Acts 22:6-21
Mathew 28:16-20
Today the mother church celebrates Mission Sunday.
Church specially dedicate this day for remembering our great missionaries who
had sacrificed their lives for the spread of the gospel and also to pray for
the success of the mission work. It is also a day to support and encourage
mission work through our small efforts like prayers, contributions, mission
work etc. through baptism we all are missionaries and we all have got
missionary responsibilities as we are members of this missionary church through
our baptism.
In today’s Gospel, Mathew 28:16-20, we see that the
disciples are commissioned by Jesus for the mission work. The main theme of
today’s gospel is the commissioning of disciples by Jesus for the mission of
the world. This missionary mandate is important for us Christians, because of
its nature. We are all bound to preach the gospel and spread the kingdom of God
because of this commandment. When Jesus said to his disciples to go and preach
the gospel and make disciples of all nation, he said to us. It has got a
universal nature. Now as Christians, as Disciples of Christ in the present
world we are bound to do mission work. So now there is no doubt about the
responsibility which is upon us to preach the gospel.
Now the question in our mind is how we can do the
mission work or what we have to do in the mission. It is clearly expressed in
the mission mandate. We have to do four things in the mission; first response
to the call by going, second make disciples, third to baptize and fourth to
teach.
In the first step we have to respond to God’s call.
As we know mission means a particular task which is to be fulfilled. In order
to fulfill the task we are sent by Jesus. To preach and spread the good news to
the ends of the world we are all sent. What is our responsibility is to go.
Accept our call and respond to our call to mission work by obeying the person,
who is sending us. Jesus calls us and sent us.
The second thing is to make disciples. It is very
necessary in mission work to make disciples who live according to the Christian
values. It is here we can accept other religious brethren on our mission areas.
When we preach the gospel, people will come to know the gospel values, then
they will be attracted to us. They will assimilate the gospel vales and live
according to that. Then they will become disciples of Christ.
The third step is to baptize them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So baptizing is the third step.
We should not jump into the third step first. We should not show too much
interest in baptizing other people. First let them become the Disciples of Christ.
Many people who received baptism and went away from the church is because of
over enthusiasm to baptize them. Today we have to understand that what is
important is to impart Christian values to them and make them the disciples of
Jesus.
The forth step is to teach them to obey the
commandment of God. That is also very important to note in the mission work.
When we try to teach the do’s and don’ts of our religion they will not be
interested in our long dogmas and teachings. It is a gradual process. Slowly
make them to understand the commandment of God and teach them to obey it. We
know that if we try to impart our Christian doctrine to the people, they will
run away from us.
Now one question remains in our hearts. Are we able
to carry out the mission? Or will our mission be successful? Jesus tells “I am
with you always.” Here Jesus not only gives the commandment to preach the
gospel, but also gives us the strength and gives us the assurance that he will
be with us always. So if he is with us our mission will be successful, there is
no doubt about it.
Today when we come to Acts 22:6-21 we see the
conversion of Paul, the great apostle to the gentiles. If we clearly observe
this conversion scene we can find all the techniques used by Jesus in order to
make Paul his own. First of all Jesus selects him, send him, makes him the
disciples and baptizes him and at last teaches him. And we can observe that
till the end of the mission Jesus was with him.
Jesus selected the disciples and commissioned them.
In the same way Jesus selected Paul too. it was during his journey to Damascus,
in order to persecute the Christians, Jesus touched him. There we can see that
Jesus makes him to go to Ananias. So here we see the aspect of sending.
It is clear from the words of Paul “what am I to do,
Lord?” he calls Jesus Lord, this expression is peculiar to a disciple. Jesus
made him a true disciple when Ananias told him to regain the sight. So that
time onwards he was ready to do anything for Jesus . he had strong conviction
in Jesus.
Then we see that Ananias gave him baptism in the
name of the Father, through baptism he gets the responsibility of a missionary.
He goes forth for the mission of the gentiles. So in the case of Paul it was a
sudden process, but we have to understand the life he lived as a strong Jew,
persecuting the Christians, killing Stephen. So we can say that the success of
mission is the matter of Jesus. He works wonders in the mission through us.
When we also come to the real conviction like St. Paul, our mission will be
successful.
As missionaries, are we ready to take up the mission
work seriously? Do we have real conviction? In our mission too we can observe
these four rules, accepting the call, making disciples, baptizing and teaching.
Our call to missionary life may be our own family life or whatever state we
belong to. It is our duty and responsibility to be a model for people who
belongs to other religions. Then through our life we are preaching the good
news to them. They will praise Lord our God looking at our life. In this mission
Sunday let us take a pledge that our life will be a life according to the
commandment of Christ, which is based on love for God and love for people.
When our
lives are according to the love of God and love of neighbors, people will be
interested in us. They will automatically flow to us by seeing our exemplary
lives. They will also glorify our God. Mother Theresa preached the Gospel
through her life and she openly proclaimed Christ whenever she got a chance,
but nobody persecuted her. They were all attracted to her life. So many
missionaries preached and sacrificed their lives for the mission. Let us also
follow their footsteps. And through our life let us preach the gospel in our
mission fields. Let us contribute according to our standards for the cause of
mission. May God bless us. Amen
By Boby Kaiyalakakathu MST
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