Luke 4:
16-22.
The Formative Environment of Mission imperative, Gospel for All
Luke chapter 4 begins
with the temptation of Christ.
Temptation is in the context of Christ’s movement towards ministry in
public. Jesus’ baptism at the hands of
John the Baptist highlights his identity as the Messiah who came in as the king
and the suffering servant. It speaks who
Jesus is. It also speaks, how he would
engage in his mission. Jesus builds his
public ministry on the fundamental platform of this identity consciousness. His initiation into the public ministry
commenced with an intense spiritual preparation. Retreat into the wilderness and the prayerful
fasting express this thorough preparedness.
At the zenith of this wilful preparation, Satan proposes various alternatives. The first pressing alternative was a proposal
to transform the mission of the Son of God to a self-oriented
productivity. The setting of this
proposal is quite interesting. It is in
the background of intense spiritual preparation. It also highlights Jesus’ self-realization as
the one sent by God; identity as Son of God.
Remaining faithful to the self-realization, Jesus makes a counter
affirmation. Human existence and the
mission of the Kingdom of God is rooted in the Word of God.
This affirmation involves
a mission paradigm. Temptation is an
attempt to divert Jesus from this messianic servant-hood mission paradigm. Luke 4: 16-22 presents the self-affirmation
of Jesus as the Messiah. It also re-iterates
countering of Jesus to the satanic proposals.
It re-affirms that mission is rooted in the Word of God. Therefore, this text has to be seen in
continuity with the baptism narrative and temptation accounts. When we try to understand the text in this
continuity, we could realize Jesus’ emphasis on the paradigmatic submission to
the will of God. He re-iterates that
humble submission to the will of God is the real strength in carrying out the
entrusted Mission of the Kingdom of God.
It is more authentic and acceptable than the proposed call for
acceptance and authority through crooked ways.
Therefore, absolute submission to the will of God is the only right
method in carrying out the mission of the Kingdom. Putting it negatively, no mission methodology
without absolute submission to the will of God is real mission
methodology. This is a
self-realization.
How is this
self-realization appropriated in life? It
begins in the baptismal font. Every
baptismal setting apart is the authentication of one’s identity within the
framework of God’s will and purpose. That is why in our faith-culture, each one
is subscribed with his/her name in the name of the Trinity; the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. How and where is this identity consciousness nurtured and
re-affirmed? The self-consciousness
subscribed though baptism is realized and continually conscientized through
worship and in the worship community. This
is because, worship is the space and time that reveal the Glory of God and
communicate the will of God in a tangible manner. Worship helps
the individual faithful as well as the community of faithful to realize their
identity and places them as mission medium within the framework of God’s will.
It has a continuity structure, for it is the re-kindling of the heritage of the
mission methodology inaugurated in Christ and shared through the disciples and
taken over by generations of faithful people.
Hence, worship is the formative environment that re-kindles our
identity consciousness.
Temple of God is the
space where this self-realization is re-kindled and appropriated. The temple-culture constructs the
self-realization of the belongingness to God’s mission imperative in personal
terms and as a community. Every worship
and every meditations on the word of God place a person and community within
the elect, and commissioned vision of God.
The last blessing in the Holy Qurbana is an expression of this
understanding. Therefore, Christian life
and its missionary commitment are always in continuum. Worship is the space that links and
transforms past commissioning into present realizations and present commitment
with futuristic vision.
This linking and transformation happens
through defining, re-defining faith identity through continuous participation
in worship and interpretation of the Word of God. Why is the study of the Word integral to the
Worship and vice versa? Is not the study
or the exposition of the word of God an intellectual exercise? According to the early teachers of faith,
biblical interpretations should always be done from the platform of faith. The reason is that, an interpretation as a
mere intellectual exercise is not powerful enough to make the will of God
experiential. On the other hand, in the
worship, faith of the community enhances the biblical and theological hermeneutical
principles. In reciprocation, the
interpretation of the Scripture and the theological affirmations validates the
faith of the community. Therefore, both
act as complementing experiences. In
that complementary state, worship space is not just limited to the four walls
of a temple, but encompasses all the spaces that initiates and motivates understanding
of the Word of God in a deeper manner and meaningful to the mission of the
Kingdom of God. Here, Library, class
room, refractory, playground, garden, agricultural field all becomes an extension
to the worship space. This passage also certifies
the faith and vision appropriating role of Worship space. Historically, synagogue is a space that helps
one to realize divine commissions. It is
the space that interprets and explains God’s purpose and makes one to
creatively respond to that. Jesus
affirms his identity here. He appropriated the vision of Isiah 61:1-2 in
him. In that passage the trito Isiah
proclaims a universal vision. That is
rooted in the perception of the liberating Messiah. That is the expectation on which generations
were formed. It was in the framework of this visionary expectation all faithful
individuals were formed. Jesus places
himself within this vision. He affirmed
himself as the fulfilling presence of that expectation. It became a witness of his identity. When Jesus selected this space to creatively
respond to the mission purpose of God, he was authenticating this historical
role of the worship place. Worship
is the space for the public witnessing of the called out person’s and community’s
witness.
This public witnessing is an initiation into practical dimensions of the
mission of the Kingdom of God. The
identity consciousness that prompted the witness formulates the mission
model. Isaiah 61:1-2 high lights the
approach. When Jesus affirmed that the
paradigm is fulfilled in him, he authenticates it as the methodology of mission
of the Kingdom. The area where
involvement is required points our attention to the margins. Those at the margins are always left
out. They are either neglected or
silenced. No prominent person or
community gives them value or fellowship.
Therefore, the only meaningful presence for them is God. God alone is their refuge. God alone is the strength to deliver from
these margins. Therefore, the needed mission
methodology is to be with those who have only God as their refuge. Give them fellowship, so that we become a
witness for the presence of God with them.
It is faith in action. It
involves a preferential option for the neglected and the exploited. Universal dimension of mission is not just to
be equated with geographical universalism.
It involves preferential option for the socially, politically,
economically, gender wise and other criterion wise marginalized areas. When God is with them, they are brought to
the center, because where God is, there is the center of the Kingdom of
God. Here the center is not a static
reality, but a dynamic reality. Mission
is to make God experiential to those who are at the margins, so that
distinction between center and margins wither away and the center becomes a
dynamic reality.
Rev. Dr. Sunni E. Mathew