“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16 ESV
Reflection: who is Jesus commanding to proclaim the gospel?
One thing I find strange but true in life is that most things we want to accomplish is just pending a decision to do it. We literally have to decide to do it. You might have heard me mention before the example of Sir Hillary, who was the first to figure out how to climb to the top of Mt. Everest. And when asked about why he wanted to climb this “impossible” mountain, his response was simply “because it’s there”. Now, many had tried before, didn’t make it. But the mountain never changed; it was the decisions of people that did, that finally conquered it. Most of us don’t have to face climbing Mount Everest. But, whatever we want to achieve in life, we have to first decide to do it. Which means, we have to believe we can do it. Going to college to get a degree. Getting a new job. Learning how to sail. Traveling to a foreign country. Take your pick.
It starts with a decision, long before we know how to do it.
When you think about it, this is basically the definition of faith and we exercise faith all the time in our daily lives. The decision to do something we don’t know yet is true for most things; within some limitations. But, as we know many of our limitations are self imposed. We have just learned about how frustrated Jesus was with His disciples and followers, that they had not believed His words. And after multiple ways of telling them, He shows up before them all, as we read in the other gospels with the proclamation “Shalom”, which basically means the peace of God be with you. But, we also read in Mark that Jesus was very frustrated with them, rebuked the disciples and followers for their unbelief. After which, we read something rather strange. Jesus gives them a command. He first recognized that they did not have much faith in Him, in what He had already told them; yet, He says “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel”.
There is perhaps a deep lesson here that Jesus is first teaching the disciples, but also us, about how faith works. Notice that Jesus didn’t say to them to first build your faith and then go. It is almost the other way around. Go, proclaim the gospel, then your faith will grow. Let’s read this in context. “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”” Mark 16:15-18 ESV. Notice here that Jesus didn’t say, you need to first go to seminary, to become a priest or pastor before you can preach and proclaim the gospel. It is a command to go, to a bunch of unschooled tradesmen. Notice also that Jesus says “signs will follow the believers”. Follow what? Follow faith, which again is simply taking a step into something we don’t necessarily understand, but we decide to do.
Jesus commands us all to go.
To proclaim the gospel. A dear brother came to me a couple of days ago, to ask for prayer. The Holy Spirit had put it on his heart to go share the gospel with a friend who had not yet accepted the Lord, and was dying. His concern was naturally about what to say to them in such a situation. But, he had already decided to go, regardless of whether he knew what to say. My brother had exactly the right idea here, and I believe this is where the Lord wants us. Not with a ton of knowledge; which can help or hurt us. But Jesus tells us to go, in faith. To proclaim the gospel. And, He will direct our steps and our words.
We have come to the end of the book of Mark, and we are left with the last command Jesus gave, so let’s take Him at His word. Let’s proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever we go. So what does Jesus command look like for you? Standing on a street corner? Talking in your neighborhood? To your unbelieving colleagues? To your unbelieving family and friends? If you find it difficult to proclaim the gospel, perhaps start with a simple, small step. One suggestion is to simply forward these devotionals.
