Discerning the Missio Dei in a Time of Crisis
Epiphany Introduction
The season of Epiphany traditionally begins as a festival commemorating God's Anointed One revealed to the gentiles as seen through the Magi. As promised in Genesis 3:15, the story of the fall of man, the centerpiece of God's mission where the Kingdom breaks into history and begins gathering its members is Jesus, the Christ. The devotional insights for this season point out the repeated way Jesus is revealed, calling those who experience the epiphany of our Lord in His glory, authority, love, and risen majesty to transformation. Each also shows dynamics of God' mission in its relevance to us today.
Each of the Scriptures chosen are a part of the Revised Common Lectionary, year B1.
Liturgical Day and Texts
January 6, 2018
The Epiphany of Our Lord
Matthew 2:1-12
Ephesians 3:1-12
Isaiah 60:1-6
Exegetical Missional Insights
Raymond Brown has pointed out that the birth narratives in both Matthew and Luke constitute a separate narrative, independent of what follows in the Gospels. (Birth of the Messiah p. 179f.) He also points out that each of them constitute their own mini-gospel with their christological moment (when Jesus is proclaimed as Messiah, the Son of God through the activity of the Holy Spirit) moved from the resurrection back to conception and birth. With this movement, the narrative before us this week then represents the fullness of God's Kingdom breaking into the world. This narrative by Matthew becomes God's manifestation of Jesus to the established religious and political community (Herod, the Pharisees and the Scribes) as well as those "beyond" the accepted definition of being "God's people"-the Magi.
The birth narrative also follows a similar pattern found in the Resurrection narratives. There is a Christological revelation and epiphany that Jesus is Lord and the Son of God, followed by acceptance and rejection. This also reflects the situation in Matthew's Jewish/Gentile congregation. Most of the established faith community, and especially the religious leadership, who did not receive Jesus as Messiah or recognize his presence through scripture, are now hostile to Matthew's faith community. (cf. Mt 21:42-43) It is the wise and learned Magi from the East (where the sun, moon and stars rise) that recognize, understand and pay homage to the epiphany of God's grace and salvation.
The epiphany to the Magi, the gentiles from the east, comes through a phenomenon of nature. A new astrological event has cued them to the presence of a "newborn King of the Jews" (also a reference and connection to crucifixion). However, this astrological event is not enough for them to locate and find this new king so they may pay homage to him. Nature alone does not lead to full revelatory encounter. So, they go to the existing king to see where they might find the new king. He doesn't know, so he asks the chief priests and scribes if they can determine where the Messiah is to be born. Through interpreting scripture, they ascertained that the Messiah would be found in "Bethlehem, in the land of Judah." The Magi obey Herod's command to seek out the child. They are overjoyed to find that star continues with them on their journey and its epiphany is consistent with the interpretation of scripture they had just received. Both revelations lead to the same place. Finding the manger of their Lord, they bow down as one would do before a king and present their gifts befitting a king (cf. Isaiah 60:3-6).
Then there is the change of plan. God's purposes and mission will not be derailed by the hard-of-heart-those who correctly interpret scripture but fail to embrace its witness, as well as those who embrace its witness only to be threatened and lash out, intending to harm and kill. God's purpose will be realized over and against their objections and threats. God sends the Magi home another way.
God's Mission in the Text
In the fullness of time, in the fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures, God's purpose for the salvation of the world is brought full in the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem in the land of Judah. The transformative spread of the gospel after the death and resurrection of Jesus is foreshadowed in his birth and epiphany. This manifestation of salvation for all of the world in the birth of Jesus breaks down the barriers of race and culture that divide. With the manifestation to the Magi, God's mission of salvation for all of the world in the person of Jesus is anticipated. God's Word brings people from afar, of a different races and culture to bow down and pay homage to Jesus our Messiah. The Holy Scriptures are a means of God's grace that enables us to discover the cradle of our Lord. In the words of Luther-"scripture is the cradle where in Christ is laid."
God's mission will not be prevented from accomplishing its purpose. Those like Pharisees, Scribes and Herod will not prevail against the coming of God's Kingdom or those who embrace its presence. Those who plot to do harm to God's mission in the world will only be frustrated in the end. God sends missioners home another way.
Mission Connections for Our Context 
When I consult with congregations in the Mission Transformation Process, I often use this text to help teach the concept of missio Dei. When I ask people, "How do the Magi find the manger of their Lord?" Without exception, everyone answers, "by the star of Bethlehem." Our hymnody helps lead us astray. The well know hymn, We Three Kings of Orient Are, proclaims:
Star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright;
Westward leading sill proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
But, contrary to the hymn, the star alone does not allow the Magi to find the manger of their Lord. It does not lead them to "thy perfect light." It points to an activity of God in the world and to the existence of a new king. But it alone does not allow them to be encountered by our Lord. To do that, they must be encountered by scripture and hear its witness. Only then can the real presence of Christ be found. That is not to say that Bethlehem Star is unimportant. But in and of itself-it is not missional. For an event to be missional, it needs to put the face of Jesus in front of those who do not know him-to bring the reality of Jesus' presence and where he is cradled in the lives of those who do not yet know him as Lord.
There is a saying that if everything is mission, then nothing is mission. When I ask congregations to tell me what mission they are doing it often includes everything that they do. All mission is ministry, but not all ministry is mission. In congregational life both ministry and mission are important-and crucial. It isn't an either/or proposition-but the two must be distinguished. Mission is the witness, event or process that puts the face of Jesus in front of those who do not know him and strengthens the faith and missional calling of those who do. Mission is that which leads to adult baptisms and serving as a catechetical mentor to those new to the faith. Mission is discernment for how a person or local congregation is uniquely called to participate in missio Dei. And to be clear, mission is not getting people to believe in Jesus-only the Holy Spirit can do that.
So, while the Bethlehem star in our text is not missional, it can be the precursor to that which is. Just as there are missional events in the life of the congregation, so too can there be Bethlehem Star events. Bethlehem Star events are those events, not yet missional, that help the community and those who do not yet know Jesus to become aware his presence in the world and in their life.
I served St. John's congregation as they listened together as a community of faith to discern how God was calling them to participate in God's mission in the Thurmont, MD mission field. As a part of their overall missional calling and mission plan they put in place a number of Bethlehem Star events. Early in September it was a "Back to School Family Fair" held on the grounds of the church with games, a large blow up bounce house, and food. In October it was a festive hay ride with a farm wagon full of hay, decorations of orange lights, and carved pumpkins-beginning and ending at the church with refreshments inside. In November, it was a fresh turkey give away (turkeys provided by one of our members who raised and sold them) to families in the community that might not have a Thanksgiving turkey otherwise. In December, the event was a "Parents Shopping Day Out." Members babysat the kids for free at the church while parents had the day to do Christmas shopping, knowing their children were safe and well cared for.
