Sheep home

I will pardon (Joel 3:21) 
In Matthew's account of the sending out of the apostles, Jesus gives some good advice on mission. Don't get too tied up with resources, you have all you need. The ravenous monster (of building and budget) will never be satisfied, but real mission requires nothing but love. Expect opposition from both inside the church and outside it. People are wolves who will seek to consume you if they can, because the message you carry threatens their carefully constructed egos. I'll give you the words you need to break through and set free. And be normal. Mission isn't about grand gestures or fake faith. It's about normal people who trust Jesus with their lives offering real friendship that lasts to others who do not know the love that goes the extra mile to the cross.
But if you just look for advice you are missing the point of the passage. Like Joel's promise of pardon, you need the build up. For Joel it is 'not pardoned'. There is a division. Two ways to live. Under God's love and protection, as a member of God's people, receiving his pardon. And away from God, back turned, hand raised in a fist to his words and his people, not receiving his pardon. When Jesus looks at the people before him he sees these two ways most clearly. As the message has it, 'his heart broke' for they were 'like sheep with no shepherd'. Not pardoned, going away from God, outside his gift of life. Out of this sorrow at their loss he calls on his people to 'pray for harvest hands'. 
So must we see the full force of this separation. Rather than sitting in a holy huddle and congratulating ourselves on God's pardon, we are called to spread out among the people who have no knowledge of the shepherd and lead them home. With humility, with integrity, with love and with honesty, but nevertheless, full of compassion for the lost, that forgotten word that holds so much power. Let the 'not pardoned, become the 'pardoned' on our watch.

Lambs, numbered but no mother in sight

Location: United Kingdom

Comments

  1. Julie S14 June 2020 at 09:42

    This is reassuring in so many ways. No grand gestures - be normal. I had a distressing experience yesterday that left me feeling useless and inept. I wanted to make things right for a child in trauma, but could only offer a small gesture in the seemingly hopelessness of his life. Maybe a small gesture made a difference?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. George Moody14 June 2020 at 18:32

      Certainly no limit on what God can do with us: faith small as a mustard seed!

      Delete

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