Mere Missions

24 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

toward societal change. The apostles did not aim directly at such an end. Neither did Jesus. They did not become involved in processions against Roman police brutality, slavery, social or economic injustices, marches for civil rights, higher wages, or better education. Jesus authorized no one to do such. He authorized and mandated His disciples to love each other and to go proclaim Good News, make disciples, leading to new churches being established for the glory of God and the expansion of His Kingdom. In fact, some might even argue, that we see the opposite in the Lord Jesus. Tucked away in the Gospel of Luke is the following story of an encounter Jesus had that reveals the reality of eternity that Jesus was so aware of. “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13.1-3). Jesus was a Galilean Jew. Though of mutual descent, religion, and ethnicity, they were culturally different than Judean Jews. Galileans came to Jesus, one of their own, expecting compassion and outrage mingled together. I’m sure they thought Galilean lives would matter to Jesus given not only His cultural connection but also because of the brutality and injustice of the Roman police force. This most certainly demands a response, an outcry, a protest from Jesus. Added to that was the disrespect to their religion, their God, His God, and Father. It was a social and religious injustice of epic proportion. Surely Jesus would do something. As the Son of Man, he didn’t do anything. There was no protest or the formation of an organization to address this atrocity. As the Son of God though, He had a response. Pointing them to eternal matters, He said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” It can seem to the “temporal eye” that Jesus is cold, un-caring, unsympathetic. Where is His humanity? Where is His pastoral