revisionism rampant in the film, towards the end is an interesting scene. Orlando is asked how they can defend the city without knights. He turns to one young man who turns out to be a servant to the Patriarch of the City. Orlando tells the young man to kneel, and then looks around and bids every man capable of bearing arms to kneel. He then says:

• Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless. This is your oath.

For the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven he makes everyone a knight. Jesus has called ordinary people – you and me – and equipped, empowered and commissioned us to be carriers, ambassadors and visible expressions of his now-present kingdom. He bids us to be without fear in the face of our enemies; be brave and upright knowing that God loves us; speak the truth whatever the cost; safeguard the helpless.

This Messianic vision isn't just what we embody, but that lives within every believer in Jesus Christ.

The man in the mirror

In two weeks I celebrate my forty-ninth birthday, and I have noticed that when I look in the mirror, the person looking out at me isn't the same person I knew years ago. His face is a little rounder, as is his torso (thank you middle age), his hair is still thick and wavy (thanks Dad), but is now tinged with grey (tinged is used loosely here). He has wrinkles on his face, hair growing out of his ears (which may sound impressive, but it's not really), and, although the mirror doesn't actually show it, a few aches and pains after getting out of bed, which actually isn't too strenuous an activity.


I don't look like I used to.


However I view the man in the mirror, the reality is that I'm not supposed to look like him, I'm supposed to look like a man who lived almost two thousand years ago, a man whose life demonstrated the presence of a new way of living, who died to defeat the powers of evil and take the punishment I deserved, who rose again after three days to demonstrate his victory and communicate this new life to all who would trust in him. I am supposed to look like Jesus.


Naturally I'm not referring to long hair and beards - if the classic idea of Jesus' face is anywhere near true - that would be difficult for women who trust in him (or most of them anyway....) I'm referring to the work of the Spirit in my life who is in the process of shaping my character and ultimately my entire expression of life into the image of the resurrected Son of God.


When I look in the mirror of my life, I don't see Jesus. Although I affirm that, 'And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with every-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit' (2 Cor. 3:18), I recognise that it is a long, slow process, and that I don't always make the job of the Spirit easy. I am broken, flawed, damaged and distorted by sin, and although Jesus has brought salvation, righteousness and transformation to my life, the internal change that results in an external re-imaging of God in me, is a long-term project.


This isn't a sad or depressing idea, because I'm not who I was. I have changed - or rather have been changed - and the image of Jesus is clearer in my life than it was many years ago. But I still have to ask myself daily, when people see me, do they also see Jesus, and what does he look like in my life? Does he look like he does in the pages of Matthew, and Mark, and Luke and John? Or does he look like some contemporary distortion of the man they wrote about?


There have been events in recent weeks, stories I have heard and read where I wonder about the reflection of Jesus we present as his followers. There are times when I have to seek his forgiveness and help because not only to I struggle to image him well, but I am sorrowed and even horrified with the image I see presented by others. If the Crusades were a distorted use of the faith in their time; and if the inquisition was a twisted use of the church in it's time; and if the support of slavery and racial segregation was a disgraceful expression of the church in it's time; then what are we endorsing in the name of Christianity today?


The measure of the Christian life is Jesus. And although only the Holy Spirit working in me can truly change me to be more like him, we are also to be encouragers to each other and to hold each other to the ideal of this free, liberated, righteous, just and loving life to which we have been called. Unlike Cain, I am my brother's keeper, and he is mine. As individuals and as church communities we are called to be different. We are to have different ideals, principles, priorities, values, ways of living and acting to those around us. Every person who declares that they are a follower of Jesus the Messiah is different to the expectations of the world in which we live. Jesus showed us a new way of being human and of living in community together and died and rose to make it possible for us to participate in this way of life as well.