None of these events were mission. We didn't specifically mention Jesus or witness to people about his kingdom or his being Lord of their life. These events were good ministry, providing a service to the community and helping us to build relationships with our neighbors. They weren't missional, but they were like the Star of Bethlehem. Because these events were always done in proximity to the church, in the church's name and by people who called themselves after Jesus, it allowed people to know of Jesus presence in their community and lives. These events also provided the ground work that allowed us to take the next step and to invite them into a relationship with the Lord of their life. It allowed us in subsequent events and conversations to invite them to consider baptism, to eat at the Lord's table and be embraced by God's Word through the interpretation of scripture. In fact, the Bethlehem Star events, lead to missional events and conversations, calling 62 people to join the congregation over the next year-11 of them by adult baptism.
This text encourages congregations and their leaders to look for those places and events within their community and within the new relationships they have developed which point to Jesus' presence. Where in nature (in its broadest sense) is God manifesting his Epiphany presence in the world? What are the Bethlehem Star events that God has gifted your congregation preparing for you to take the next steps, interpreting scripture for people so they might find the cradle of their Lord?
This text also begs the question-are we prepared to be missioners? Have we done sufficient training within our congregations so that when those who have become aware of the Messiah in their world, show up at our door, we are prepared to interpret scripture for them and point to where they can find Jesus cradled in their life?
This text also points to a growing harsh reality in our own world. The age of Christendom really is over. Like Herod, there will be those who receive news of the "new born king" as threat and be greatly disturbed. They will try to "kill off" all the church's efforts to speak a word of grace to a dying world. We shouldn't be surprised when we find it or experience it. At the same time, we rest in the security of knowing that God's mission is not ultimately in our hands nor do those who oppose it have the power to stop it. God simply gives us a new path for the journey home.
A number of years back James Taylor released the song "Home By Another Way" on his Never Die Young Album.
Those magic men the Magi
Some people call them wise
Or Oriental, even kings
Well anyway, those guys
They visited with Jesus
They sure enjoyed their stay
Then warned in a dream of King Herod's scheme
They went home by another way
Yes they went home by another way
Home by another way
Maybe me and you can be wise guys too
And go home by another way
We can make it another way
Safe home as they used to say
Keep a weather eye to the chart on high
And go home another way
God does not leave us in the clutches of Herod. Our journey to the manger of our Lord is a transformative event-for those who would be Magi and for us who accompany them there. The embrace of the Messiah and his cradling of our lives changes us, transforms us, and frees us from old patterns. Having been to the manger of our Lord, we can no longer go home the way we came. God opens new paths, new possibilities, and in our wildest dreams allows us to be the wise ones who go home another way.
Biographical Summary
Phillip C. Huber is Senior Pastor of St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southwest, Washington, DC, leading the congregation through a seventy-seven-million-dollar Missional Redevelopment of its property. He served in East Africa as Visiting Professor of Missiology and Cultural Anthropology at Tumaini University, Iringa, Tanzania. He is Managing Partner of Transforming Ministry Associates, LLC and serves as Disaster Response Coordinator for Delaware and Maryland, Lutheran Disaster Response. He is the past Chair and presently serves on the Board of Publications, American Society of Missiology. He serves as Series Editor of MissionalPreacher.
Liturgical Day and Texts
January 7, 2018
The Baptism of Our Lord
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalms 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11
Exegetical Missional Insights and God's Mission in the Text
God has always been the Initiator of all existence. God took the initiative to create all things. Even the world's basic frameworks of light and darkness, of daytime and nighttime, were created at God's initiative.
Furthermore, God took that initiative to establish divine presence in the world. At the very beginning stages of God's creative work, "The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2). The mighty and mysterious Creator is the One who hovers close, who does not stay hidden behind faraway galaxies or our willful ignorance but comes close, right from the beginning of creation.
Sadly, also at the heart of the biblical story of creation is humankind's subsequent initiative to take matters into our hands instead of trusting our good Creator. Consequently, disorder and death, sickness and sadness, division and heartache entered into God's good creation. These are indeed horrible consequences. Thankfully, God has retaken the initiative by the Spirit of God coming close, ever committed in mission to re-create the world into an even better created order.
God promised that a special Redeemer would one day come. God's Spirit inspired prophets to point toward this anointed Redeemer who would uniquely live, teach, and demonstrate God's Kingdom breaking back into the soiled creation. It was John who was the privileged prophet to be alive when the Redeemer actually appeared - when Christ's Epiphany ("Manifestation") took place. That anointed One, Jesus of Nazareth, came to ensure that God's Spirit would be even closer to the world than ever before. John was able to point to the Epiphany of Jesus as the One Who had finally come.
On top of John's announcement of Jesus as the Redeemer, God's Spirit once again took the initiative to come close to the world in Jesus receiving baptism by the Prophet John. (Eastern Orthodox Church traditions mark Jesus's Baptism as Epiphany.) John had proclaimed to the crowds, "I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (Mark 4:8). The Spirit affirmed John's prophecy about the Anointed One by "descending on him like a dove" when Jesus was baptized (Mark 4:10). God assured every one of his intention to work specially through Jesus by speaking from heaven, "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased" (Mark 4:11). Epiphany - God the Redeemer has appeared.
The Spirit's closeness to people through Jesus became increasingly evident by the Spirit's initiative to take up residence in the very hearts of Jesus's followers. In the wake of the Spirit's outpouring at Pentecost as a sign of the risen Jesus's heavenly enthronement (Acts 2), God's Spirit expanded the divine presence with people as they received baptism in Jesus's Name (Acts 19:2-6). Even more intimately than the way that God's Spirit "was hovering over the face of the waters" at creation (Genesis 1:2), the Spirit has come to live in our hearts as we are "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:5). God is determined to take whatever initiative is necessary to come close to the world, signaled by the Spirit's presence and declaration about Jesus at his Epiphany, including when he was baptized.
Missional Connections for Our Context
We in the twenty-first century live in this same stream of God's initiative and redemptive work throughout the world. All of our settings are still beset by disorder and death, sickness and sadness, division and heartache. Yet God breaks into our broken lives and communities, and the Spirit takes up residence as we are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and join his band of followers. Jesus himself was baptized as part of God's redemptive work in history. God's Spirit comes on us and uses us as we too join in this ongoing movement. It is as if God's Epiphany repeats itself as Jesus by the Holy Spirit appears to the world in the lives of the Church's particular communities.
The same Spirit takes the initiative to send us into our world to convey the ongoing Epiphany, the appearance, of God throughout the created order. In our work, families, communities, and every other setting into which God leads us, the Spirit of Jesus appears anew throughout the world that God's mission intends on re-creating in Christ.
Biographical Summary
The Rev. Dr. J. Nelson Jennings serves as mission pastor, consultant, and international liaison for Onnuri Community Church, based in Seoul. Earlier, with his wife Kathy and three daughters, he served in Japan, doing church work and theological education for 13 years, followed by 12 years of teaching world mission at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO, then four years with the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, CT.
