There is an ancient prayer, “Christ’s Sith of Suffering and Sorrow.” Sith means “journey” I find that description powerful, journey. We like to compartmentalize Jesus’ life into sections, Birth, Childhood, Pre-Ministry, Ministry+Miracles, and then Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection. The truth is that Jesus was always headed to Golgotha, “But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15), “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.
“Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! Father, bring glory to your name.” (John 12:24-28), and “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” (1 Timothy 1:15). The journey of Christ’s suffering began when He left heaven and was born in Bethlehem. The Crown of Thorns was awaiting Him all His life, and the shadow of the cross was upon Him always. For only by dying for all sin on a cross: God becoming mortal man could he cover sin for eternity as the eternal God and die to make the sacrifice by becoming weak flesh like us! All this to make peace and reconcile us by His cross, “through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:20).
We too are on a journey as sojourners and pilgrims in this world, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles (pilgrims) to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11), “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come,” (Hebrews 13:14), and “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Our Lord Jesus told us that we would follow in His footsteps, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first,” (John 15:18) and “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” (Luke 9:23-25). While our journey is not to do the great work of salvation our Lord did, we are suppose to share it! To preach the gospel and make disciples (Matthew 28:19), to tell people about The Journey of Jesus and His Passion. In this sense we participate, we retell His journey and that it continued because He is alive and with us! Our great mission in this world is to know Jesus and mirror his cross: we share with people what happened for them at calvary and the empty tomb. This is the great calling of every Christian, no matter denomination. Jesus saves, He died for our sins, but people will not know this unless we preach/teach, “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15). That is our calling no matter who we are! To share Jesus’ journey of suffering and salvation, to preach the good news! We each have unique ways to preach this, and unique callings and parts in the kingdom, but we are all called to share the Evangelion, The Testimony of Jesus Christ. Some of us have tracts, some talk to co-workers, some blog, some make YouTube videos, some paint, some write stories with allegories, and etc, what matters is Christ is preached, “The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.” (Philippians 3:15-18).
We have been entrusted with the greatest news, news that saves and reconciles people to God! In this we are ambassadors, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20). What a glorious honor! God wants us to carry His message, if we don’t then people will not know what He did! Yes Jesus does appear to people as He did Paul on the Road to Damascus, but that is special cases and in countries where preaching is not allowed. We should rejoice that during our journey we are to tell The Greatest Journey from Heaven to Bethlehem to Jerusalem and back to Heaven!
People can fall into apathy about being ambassadors, thinking there are plenty to preach, but you are uniquely positioned to share The Testimony of Christ (The Good News) and be His Witness wherever you are. Do not be dissuaded, not all will enter a church, open a Bible, or tune into online preachers, but they may listen to you! Use your unique place in this life to preach, be guided by the Holy Spirt and like St Patrick who saw that water was sacred to the Irish chose to use Baptism as his lead in for the gospel, find what us the unique door Christ can be witnessed through. Look for that unique door and preach in unique method, way, and ability you can! Our testimony matters!, “They triumphed over him (the accuser, Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death,” (Revelation 12:11). Amen.
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