So, I look in the mirror, and who do I see? I still don't see Jesus. But there is a great scene from an old movie that gives me hope. In the movie Hook Robin Williams plays a Peter Pan who has forgotten Never Never Land and become, of all things, a lawyer. His children are kidnapped by Captain Hook, so he returns to Never Never Land to save them. He meets with the lost boys, who don't believe he is Peter Pan, because how could this middle-aged, overweight lawyer be the Pan? But then, one of the boys sees something. He takes Williams' face in his hands and squeezes, twists and stretches it around. Suddenly, the boy smiles, 'Are, there you are Peter!' He finally sees, hidden in this middle-aged lawyer, Peter Pan.


I pray, that in the face that stares at me everyday and in the life I live, there can be glimpses of Jesus. I pray, that although the things I see distress me and cause me sorrow in the contemporary expression of Christianity, there are times when the true image of the Son of God shines through the community he called to represent him. The marketing and profile grabbing of the shiny distortions of church belie the true work of the nameless, faceless disciples who are daily and graciously representing Jesus and his good news to the poor, hurting, marginalised and socially unacceptable. Ordinary people humbly being Jesus to other ordinary people.


When I look in the mirror, what do I see? What do you see? Do we look like Jesus today?

A life of decisions

I have been re-reading my favourite book, The Lord of the Rings, and once again have been lost in the story writing ability of J R R Tolkien. Last night, though, I was tired, so I decided to watch The Fellowship of the Ring on dvd again.


Yesterday was a bitter-sweet day. We found out that a dear friend had passed away. She was an amazing woman who made a positive difference in the lives of so many people, and served Jesus with faith and compassion.  After a long battle with cancer, she finally went to see her Lord face to face and doubtless hear the words, 'Well done my good and faithful servant.' She will be greatly missed, and yet she is now enjoying the wonder of heaven.


These two events came together for me with the words of Gandalf in Moria. Frodo, weary and homesick says, 'I wish the ring had never come to me...I wish none of this had happened.' Gandalf replies, 'So do all who see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All that we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.'


I don't know how often these words have been quoted and used in speeches, sermons, books, essays or blogs. But I do know they are as true today as when Tolkien wrote them many years ago. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.


Our friend made the decision that the time she had was best invested in people. She didn't own property or have a share portfolio, she wasn't a world traveller, she didn't have a high-powered job, but there are scores of people whose lives have been blessed and changed by having known her. Our friend cared for the poor and needy and marginalised in society, and so walked in loving obedience to her Lord.


Death comes to all of us. There will be a time in the very, very distant future when I will no longer be around, I honestly find it hard to grasp this idea, but know it to be true. I am, however, thankful for the faith I have in God that when that day comes, it won't be a day when I greet death as a friend taking me to the other side, or, as Dylan Thomas put it, a day when I, 'Do not go gentle into that good night....rage, rage against the dying of the light.' Death is not my friend, he is the final enemy of the life that God has given to us, but neither is this life something to be held on to at all costs as though this is the end, and after this, darkness.


Jesus has defeated death, he proved it by the resurrection. At the end of Romans 8 Paul reminds us that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of God, and in 1 Cor. 15, 'Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O death, is your victory?.....But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Jesus himself, in Matthew 16 promises the disciples that even the gates of hell (a first century euphemism for death) cannot stand against the church, the called out people Jesus will build.


Yet too often the gospel and consequently the Christian life is reduced to, 'If you were to die today, are you sure of where you will spend eternity?' This is, without doubt, an important question, but it isn't the whole picture. Often this results in a 'decision' for Jesus, and then 'be good and work hard for the church so you get there.' This is not the gospel, this is not the abundant Christian life. It's important to know what will happen when this life is over. But I think a far better question, one that my friend answered well, is, 'What will you do with the time given to you?' Or, as I like to put it, 'The world is a mess, but God has started the process of setting things right through Jesus. Will you be a part of the answer or the problem?'


Too often our response to this question reduces to what we 'do' as in the legalism of a works-based faith or Christian workaholism. This is wrong. As has been noted many, many, many times, we are created as human-beings, not human-doings. The greatest commandments as noted by Jesus aren't, 'Work for the Lord your God....and for you neighbour as you work for yourself,' but 'Love the Lord your God....and your neighbour as yourself'! How will you use the time given to you? Will you love selflessly and generously? Will you truly show you are a Christian by your love? Will you put aside things for time with people? Will you invest in those who you will meet one day when this life is over, or in things that will decay and fade? Or, as Tom Wright brilliantly puts it, will you build for the coming kingdom, the redeemed new heaven and new earth?