Jesus's Baptism icon image2:
Liturgical Day and Texts
January 14, 2018
Discerning the Missio Dei in a Time of Crisis
1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20)
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51
Exegetical Missional Insights, and God's Mission in the Text
1 Samuel 3:1-20. The first ten verses of this text, very familiar to those who have grown up in the church, recount how God called the boy Samuel as he was serving the old priest, Eli, at the temple in Shiloh. While it is tempting for the sake of time to stop at verse 10, we do not find out why the Lord (Yahweh) is calling Samuel until verse 11 and following. It is only here that we can begin to answer questions about God's activity, God's work, God's mission, in Samuel's world. And what God is up to is not something that is kind or gentle. Rather, the Lord says that he is going to punish the house of Eli because the old man's sons, who are the active priests at Shiloh, are behaving wickedly, and therefore blaspheming God. Samuel's terrifying task and burden - his mission - at this revelation, at this "epiphany," is to tell the old man Eli, who is his loving guardian and guide, of the destruction that is going to befall him and his family.
Chapters 1 and 2 of 1 Samuel are crucial for understanding the given text. These chapters portray two crises that really have nothing to do with each other, but which through God's mysterious workings come to have great bearing on one another. The first crisis is a small one in the grand scheme of things: it involves just one family, in fact it involves just one woman. Hannah is barren, and so one year while visiting the Lord's house at Shiloh she makes a pledge to God: if she has a son, she will set him apart and dedicate him to the Lord's service after he has been weaned. She then becomes pregnant, gives birth to Samuel, and after weaning him brings him to Eli at Shiloh to serve in the temple.
The second crisis is national in scope. Eli's two sons are "scoundrels," as the NRSV puts it. They unjustly take the people's food offerings to the Lord for themselves; they sleep around with women who serve at the temple. The crisis for the Israelites is that their priests are extremely corrupt, their father has no control whatsoever over them, and there is no way to get other priests for Shiloh. The problem is intractable.
In Chapter 3, the solution of the minor crisis (Hannah's barrenness) becomes the means for solving the major crisis (the priesthood at Shiloh). God acts quietly, mysteriously, in this time when for all intents and purposes God has mostly withdrawn from the world: "the word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread." In fact, the double withdrawal of God - no word, no vision - compounds the crisis at Shiloh, just as God's active closing of Hannah's womb (1:6) compounds her crisis. God seems to be bent on making a bad situation worse. Yet it is just in this time of unsolvable immorality and fruitlessness that God quietly works to begin a new phase in the life of Israel, with the Lord's positive response to Hannah's plea. The missio Dei is indeed hard to discern in times of dire crisis, but it is precisely in such times that God is working to create something new.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20. Corinth was a busy, prosperous commercial city, about a century old when Paul established the church there, around 50 CE. Paul's letter is full of details about concrete issues that the congregation was tackling. It is ironic that one of his most contextual letters has been used to uphold general truths for all time (such as the ban on women speaking in the congregation). In the 6th chapter of 1st Corinthians Paul is dealing with thorny ethical and theological issues. The problem here is not that the Corinthian Christians are living like wild, promiscuous citizens. Rather, it is that they are living quite like ordinary citizens, and simultaneously trying to figure out what does it mean to be a Christian. The first eleven verses of Chapter 6 deal with lawsuits between church members. Paul is against such lawsuits, but not simply as a matter of principle. Rather, it is because lawsuits within the congregation reveal a community whose members are not in a proper relationship either with each other or with God. They fight among themselves, because they are wronging each other. God's mission is to create and nurture proper relationships within the Christian community.
Verses 12 to 20 follow a similar logic. Paul quotes arguments that the Corinthian Christian men make for visiting prostitutes: "All things are lawful for me;" "food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food;" "God will ultimately destroy the material world, including the body." These assertions were not uncommon in Corinthian society, nor was the habit of men visiting prostitutes. Paul combats these assertions with arguments of his own. Not all things are beneficial, even if they are lawful. Ultimately, our bodies are meant not for food and sex, but for God's use. What should dominate us is not bodily pleasures but the spirit of God (v. 19). In other words, the mission of Christians is to establish right relationships with one's own body, with one's fellow Christians, and with one's God who bought us "with a price" (v. 20). Right relationships, more than right causes, characterize the missio Dei.
John 1:43-51. The first chapter of John sets up all the action that comes in the rest of the gospel. In this chapter, the true nature and identity of Jesus is given to the reader. The relationship of John the Baptist to Jesus is explained. And Jesus calls the disciples who will accompany him during his earthly life. Verses 43 to 51 involve the calling of Philip and Nathanael.
The calling of Nathanael is particularly intriguing. To begin, Jesus does not call him directly (unlike Philip). As a matter of fact, Philip does not call Nathanael either: the former seeks out the latter and tells him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote" (45). It is only in verse 48 that we find out that by witnessing to who Jesus is, Philip is also calling Nathanael. Another unusual aspect of Nathanael's call is that he expresses skepticism about Jesus (46). Yet Jesus does not reprimand this skepticism, but quickly dispels it. Finally, Nathanael's incredulity is rapidly replaced by astonishing affirmation of Jesus' identity: "Rabbi!" "Son of God!" "King of Israel!" Truly, Nathanael is without guile: something which Jesus knew about him (47). Psalm 139:1-6 is very relevant here. Jesus knows Nathanael, and is going to use him.
The enigmatic saying of Jesus about angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man draws on Old Testament images, specifically Daniel 7:13 about the revelation of the Son of Man, and Genesis 28:12 with Jacob's ladder. Jesus is claiming that he, and not Bethel where Jacob dreamt of the ladder, is the locus of God's self-revelation, and hence God's mission.
What is God's mission in John 1? It is to show the disciples - to grant them the epiphany - that Jesus is now God's self-revelation. Once they are confronted with God's work of revelation, they do two things: they begin to recognize who Jesus truly is (41, 45), and they tell others about Jesus' identity. This telling in turn attracts others to Jesus. So, the disciples' mission, which is to tell others about who Jesus is, flows naturally from God's mission.
Missional Connections for Our Context
For most of us living in the United States, as well as many other parts of the world, the word "crisis" can describe the situation in which we find ourselves. This crisis, both real and perceived, cuts across political and ideological divides; it is palpable on both CNN and Fox News. The crisis is not simply a figment of our imagination: the very earth that supports and sustains our lives is under assault; governmental structures are incompetent, or impotent to deal with current and dire problems; race relations are becoming worse rather than better; the fair treatment of women is an even more elusive goal; income inequality is increasing; basic truth is disregarded in favor of convenient lies. The list goes on and on and on.
