Ascension

The church calendar for the past week has included Ascension - recognising the time when Jesus disappeared from physical view in front of His followers and returned to the God-head. With this episode there is also the commissioning of the disciples - the 'Great Commission' recorded in Matthew, and Luke recording 'You will be may witnesses' at the start of Acts. The later fragments of Mark also include a commissioning, which reads:

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole of creation.

Let's think about this commission being 'to the whole of creation', rather than merely being people focussed. The Greek that we have translated as preached conveys the meaning of 'herald' or 'announce' - bringing the new information to bear. The 'gospel' - the news of Jesus Christ - was to be announced across all the world. The language used would be familiar to first century people: when there was a new emperor, the news would conveyed across the whole empire (perhaps even beyond) by people tasked to make the announcement.

The task of the disciples was to convey the news of a new Lord - this is the good news of Jesus.

But this is not merely a piece of political news that impacts the lives of people! Jesus being Lord has far greater implications, and is news for the whole of creation itself. The Greek that is translated for us 'whole of creation' conveys that sense. It could also be translated 'all that is created' - that means the very fabric of the universe as we know it needs to hear this good news of Jesus' Lordship announcement!

And remember too that it is not just the physical that is created. We understand creation as including the physical and the 'heavenly bodies': a supernatural realm (containing good and fallen) that is beyond our understanding or accurate description, but nonetheless in existence and created. All this too needs to hear this good news declaration.

So the commission, as written in some copies of Mark, is for us as Jesus disciples to declare to everything, including in the spiritual realm that Jesus is Lord. That means the scope of our role stretches far wider than telling friends, neighbours or strangers! These copies of Mark should broaden our horizon - the calling is not just convincing some people that following Jesus is a better way of life (though that is certainly included), but for us to make the cosmic declaration that Jesus is above all: all people, all creatures, all things, here in the physical, and in the spiritual.

Jesus is Lord and above all!

Flourishing Community

There are few people who do not nod in agreement when talking about a desire for a healthy & vibrant community. Non-believers, people of other faiths, even most cynics - when presented with a vision of a healthy flourishing community - will agree that at the very least 'it sounds like a good idea'.

Our Christian perspective informs us that such notions overlap with a Kingdom vision. We have rich resources, such as passages in Isaiah and Zechariah that inspire us towards that vision. The over-arching story from Abraham onwards is of a people who are devoted to God and blessed by Him themselves being a blessing to the their surrounding community (and ultimately the global community). We know that Jesus came to fulfil just that, and in being Christ-followers we take part in the very same project.

We can seed, contribute towards and help enable flourishing community for all because of our faith in Jesus.

But as Christ-followers seeking first His Kingdom we should also recognise some fundamental difficulties. The sad reality is that there is a sea of need out there, that can easily dwarf whatever good we might bring as an individual or as a small dedicated group. From a population growth perspective, we might also wonder if we and fellow believers can keep up even if we believe that just a few of us can act as sufficient yeast to permeate the batch of dough.

But I fear that another fundamental difficulty also needs to be understood: that the principalities & powers are not done yet. Our Kingdom activity in the name of Jesus pushes back these malevolent powers for sure, but given time & opportunity they will happily go on the counter-offensive - especially if the witness to Jesus as Lord subsides, the salt & light diminishes. This is saying (in spiritual terms) that over time the Kingdom wins of a particular flourishing community can be lost. After all, do we not see that over and over in the books of Judges, Kings and Chronicles?

Kingdom gains that enable flourishing community flow primarily out of lives lived for Jesus. Lives lived this way flow from lives won for Jesus, and they are of course the result of witness to Jesus and Good New declared. The yeast is supposed to work into the whole batch of dough, and the tiny mustard seed is supposed to grow into a tree that provides for all - in other words that there is ultimately 'Gospel Saturation' (a term used by disciple movement pioneers).

Kingdom initiative to enable flourishing community is excellent. But it needs to perpetuate, regenerate, and by God's grace spread. That means it is unmistakably connected to the basic call made by Jesus: "Come, follow me!".

Banning Prayer - An Age Old Tactic

This week national news ran the story of a secondary school that had banned 'prayer rituals' as part of its behaviour policy. The policy was challenged in the High Court by a Muslim pupil, with the case arising from the pupil and her peers wanting to pray as a group at lunch time, as per the practice suggested (prescribed?) for them by their religious community. Apparently circa 30 pupils wanted to actively join, but the school appears to have very strict behaviour codes, including (it seems) limiting groups to just four people even outside on the school communal areas.

One might wonder about this '4 max' policy (which sounds more like an anti-protest law you would expect in places like Russia ...), or about the merits of the High Court's decision to dismiss the challenge (i.e. effectively agreeing with the school). What I would like to focus on, however, is the notion that you can somehow ban prayer.

It reminds me of Daniel, and the jealous troublemakers who persuaded the king to create an edict banning any prayer (other than to the king). Daniel was not deterred, and didn't even bother to take his praying underground. As we know, lions became involved and they got to enjoy a tasty breakfast ...!

Banning prayer is an age old tactic, but is a ridiculous and futile notion. To be fair to the school, they are banning 'prayer rituals' rather than any prayer per se. They have suggested that the gang-of-thirty in their ritual would be intimidating, but I wonder if they have missed an opportunity to discuss and set a culture of understanding, multilateral tolerance and respect? Maybe their own staunchly secular ethos is now being used as an intimidation in itself?

For the pupils ... why not keep praying like Daniel, albeit subversively: 8 gangs of 4 would do it, or spread themselves out (a bit like the 2m social distancing thing we learnt in covid) so that technically they are not a gathering! Surely the school cannot proscribe individuals standing in apparent silence, or even individuals kneeling in silence, out on the school grounds?

Those who don't understand the spiritual will try many tactics to hold their position, but none of these are new and ultimately none of them of work.

Resurrection Focus

The aftermath of Easter was that everything was now changed. The whole perspective and deal of religious thought is changed in the light of the resurrection. Jesus was not just a special leader, a person with special power or godly abilities ... He is the one who fuses the heavenly with the physical created order, fully God & fully man in perpetuity. That means we don't just look to Jesus for good example or inspiration, but we acknowledge Him as supreme over all. Whereas before we might have thought of looking to spiritual figures of the past to help us strive to understand the divine and be better people, with Jesus raised from the dead we now see the path of faith is in and through a person - this person Jesus.

The Jewish leaders at the time had thought that they could faithfully stick to 'the faith system' as they understood it by doing away with Jesus. The Roman governor, wanting to keep order and peace to avoid any sense of threat to Caesar, acquiesced to the injustice. For them having Jesus dead was to be the end of the matter ... but from the Easter Sunday He was no longer dead!

Thus the evangelistic sermons recorded in Acts lead to the punchline: 'He was killed ... but God raised Him!'. Jesus is Lord - not Caesar, not any other system or institution ... and we know this because of the resurrection. Regardless of the length or starting point of the message, Peter and the other early preachers showed that they had this laser-like resurrection focus!

In our own opportunities for witness, whatever long way off starting point you might need to work from ... keep this same ultimate resurrection focus in mind.