My life is less than a blink in the millions of years this earth has been spinning. And yet it matters to God. My prayer is that in the time I have left I will be mindful to use it well, for people, for his glory, and build for that which is to come.


And on that note......go out and love someone today! Embrace them, encourage them, leave with them a deposit that may be unnoticed now, but resonates in eternity.

The Reality of the Jesus Creed

I had a couple of conversations today that reminded me of the importance of what Scot McKnight calls, 'The Jesus Creed': 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.' We all subscribe to this, many churches have it as their vision statement in some form, or on their stationery etc. But today I experienced one of those times when the reality of what Jesus said was the greatest commandments hit home again.


Life, Christian life, church life, holds many ups and downs, challenges and joys, speed-bumps and triumphs. There are many achievements we can celebrate, philosophies we can debate, goals we can work towards, and even visions we can support. But in the end, when the dust settles and we reflect on all these things, our relationship with Jesus and the connections we make with people we love are the enduring treasures that form the foundation for our journey.


Since the age of twelve Jesus has been my Lord, my Saviour, my companion, my inspiration, my King and my God. In every season of life and every experience I have walked through, he has always been there. There are times when I feel I have brought him joy, and others when I know I have brought him sorrow. Times when I know he would approve, and others when I have turned away in shame. There are times when I have been inconsistent and faithless, and he has always been consistent and faithful. In the darkest times my one source of hope is that 'I know whom I have believed....'


I love Jesus. There are lots of things about the Christian faith and the practice of my Christian walk that I don't understand. I get what Paul meant when he said that right now we 'see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.' (1 Cor. 13:12) I don't know everything, accept I never will, and understand as a grow older how much I really don't know. What I do know is Jesus. Not in a weird, spooky, insubstantial way, but as the incarnated Son of God, fully God and fully man who entered into history, died and rose again to redeem God's good creation and welcome me into his Kingdom. I know a Christ who has been and still is a part of my reality as he makes himself known to me through his Word, his Spirit, his people and his world. I meet him in the words of the Bible, in the quiet times of reflection, and in the activities of my life. Jesus the Messiah is the ground and centre of my reality.


People are important. We celebrated a friend's 50th birthday this week. We have been friends for thirty-seven years, have grown up together, been separated on different continents and shared houses and churches. And we are friends. We have enjoyed seeing children born and grow, parents die, the many joys and disappointments, laughs and tears that life brings. And we are friends. They say - whoever 'they' are - that a burden shared is a burden halved, and a joy shared is joy multiplied. I believe this. My greatest treasures aren't gold or silver or dollars or property or any other form of riches. My greatest prosperity is found in the friends I have.


Please understand that I'm not talking about facebook friends. Some play the game that 'he who dies with the most friends wins.' I don't think we can have more than, I don't know, I dozen to twenty real friends. Maybe more, maybe less. Friends are important, but so are people. One conversation I had today was about some disappointing and discouraging things in life, but the person noted that thinking about a lady in our church reminded them how so much is just 'stuff' compared to loving Jesus and doing life together. It's true. However close the connections we have with people may be, those connections matter. I am convinced that when we consider our lives, and God requires an account, he will be most interested in how we have treated other people.


If you are like me, and if you are honest, there are some things you're not proud of, some things you regret, some things you wish you'd done differently. Thankfully, although we can't do much about our past, we can be intentional in how we engage with the future. Scot McKnight suggests there is value in repeating the Jesus Creed as often as we think of it during the day. I think he's right. I need to be reminded of the important things, the things that matter, the things that last.


So, to those people I spoke to today, 'Thank you.' You reminded me of the absolute wonder, privilege and joy of having Jesus in my life and my reality everyday. You reminded of the treasure of having friends in my life - and you are among them.