In our context, it would behoove us to look closely at 1 Samuel 3:1-20 as the foundational text for this Sunday. For here, too, we find a world in crisis, from the small and mundane (infertility) to the national (a thoroughly corrupt priesthood). In this critical time, what is God doing? It's not easy to tell. For one thing, Yahweh is part of the crisis: he has shut up Hannah's womb; he is allowing the priesthood to continue. Yet working in and through this crisis, God is creating new opportunities, new solutions, new avenues of life and goodness (note 1 Samuel 3:19-21). An insignificant barren woman's desperate prayer becomes the means by which the priesthood is overturned, and a new national religious leader (Samuel) appears. No political scientist or sociologist could have plotted this scenario.
So, the first observation is that the missio Dei is at a profound level mysterious, unfathomable, and surprising for humans. Nathanael's shock at discovering that Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth, is the one promised by Moses and the prophets (John 1:45-49) is part of this long biblical tradition of Yahweh's inscrutability. Psalm 139:17-18 beautifully captures this.
The corollary to this observation is that there is always, and necessarily, a gap between the missio Dei and the missio ecclesiae. For the church is a collection of humans, and no matter how in tune we are with God's Spirit, there is always something about God's mission that is hidden from us. Note how both Paul and the Corinthians struggle to understand God's mission in their world, and its implications for them.
So, is there no hope for us at least to glimpse, and to join to the best of our abilities, the missio Dei? Far from it! And this is the second basic observation to be made: that people can and do participate in the missio Dei. But how? Here 1 Corinthians 6 provides a crucial insight: it is in relationships with fellow believers, and with God, that we discern the missio Dei. The boy Samuel hears the voice of Yahweh because of his relationship with Eli; Nathanael joins Jesus' apostles (mission) because of his relationship with Philip; Paul's deep relationship with the Corinthian Christians elucidates God's work for both sides. Here it is important to think of how the Corinthians' perspectives and concerns, albeit refracted through Paul's lenses, are also part of God's word to us. Moreover, our own relationship with God (1 Cor. 6:17-20, Psalm 139:1-6, 13-16, 1 Samuel 3:1-10, John 1:43) is a crucial part in the work of discerning and participating in the missio Dei. But the two - relationship with God, relationship with fellow believers (and those beyond the Christian community) - work in tandem to help us apprehend the missio Dei.
There is a third theme that runs through these texts, and which seems important to mention in our current context. That theme is that the use of our physical bodies is a critical part of our participation in the work of God. It is Eli's sons' overwhelming desire for satisfying their gustatory and sexual appetites that leads them to blaspheme God; it is the Corinthian men's desire for prostitutes that separates them from God's spirit. For too long the Christian tradition has disregarded the body's role in the fulfillment of the missio Dei and the missio ecclesiae. The readings today (not to mention the high-profile news reports of sexual misconduct) remind us that the body is just as important as the mind and the soul and the spirit in the undertaking of God's mission.
Finally, the calling of the disciples in John's gospel reminds us of the great joy and satisfaction that comes with participating in God's mission. We can hear the excitement in Philip's voice as he tells Nathanael about Jesus; we can hear the wonder and admiration in Nathanael's voice as he piles on the titles for Jesus. Participating in the missio Dei can be difficult and challenging in a world of crisis, but ultimately the reward the unsurpassable.
Biographical Summary
Arun W. Jones is the Dan and Lillian Hankey Associate Professor of World Evangelism at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He grew up in India, where his parents were Methodist missionaries, and served as a missionary in the Philippines as well as a pastor in the United States. His scholarly work focuses on how Christians have spread and appropriated the Christian faith in different cultural and historical contexts.
Liturgical Day and Texts
January 21, 2018
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalms 62:5-11
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
Exegetical Missional Insights
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Parts of Jonah can sometimes be portrayed a bit too easily as a "missionary success story." Jonah proclaimed repentance and presto - the city repents! The text invites a more critical look. In verse 5 the name for "god" utilized here is the general "Elohim" rather than the particular "Yahweh." The Ninevites surely repented of their ways, but as this story is told it is not at all clear that they are turning to God as Jonah understands God to be. The story also does not give us any indication that Jonah lingered around to make sure the Ninevites "got their theology right." In this story Jonah's calling is simply to announce the need to repent.
Jonah's proclamation, in fact, is rather ambiguous. We are told simply that Jonah told them that in forty days "Nineveh shall be overthrown!" "Forty days" is used in Scripture several times to refer to a time of trial, but it is also a rather long time if one really wants to convey a sense of urgency!3 Again, Jonah reminds us that missionaries are never perfect and indeed can be very flawed human beings. His very identity in the Hebrew Scriptures is even in question. For example, unlike Jeremiah or Isaiah he is never directly referred to as a prophet in this book, although his prophetic call seems clear.
God's Mission in the Text
In this season of Epiphany, one could point out that in the verses immediately preceding the ones for this week we have a kind of "baptism of Jonah." Jonah is wet! Jesus' baptism could surely be brought to mind for one's congregation as could other ways the Jonah story is used in the Gospels (Matthew 12:38-41; Luke 11:30).
We might like to think that when the word of the LORD comes to us we'll be ready for it. Encourage people to use their imaginations about places where they would like to hear God's voice calling them into mission. A beautiful cathedral maybe? On top of a mountain? While sitting by a rushing mountain stream? Not many of us would choose to hear the word of the LORD after emerging as vomit from a large fish! And yet, that is what we have in Jonah's story. God's call to be in mission can surely happen anytime and anywhere.
Jonah's rather limited preaching in Nineveh did not bring with it a lot of theological detail. As a result, the Ninevites turned from their evil ways, but they did not exactly know what they were turning toward. That was still vague in their minds. Missionary experience throughout the ages suggests that a minimalistic approach can be helpful. Too often missionaries have sought to maintain control in their work among people rather than to trust that the Word will make things clear in time. Roland Allan's book, Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours? published over a hundred years ago, is still a reminder that it is not easy to give up control of mission. It is one of the reasons - there are several - why contemporary missiologists more often speak about the missio Dei than the "mission of the church." The latter phrase is not wrong, but the humility implicit in those two simple Latin words, missio Dei, draws us to our knees in prayer again and again. It is a great privilege to be used by God in mission. It is God's mission much more than it is our own.
Missional Connections for Our Context
All three of the readings discussed here (Jonah, 1 Corinthians, and Mark) make explicit reference to time. But the context and meaning of that word in these passages of Scripture are not at all the same! For Jonah, the reference to time is a reference to God's persistence and Jonah's stubbornness in obeying God. In our 1 Corinthians reading it is a reminder that "time is short." In Mark Jesus is proclaiming that "time is fulfilled!" This one word is an invitation to invite your congregation to consider "time" in different ways. In many American contexts it has become commonplace for people to stress how little time they have almost as a point of pride in "small talk." How can people in your congregation be encouraged to see "time" differently?
