Gathering Growing Going
The life of God’s people can often seem a roller-coaster. After the highs of the Transfiguration for three disciples, we walk down the mountain to the lows of the nine below, whose faith is wavering. This is not a new state of affairs – just read the Exodus accounts! And just as God is, time and time again, Jesus expresses a holy exasperation. He also utters an explanation: ‘Because of your little faith!’ (vs.20). Again, the present tense jumps out – and we are encouraged to confront the same explanation. What Jesus do we trust in? Do we trust in Jesus? The Jesus to trust in is the Almighty-God-in-the-flesh who is rejected, dies, is buried and rises from the dead. That King is worth knowing and trusting. Do we?
Jesus has come to bring the outsiders in. Jesus has finally been recognised as ‘the Christ, the Son of the Living God’ (16:16). Jesus reveals what this means – rejection, suffering, death, resurrection (16:21-22). The disciples do not quite grasp this. Jesus takes three – the necessary witnesses – up a mountain. There, He is revealed in His glory – they get a glimpse of who He truly is! And so much of their history is present – Moses, the cloud, six days, God speaking, God’s people constituted. There is Moses himself, and Elijah! The glory of Jesus goes hand-in-hand with the death of Jesus. This is what God had willed and planned. This is what John prepared for. So, what do you do with such a Saviour of the world? You listen to him!
Jesus’ command to ‘go’ is logical, powerful, and possible. It is logical because disciples are to come from ‘every nation’. It is powerful because of the authority of the One who gives it. And it is possible, because Jesus assures His disciples of His presence with them, as they obey Him. The danger with this four-word summary of who we are as God’s mob in Narrabri is that it could become all about us, and all about our activity. After all, these are all verbs we do! However, the purpose of this command of Jesus – and our obedience to it – is not for our significance to be known, but for God’s significance to be proclaimed – it is for God’s glory! Perhaps we need a ‘fifth’ ‘g’: gospelling, gathering, growing, going – for God’s glory!
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