Our Call

Be ready for service and have your lamps lit. You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

“Lord,” Peter asked, “are you telling this parable to us or to everyone?”

The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected. (Luke 12:25-48 CSB)

In his initial covenant with Abram, God told him that he was choosing him because he wanted him to be a blessing for all people. (Genesis 12:2-3)

That’s a people chosen for a mission. 

It’s a little like a seal team chosen for a special operation. There was something unique about them that allowed the mission to be accomplished, but in the end, the goal was not being chosen, but the point was the mission itself. 

And God’s mission was always for all people. In fact, we see this wrestled through at the Jerusalem Council in the Book of Acts, when the gathered group of apostles were attempting to decide what to do with the influx of gentile converts, who were themselves experiencing the Holy Spirit. The conclusion of it, spoken by James the brother of Jesus, was that this was God’s plan all along, and he quotes this scripture: 

After these things I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
I will rebuild its ruins
and set it up again,
so that the rest of humanity
may seek the Lord—
even all the Gentiles
who are called by my name—
declares the Lord
who makes these things known from long ago. (Acts 15:16-17 which is an interpretation of Amos 9:11-12)

Images of occupied Jerusalem and the coming falling of the temple should be seen here, along with the new image of Christ recreating the temple (himself) within his disciples.

God’s mission is still everyone— all the nations. Being a Christian is not about a state of being, but about being called out as a people who are the harbingers of this truth on behalf of others. Chosen with a task. It’s the very reason the first Christians received the Holy Spirit as a sign and symbol of them being sanctified for the task(Acts 1:8). And what is the mission? The reconciling message of the cross (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

Remember Jesus is telling his disciples this message as he walks to Jerusalem to fulfill his own brutal mission — the very one he rejected Satan in the wilderness with in order to complete (Luke 4:1-13). Using stark language of disobedience and consequence highlights the imperative of their own  purpose. He’s not going to die so that they can spend their lives playing video games, and drinking too much wine. No! He’s going to die so that all may be reconciled to God and to each other through the word and witness of the Holy Spirit in his disciples. Bear Witness! He tells them. Remember I am coming back. You’re here for a reason.

I’m a parent. I know how difficult it is to keep a child focused on what they need to focus on, especially when there are so many easy distractions. It’s loving realignment that can sometimes get heated, depending on the significance or the response. And that is what our Lord is doing for us. We too have a mission, don’t be complacent! he warns. There will be many other good things that might appear to be important, but this is of the utmost important. Do it, for me!

How are our own lives arranged to live this mission out?