Nineveh is a place where Jonah did not want to go for mission. It may be helpful to consider other "Ninevehs" that God may be inviting your congregation to visit. Some of these "Ninevehs" could be an actual place. For example, perhaps your congregation has gone on mission trips to Mexico but has never tried to develop a relationship with a predominantly Mexican congregation much closer to home. Why not? In such a situation who is it that is being called to repent? "Ninevehs," of course, may not even be geographical in nature but could describe a particular kind of mission engagement on which your congregation has so far not focused much attention. Creation care or an effort to re-learn the lost art of "neighboring" the people who are closest to you might both be Ninevehs.4
The repentance of the Ninevites could be used to teach a congregation about a sociological phenomenon whereby people come to follow Christ as part of a "mass movement" or communal decision-making process. Vincent Donovan's classic text Christianity Rediscovered is a beautiful story of Masai villages in northern Tanzania who corporately decided to join the Christian movement after patient conversation amongst themselves and Father Vincent Donovan. Several other examples of similar movements in India and elsewhere could also be mentioned in the context of this Jonah passage in order to educate people about mission in other parts of the world where the peoples' response was as dramatic as it was in ancient Nineveh.
Exegetical Missional Insights
1 Corinthians 7:29:31
In 1 Corinthians Paul is addressing situations of church conflict, sexual immorality, one-upmanship, and general confusion on the part of the Corinthians about a variety of social roles. In these short passages Paul is writing in an exaggerated way in order to make a very important rhetorical point; it is one's relationship with God in Christ that defines who we are. Whether one is mourning or rejoicing, married or single, rich or poor, a "player" in the world or a "nobody" simply does not matter compared to one's relationship with Christ. Paul seemingly feels he cannot make this point strongly enough: The Corinthians are called to model their lives after Christ. Full stop.
Paul does not choose in this part of his letter to expand upon what he means by "the present form of this world is passing away." What sort of new form is coming? When will this happen? Paul does not say. Surely, he still thought about the second coming of Jesus and writes extensively on this in his earliest letters. He does not expand on this here in part because he believes the Corinthians need to focus not on sensational gifts or other sorts of drama but on the deep love of Christ he writes so eloquently about six chapters later.
God's Mission in the Text
Some preachers might be tempted to expand on what Paul has to say about the present-day world "passing away" and to thus preach on eschatology. It might be important for members of a congregation to know something about Paul's belief in the return of Jesus which are expanded upon in his correspondence with the Thessalonians, but it would be wise for preachers to not go in this direction for the simple reason that Paul does not do so. Encourage your congregation instead to carefully consider what is really important to them. Is it really God's mission that rises to the top when they consider what they most highly esteem?
Our preoccupying concerns might not be the same as the Corinthians. Indeed, the questions the Corinthians have about marriage and singleness, widowhood, slavery, and circumcision which Paul talks about earlier in his seventh chapter are difficult to empathize with as they come from a culture and time period far removed from our own. What list of preoccupying concerns today do you think your congregation most needs to identify and receive a similar refocusing on Jesus that Paul provides here?
Missional Connections for Our Context
In this season of Epiphany perhaps it is helpful to imaginatively consider alongside this text from Corinthians the thoughts and feelings of the magi as they returned home from visiting the holy family. What was in store for them back home? Would their considerable possessions and status - which meant so much to the Corinthians as well - mean much to them after seeing Jesus? Or will they find it easy to return to their former lives and seemingly forget who they have seen, heard, and touched? These are speculative questions, to be sure, but they still may be instructive ones to explore when considering this text.
What are the ways members of your community can remind one another to keep focused on Jesus Christ amidst the distractions of our day which are no less than those facing the Corinthians? To answer that question, one could utilize this passage as a way to talk about a particular kind of prayer. To be sure, prayer is not mentioned in this passage, but prayer - especially when it is characterized by patient contemplation and listening - is precisely what is needed to refocus our attention on following Christ. My favorite prayer in my little church's worship life that I lead occurs immediately after we all have celebrated the eucharist together: "Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself for us. Grant that we, in the strength of your Spirit, may go forth in mission to give ourselves for others. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen." The Lord's Supper is a refocusing of attention on what is most important for us a worshiping people who are then, in this prayer, invited into the mission Dei.
If your congregation is beginning to prepare for a short-term mission trip this passage could be used to begin teaching about "coming home" and the importance of accountability after the trip to not get caught up in the petty idolatries of our age. You might even encourage people to - even now - begin to read resources like Bread for the World's Getting Ready to Come Back: Advocacy Guide for Mission Teams.
Exegetical Missional Insights
Mark 1:14-20
Jonah and the disciples depicted in Mark both took place on a shoreline, but that is where the similarities end. In contrast to Jonah, in this story we get the sense that the disciples did not need a second invitation. They responded quickly - even assertively - in a way that matches the assertive message of Jesus at the very beginning: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news."
The disciples depicted here were not desperate people choosing to follow Jesus because they had lost everything else or had nearly died inside a fish. No. Mark makes it clear that these disciples were not poor. Some even employed hired hands. They were people with plans for the future and reasonable hope that those plans might become reality even under the oppressive weight of the Roman empire that marked their daily lives. But they followed Jesus without hesitating. It is as if Jesus embodied who they yearned for in their lives, and they just followed. No questions asked.
The text mentions two things the disciples left behind - their nets and their father. These two things could symbolize their status in the world and represent all the relationships they found meaningful. They left those things behind in order to follow a rather vague promise: "Follow me and I will make you fish for people."
God's Mission in the Text
Jesus announces in this text that "the kingdom of God has come near." It is a simple announcement. There are no series of stories explaining the kingdom of God as we find in Matthew 13. Mark seems to want to portray a stark choice. In contemporary society sometimes the assertion, "it's complicated" can be used to stand in the way of real, decisive action. It is true the Christian life is complicated, but this must not be used as an excuse for not getting involved in God's mission.
In recent decades many have offered new ways of understanding Jesus' teaching on the kingdom of God to help this concept make sense to modern readers. Replacement phrases like the "kindom of God" or the "reign of God" have been offered. There is value in these replacement phrases as well as drawbacks to them. In the same spirit, as a missiologist I wonder if the concept of "God's culture" might be helpful here as a conceptual replacement for "kingdom of God" even if it too is not without its problems. My favorite definition of culture put forward by my friend Michael Rynchiewicz goes like this:
"Culture is a more or less integrated system of knowledge, values and feelings that people use to define their reality (worldview), interpret their experiences, and generate appropriate strategies for living; a system that people learn from other people around them and share with other people in a social setting; a system that people use to adapt to their spiritual, social, and physical environments; and a system that people use to innovate in order to change themselves as their environments change." (Michael Rynkiewich, Soul, Self and Society: A Postmodern Anthropology for Mission in a Postcolonial World.)
