As we continue our series So Send I You, that may be Luke’s purpose, but, remember, we are not in Luke’s gospel in this week’s reading. We are in John’s, and John’s gospel has its own take on why Jesus was sent:
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save theworld through him.” (John 3:17)
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This is Part 3 of So Send I You
(Read this series from the beginning at Part 1 and Part 2.)
For John, Jesus’ focus was not to condemn, but to save. Yet I can’t ignore the strong words in John’s commission that if the disciples forgave anyone’s sins, they would be forgiven. And if they chose not to forgive, that person’s sins would not be forgiven.
The power of condemnation and forgiveness has both blessed people and also been a source of abuse from Christian leaders. I can’t help but think of how many times tortured souls have received peace from hearing from a church leader that where sin abounds grace does much more abound. I also can’t help but think of all those who have been hurt and think God hates them because of the way they were shunned, censored, abused, or excommunicated by the church. And I’m thinking of those who have deeply betrayed, defrauded, or abused others in the church and then stood by church leaders who prioritized oppressors and abusers rather than victims and survivors. Would that these words in John did not exist. But they do.
The reality is that those who bear Jesus’ name in the world often represent him to those around them whether they want this burden or not. Over the last four decades, so many evangelicals have embraced a politics of harm rather than one of diversity and inclusion and a politics of retribution rather than a politics of compassion in the public sphere. (I know it goes back much much further but I’ve only been cognizant of it for that long.) Today some people can’t stomach even hearing the name Jesus, and it’s not because of the Jesus in the story was so horrible. The Jesus in the story was awesome. He was all about diversity, equity, and inclusion in his time and culture. He was about justice and standing up for the marginalized, outcast, and oppressed. People recoil even at the sound of Jesus because of the meanings Christians have associated with Jesus today.
As Jesus was sent into our world, so we Christians have been sent too. But our sending hasn’t born the same fruit. Rather than standing up to the injustices of the elite and powerful in solidarity with the marginalized, we have too often allowed our religion, like others, to be coopted by those standing behind the wheels of injustice and abuse of rights. How any Christian could support the things we are witnessing transpiring every day around us here in the U.S., I will never understand. And yet, this is our reality.
This Easter season, let’s take a moment to reflect, to take some personal inventory. As the Father has sent Jesus, Jesus said, “So send I you.” What is the fruit our presence bears in our world? Is our presence life giving or death dealing? Are we part of the movement in our time toward a safer, more compassionate, just society or away from it? Are we working to ensure our world is a safe home for everyone, or just those who are like ourselves?
We may have been sent by Jesus as he was sent. But it’s up to us to make sure we are following Jesus’ example in the kind of impact we have in our world.
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