Scripture Reflections

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
 
Matthew 9:35 summarizes Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, and is worth our consideration because it challenges three misconceptions that tend to arise in the church. The first is the idea that the only thing that matters is that people hear the Gospel. The second is the idea that the only thing that matters is meeting the practical needs of people. Related to this, the third is the idea that the Gospel can be preached without words. Jesus’ ministry doesn’t allow us to draw any of these conclusions!
 
He taught about the kingdom, he proclaimed the Gospel, and he healed every affliction.
 
The Church doesn’t have a mission other than Jesus’ mission. As the Spirit fills and empowers the Church, it enables it to step into Jesus’ mission, because the Church is his body, his presence on earth. This means that the Church is supposed to do—by the power of the Spirit—the things that Jesus did: proclaim, teach, and heal. The Gospel must be proclaimed with words, people need teaching about the kingdom of God, and people need healing from the effects of the fall! Simply put, we don’t get to pick between speaking about the kingdom and acting out the kingdom. The Church is supposed to do all of this, because Jesus did.
 
This does not mean that every individual is equally adept at all of this. Some are supremely gifted at demonstrating the kingdom by healing sickness. Some are uniquely able to address societal afflictions, like injustice, poverty, drug addiction, or prostitution. Some are given the ministry of delivering people from spiritual and satanic bondage. Some are gifted as evangelists, and others as teachers of the kingdom, uniquely able to explain it in a way that makes sense. None of us is gifted (like Jesus was!) at all of this, but together, the body is supposed to do all of it.
 
As you wrestle with your own place in the full mission of Jesus, consider where God has placed you and what he has given you gifts to do. Look around you and ask, “What portion of this mission has God laid in my lap? What portion of this do I have the ability to accomplish?” It is easy for each of us to overlook (or think lowly of) the things that come easily to us—we tend to value the more “difficult” roles. But it may be that the thing that comes easiest to you is an indication of how God has gifted you to step into the ministry of Jesus.
 
Steven+