This definition of culture is helpful in several respects. First, it is important to stress that it is a "system of knowledge, values and feelings" people use to live and think about their lives. The kingdom of God is a bit like that too. The kingdom of God can also be "more or less integrated" from person to person just as some people abide by cultural norms more strictly than others. Mature Christians in this analogy of kingdom to culture have integrated more of what the kingdom is in their lives, their outlook, and their behaviors. Second, this definition stresses that culture is adaptable. New contexts of mission require us to have "kingdom imaginations" about the world. Small and large manifestations of the kingdom of God will not be identical in every place at every time. Jesus' teaching about the kingdom must be kept in mind as we face new contexts of mission.
Missional Connections for Our Context
This is a rich passage that can be elaborated upon in imaginative ways to help a congregation identify with the disciples as well as Jesus. Encourage your congregation to imagine the setting. Seagulls flying overhead; the faint smell of fish and wet nets; men hard at work and talking with one another; Jesus walking along the shore on slippery stones glistening in the morning sunlight. There was a lot going on. The disciples were doubtless thinking and talking about a variety of different things, but Jesus' invitation to follow him rang true. It was able to penetrate through the distractions of their day.
Jesus' call to follow can lead to dramatic changes in our lives today just as it has throughout the history of the Christian church. This story of Jesus calling his disciples reminds me of the call of St. Francis eight hundred years ago. Francis of Assisi was the son of a cloth merchant, but when he heard the Gospel and asked a priest to explain it to him he responded in a very similar way as the disciples. It was a moment of Eureka! Hearing the Gospel that day changed his life, and he set out on a radical new pathway of discipleship. It is a simple decision to follow in a radical way. Francis's life, however, had many challenges after that simple decision, and the path of radical discipleship for all of us is no different.
But are we even open to the possibility of a similarly radical change that the disciples exhibited in this story? If our answer to that is "no" what small steps can we take to be more open to re-orienting our lives?
Biographical Summary
Benjamin L. Hartley is an Associate Professor of Christian Mission at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. He is an ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church and preaches regularly at Mountain Home United Methodist Church in Sherwood, Oregon.
Liturgical Day and Texts
January 28, 2018
Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1: 21-28
Introduction
We look at what we perceive to be the stark difference between the power and presence of God and our actual ministries as pastor, missionary or lay leader. We wonder if God can really use us as epiphanies of himself, especially in this Epiphany season, when we focus on God's light of salvation as revealed in the world through Jesus Christ.
As a college professor and pastor, I have the opportunity to ask myself, "Is God really using me?" at the start of each semester. It is a fresh start each time. I ask undergraduates in my "Bible as Literature" courses to tell me about their journey with the Bible. Have they ever read it? It is important to them spiritually? What do they think it is? The typical response is something like, "I used to read that," "I have never read it" or "Why ask questions about an unimportant piece of literature?" Audiences like these, whether in church, in the mission field or in college settings, can be really tough. How can I reach those around me and how can I live out the mission dei or mission of God in these groups? Are we allowing God to fully use us?
Textual Analysis
Take a moment and think about your calling from God. How did God let you know you had one and what it was? Has it felt like God has put his words in your mouth?
Deuteronomy 18:15-20 establishes the foundation for our missional work. And that foundation is our calling from God. This passage is one of the first descriptions of a prophet or messenger of God found in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Verse 18 says God will raise up a prophet who will be just like his fellow travelers.
The Greek word raise means to confirm, decree, make good, lift up, ordain, rouse up, establish or stir up. In other words, a prophet and now a pastor, missionary or lay leader is ordained and decreed to be so. Even more, this person is stirred up to be one.
Verse 18 also says that God will put his words in the prophet's mouth and God will tell him everything he has commanded him, and he will speak to all God has commanded.
In other words, a calling from God involved being roused to be a pastor and being commanded to speak to anyone God wants them to speak to.
Reflect on the first time you spoke with authority and it triggered all sorts of amazing reactions in your ministry? How did it feel? How did it feel to have others be amazed? Does it still feel that way?
Mark 1: 21-28 describes an event in the ministry of Jesus where he spoke with authority. Moreover, he was recognized as having this authority and those around him were amazed.
After Jesus went into the synagogue to teach, he began his ministry just like you and I did once. Very quickly in verse 22, the people are amazed because he had taught them as one having authority. What does it mean to be amazed? The Greek word can be defined as to be struck with astonishment or to be astonished. What does it mean that he had authority? According to the Greek word, Jesus had "the right or privilege, conferred power and authorization." Even more, He had the actual power and strength to carry out his authority. In this case, Jesus demonstrates this ability by telling the demon to shut up and get out of a man.
Have you discovered that having a calling and having it expressed with authority and the ability to trigger amazement in the end, is not enough? In fact, there are many popular preachers who have these things but are still missing a key ingredient-love.
This is what is expressed in 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. At first glance this very practical passage is about eating food. Yet what is more important, 1 Corinthians 8 shows us what kind of attitudes we should have. In verse 1, The Greek word for knowledge is defined as having a functional ("working") knowledge gleaned from first-hand (personal) experience which connects theory to application. It is "application-knowledge." Most of us have this kind of knowledge based on information and practical application. We may have acquired this when we were ordained, typically through a seminary degree populated with courses in theology, church history, church polity and ethics. But according to 1 Corinthians 8, knowledge can be a problem if it is alone because it puffs up. This Greek word means to inflate, arrogant and proud. It comes from the Greek word that means to be swelled up, like an egotistical person spewing out arrogant ("puffed-up") thoughts.
Instead, according to 1 Corinthians 8, our motivation should be love, which builds up.
The Greek word for love is agape, which is typically defined as God's unconditional love. But it is even more than that. It means having affection, benevolence or charity. It means to hold dear and to love.
This love builds up. This Greek term means to erect a building or to build. Figuratively it refers to the building up of character: I build up, edify and encourage. To edify literally means to "build someone up," helping them to stand (be strong, "sturdy").
Paul explains who Christians should do this in the context of food offered to idols. He says the important fact is not that there are no restrictions on eating any foods. But what is more crucial here is that we should love our brothers and sisters enough not to destroy their souls with our freedom to eat anything and our great wisdom. This means understanding our audience and meeting them at their level of need. In any congregation there are many levels of spiritual maturity. Our teaching and ministries should take these things into consideration.
Application
Take a moment and think about your calling from God. How did God let you know you had one and what it was? Does it still feel like God has put his words in your mouth?
Do you remember the first time you spoke with authority and it triggered all sorts of amazing reactions in your ministry? How did it feel? How did it feel to have others amazed? Does it still feel that way? Are you connected with Jesus so that the Holy Spirit can speak with authority through you?
Is my ministry marked by love instead of merely knowledge? This is not to say knowledge is a bad thing; however, knowledge without love limits our missional impact.
Finally, is God using me? How is he using me?
Biographical Summary
Rev. Dr. Tom Russell is a faculty member for the University College, University of Memphis. He has a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a PhD in Church History from Vanderbilt University. Russell is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. He most recently published a book entitled, Women Leaders of the Student Christian Movement, 1880-1920. American Society of Missiology Series 55 (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2017). Russell resides in a mountain side home in the historic town of Franklin, TN outside Nashville, the home of Country and Christian music.
