In the beginning was Jesus. Without Jesus there would be no messianic Jewish community in Jerusalem whose leaders proclaimed that God had revealed himself in the crucified and resurrected Jesus of Nazareth, procuring the salvation of the world. Without Jesus, no messianic community would have existed in Damascus, in Antioch, in Ephesus, in Pergamon, in Rome, or in any of the provinces of the Roman Empire. Jesus stands at the beginning of the missionary activity of the early Christians.
I’ve been lost in the Gospels and Acts now for about two years. It’s like I’d never read them before. They form two parts of the one story of Jesus’ mission.
I’ve been asking, What did Jesus do? First of all in his ministry in the Gospels; and then, What did Jesus continue to do? in the unfolding story of how the word spread and multiplied in the book of Acts.
What’s got my attention is that Jesus still leads the way. He is risen and exalted but not absent. We are not the inheritors of his mission. Instead he has invited us into what he is doing. Our responsibility is to follow and obey, and he promises to teach us how fish.
Looks like I’ve got the topic for my next book. Better still, I think the topic has got me.
