The Gospel of Peace May Be Uncomfortable

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
John 20:21

The disciples were huddled behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. They knew there had been a resurrection. They had not yet seen Jesus, and were not going to go around talking about this. Until now. And Jesus came challenging their fear by giving them words of peace and of command.

When I think about how they must have been feeling, I see that Jesus was working them over. He was giving them a convicting message. They were hiding from the world. He was sending them into the world. They were huddled together in fear for comfort. He was breaking them up and sending them out into ministry. And the world had not changed its opinion of Him. The authorities would still be opposed to the saving message of the gospel. But these men were nevertheless challenged to get at the call Christ was giving to them.

How many times have I preferred the comfort of the church crowd to the challenge of the Great Commission? If I am not careful, I will stay huddled in the church. But the odd thing is that obeying Jesus in going into the world brings peace, nor from the world, but from Him. And the peace goes into the world one redeemed sinner at a time. It is a gospel of peace. I need to remember that.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

Following from afar.

As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Mark 5:18-20

This account of the healing of the man in the tombs is really the first description of a new kind of disciple… one with whom we can readily identify. I have often entertained the fantasy of being a First Century follower. After all, what Christian would not trade sandals with one of Jesus’ original twelve disciples? It would be a dream come true to literally walk with Jesus.

The dramatic story of this suffering demoniac draws us in. He went from being a man whose demons begged Jesus to leave them alone to being a man whom Jesus set in his right mind. In this healed condition he now begged to become one of Jesus’ inner band, to travel with this Rabbi and learn from Him. He obviously believed in Jesus. But Jesus had other plans for this man. He wanted him to follow… from a distance.

This disciple was commissioned to do something very specific: “Go home and tell your friends.” And he was given a powerful message to proclaim: “….tell them how much the Lord has done for you.” He was also living testimony to a powerful fact about God: “…and how He has had mercy on you.” This disciple was given a relationship with Jesus much like the one we have today. He was to proclaim his testimony to the saving work of Christ to all those around him, even as Jesus was not physically present.

The results were blessed by God. Jesus knew what He was doing when He commissioned this man. All over the ten city region of the Decapolis (a Galilean region primarily Gentile in its ethnic composition) this man preached the gospel and impressed people by what Jesus had done for him. If this man could do this, we can do the same… I can do the same.

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