Liturgical Day and Texts
February 4, 2018
Isaiah 40:21-31
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
Exegetical Missional Insights
The passage of Isaiah 40:21-31 begins with four rhetorical questions - "don't you know? Haven't you heard? Hasn't it been told you before? Haven't you understood?" (v. 21). More questions are asked later in the passage - "why do you complain? Why do you say such negative things? Don't you know? Haven't you heard?" (v. 27-28) The author of the Second Isaiah is making a point here. Israel, the people of God should have known. They should have heard. They should have understood. They should have not complained or doubted God. Isaiah's glorious descriptions of what God does and what he has done (v. 21-29) are in direct contrast to people, who are compared to grasshoppers (v. 22). The kind of God they serve should not make them despair but instead give them hope and renew their strengths (v. 29-31). But people of Israel are tired and weary; they feel down with a sense of being abandoned by God; God's seeming indifference toward their cause is discouraging them (v. 27). It is in this context Isaiah reminds them what they have forgotten or been unwilling to acknowledge - the everlasting God will give strength to those who wait on him; who hope in him (v. 28-31).
In 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, the apostle Paul shares his passion of preaching the gospel. For him, preaching the gospel was not optional. He adapted himself to whoever he was trying to win. What might have compelled him, and to do so without any partiality or bias toward any particular people? He explains his motivation as "for the sake of the gospel" and to "share in its blessings." (v. 23) For Paul, the gospel itself provided all the motivation and inspiration he needed to continually engage in evangelism in all situations he faced. He did not need any other reason or motive to be committed in his work of preaching Christ's gospel.
Our text for today concludes with Mark 1:29-39. In this passage, Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law, and then many sick and demon-possessed people. After healing so many into the late hours of the evening, he might have been tired, but he gets up very early, when it was still dark, and finds a solitary place to pray. Mark records that Simon and the others looked for him because everyone was looking for him. What did people want from him? More spectacular healings? Other miraculous signs? He would have been very popular, the main topic of all talks in town. But Jesus would have none of that. He gets up early in the morning. He finds a quiet place. He refreshes his soul through a time of solitude with God. Then he moves on to other places. For him, this is his mission, his purpose: to preach the good news of the Kingdom all around the area. He does not show a finch of interest in what people want from him. He is clear about what he has to do.
God's Mission in the Text
Today's text highlights at least three key points about God's missional character. First, the God of mission is an everlasting God who does not get tired or weary. The reason God sometimes does not seem to be very engaged or interested in what God's people care about may be that God's time is different from peoples. The everlasting God is constantly at work, but in order to remain connected to his work, God's people need to wait on him with patience, understanding, and perspective of who God is - what he does and what he has done in the past. Without this waiting for and hoping in God, people of God can get easily carried away by burdens and pressures of daily living in this world.
Second, God's missionary people need to remember the apostle Paul's example of having the sole motive of evangelism in the gospel itself. When they look for inspiration for witnessing to Christ in places other than the gospel itself (pride, personal achievement, meeting certain quota, etc.), evangelism so easily becomes another joyless job, another task that makes them restless. All the adaptations and adjustments to surrounding cultures for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel would mean little unless their heart is centered on the gospel itself.
Third, Jesus' clarity of his own mission should encourage Jesus' disciples to discern their own mission in the world. The discernment and sustenance of mission are perhaps possible through time of solitude alone with God bathed in prayers. But prayers won't happen unless the disciples, like Jesus, make it a regular ritual, a habit that gets well established in their lives.
Missional Connections for Our Context
As glorious a time the season after Epiphany should be, it coincides with the gloomiest time of the year - weather-wise - in many parts of North America. It is cold, raining or snowing, days are still very short; the memory of festivities of Christmas and New Year are long gone, we are often left with a feeling of loneliness, weariness, and even boredom; it is in these times that our moods also go down as it is certainly the case in the Chicago area where I live.
Today's text reminds us that God is an everlasting God. As people of God, we partake by faith in his eternal purposes when we wait patiently on him. And we choose to hope in him no matter how dire the situations may be. This is in fact the time of the year when we wait for spring to come - the warmth, return of greeneries, the outdoors, picnics, etc. In a sense, we are waiting for resurrection, for Easter. It is in the waiting of these good things that can give us the strength we need. Indeed, it is in the waiting on God that sustains our calling as people of God to be the light and salt of this earth. In a society where instant gratification has become a right and expectation, waiting is not something desired by many people. Who likes to wait in line, much less all their troubles to go away? Not so with God's people, Scripture seems to say. Not so for those who are sent on God's mission. Waiting is indeed hard. Whether waiting for a baby that doesn't get conceived by a couple, waiting for a wife who's left him, waiting for a job that does not call, waiting for a friend who is far away from God to come to church with me, or waiting for a family member whose immigration papers are not going through, waiting can be very, very difficult. But every waiting for followers of Jesus, as I am learning, can be or rather must be turned into an exercise of active and intentional waiting on God. This then turns the table and subverts all kinds of things that may have power over us.
Being God's people who participate in God's mission also requires us to evaluate ourselves and where our true motives might lie. Is it truly centered on the gospel, the power of God unto salvation of people? Or is it on something else? So many ministries start out with a fresh new vision and passion, only to fall into various temptations of self-glorification and lust for power and approval. Jesus' act of taking time away from the crowd and moving away from them should be a sobering reminder to those of us who are currently doing "successful" ministry to re-focus our heart and passion back to the mission given by God.
In conclusion, let me ask three questions to you. How are you doing in waiting on God? Where is your motive for doing ministry? What sustains your mission in the world as a follower of Christ? As you probe your own heart, may you be blessed and encouraged by our God. May you renew your strength, soar on wings like eagles, run and not grow weary, and walk and not be faint.
Biographical Summary
Peter Lee has served with Operation Mobilization as a field missionary in the Middle East and North Africa area since 2004. He is currently working on a PhD in intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
Liturgical Day and Texts
February 11, 2018
Transfiguration of Our Lord
2 Kings 2:1-12
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9
Exegetical Missional Insights
Jesus took Peter, James and John to a mountain and was transfigured, glorified, shone like the sun before them. This event is recorded in the Synoptic Gospels and only Luke tells us that they went to the mountain to pray. While on the mountain, Moses and Elijah appear and talk with Jesus. In these two men, the totality of Old Testament is represented as Moses characterizes the Law, and Elijah the prophets. Their presence and conversation with Jesus also signify the heavenly witnesses have interest and investment in the Messiah and the activates of God's saving work in his creation. These two great voices that spoke of God to the Jews left heaven for a moment to be present with the incarnation of God on earth. Just as we are reminded in Hebrews 11, heaven is watching and surrounding us. When we pass from this life to the next we do not cease to exist, sleep, nor are we so caught up in heavenly bless that we no longer are concerned with God's mission to reconcile all things to himself.
When Peter speaks up and suggests building tabernacles for all three of the glorious beings, God responds with powerful clarity. Here, as in the baptism of Jesus, we see the evidence of the Trinity. Jesus as the Son, the Holy Spirit in the Shekinah cloud (this also reminds those present and us of the cloud that led the Hebrews through the desert by day) and the voice of God that speaks. Through the cloud the voice of God says, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him" and suddenly Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus. In the few words God spoke we see his message for of the New Testament is summarized and foreshadowed. These words are spoken to Peter, who will be the first to baptize and open the door of the gospel to the Gentiles who were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10), to James, who will be the first of the apostles to be martyred for his faith in Christ, and to John, who will be the last of the apostles to die and the one to whom God's final revelation of the Kingdom and Christ's glorious return is given. God says, "Listen to him," and these three followers of Jesus of Nazareth will, after the resurrection, proclaim Jesus the Christ with all passion and zeal until their deaths.
As they were coming down the mountain Jesus instructed them to tell no one of what they had witnessed. This event was not meant to stay a secret forever but only until Jesus had risen from the dead. Later, it would be written of in the synoptic Gospels and perhaps alluded to in John 12:28, "'Father, glorify your name.' Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.'" Peter gives blatant testimony of the event in his second letter, "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,' we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain" (2 Peter 1:16-18). What was to be hidden for a time would be revealed in the fullness of time.
Connection notes with the other texts for Liturgical day
Moses and Elijah are connected in more than just the story of the Transfiguration of our Lord. The Old Testament text for today is taken from 2 Kings 2:1-12. It is the story of Elijah passing the mantle to Elisha and the chariot of fire whirling Elijah away to heaven. In v8 Elijah parts the water of the Jordan river with his cloak (the symbol of his prophetic office and authority). We can observe the correspondence with Moses parting the Red Sea and later the river Jordan. We can see God prophesying through Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18 when he speaks of "a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I commanded him."
The New Testament text is from 2 Corinthians 4:3-6. This section actually begins in verse 1 when Paul uses the transitional word "therefore". To understand verses 3-6, we must understand the context of the "therefore" that points the reader back to the reason we have the "this ministry" that speaks of what we proclaim in verse 5. The contrast of "veiled gospel" (4:3) must be viewed in light of those who are proclaiming that is "we all with unveiled faces" (3:18). Paul is speaking in reference to Moses who wore a veil to hide God's blinding glory from the Israelites but we who are not veiled but have beheld his glory and are being transformed by it, now have this ministry to proclaim Christ as Lord and reconciler to God the Father (2 Cor 4:1, cf 2 Cor 5:17ff).
God's Mission in the Texts
David Bosch describes the classic understanding of the missio Dei, "God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit was expanded to include yet another 'movement': Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world" (Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, 2011, 399). In the Transfiguration, we see the Father testifying to the "beloved Son" and Holy Spirit's presence in the Shekinah cloud. Jesus implicitly instructs Peter, James, and John to tell about what they have seen with the stipulation that they must wait until his resurrection. This telling will blossom with the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost as Jesus will later promise "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). As we learned previously, Peter speaks of being an eyewitness to the Transfiguration as well as being a witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This "telling" is now the task of Christ's body, the church.
God's glorification of Jesus on the mountain was a view of the Son's pre-incarnate glory, his present glory that is only visible through the supernatural will of God and preview of his future glory in eternity. Peter, James, and John saw a glimpse of the now and the not yet. Post resurrection, they lived caught in between the now and the not yet. Peter and John, second and third to Paul, wrote the New Testament revelation of the Christ. James' martyrdom is written of in Acts 12:1-2.
God's mission in the text of Mark 9:2-9 is clear if not fully realized until the death and resurrection of Jesus. God' sent his Son, whom he loved, so that the world would listen to him. As John would later write, "but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:31). John also writes of the missio Dei "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit'" (John 20:21-22).
Jesus' instruction to not tell becomes "go and tell" and listen to me - Matthew 28:18-20 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."
Missional Connections for Our Context
Jesus revealed his glory on that mountain to Peter, James, and John and commanded them to tell no one until after his resurrection. But now, "He is Risen, he has risen in deed." The time to testify to the glory of Christ commenced on Resurrection day and was inaugurated with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
Post resurrection we, like Peter, James, and John are called to be witnesses (Mt 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, 2 Peter 1:16-18). We are eyewitness to what God has done through Christ for the world and in our lives. When we follow God's voice to "Listen to him" we will speak what he speaks and testify to what he has done and is doing.
The mountain top experience that the three apostles experienced with Jesus' transfiguration is manifest in our lives when we ascend the mountain by faith and come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Unlike the apostles, we have no instruction to not tell but rather are called to the ministry of reconciliation where Christ makes his plea through us, be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20).
To "listen to him" is not just a personal salvation experience. While it is imperative that each of us come to know Christ as our Lord through faith, listening and obeying the words of Jesus Christ does not end there. The mission of God is to reconcile all things to himself and he calls us to share in that mission with him. We share in that mission with the word of our personal testimony and by living lives that reflect his light. We listen to him when we proclaim the gospel in word and deed as we feed the hungry, visit those in prison, clothe the naked, heal the sick, forgive those who have sinned against us and seek to bring peace in our communities. How can we keep silent when we have beheld the glory of Christ and are being transformed even as he transformed Peter, James, and John into the leaders of the early church? As we wait for the future and complete glorification of Christ we are called to join all the saints of heaven and on earth in God's mission to reconcile all things to himself.
In a contemporary worship song Brian Johnson captures our response to "Listen to him" well. I have often made this song my prayer.
"Where you go, I'll go" by Brian Johnson
Where you go I'll go
What you say I'll say
What you pray I'll pray
Jesus only did what he saw you do
He would only say what he heard you speak
He would only move when he felt you lead
Following your heart following your spirit
How could I expect to walk without you
When every move that Jesus made was in surrender
I will not begin to live without you
For you alone are worthy and you are always good
Though the world sees and soon forgets
We will not forget who you are and what you've done for us
Biographical Summary
Reverend Rhonda Garrison Haynes is an ordained minister of the Word and served God on the mission field of Bolivia for seven years. While in Bolivia she partnered with local believers to plant churches and disciple new believers. Prior to her service in Bolivia she was a missionary to her children raising them to know Christ as Lord, and served in her local church and community "doing the stuff" which shined Christ's light to the "least of these" through evangelism proclamation as well as social ministry to the poor and marginalized. Currently, she is pursuing her doctorate in Intercultural Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
1 Vanderbilt Divinity Library: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//lections.php?year=B&season=Epiphany December 20, 2017.
3 Phyllis Trible, "Jonah" in The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 7 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 511, 513.
4 Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon, The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2012.
