The passage that headlines this message is taken from the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Luke wrote two books: the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. The first deals with what Jesus did and taught. The second deals with what the Apostles did and taught.
In John’s Gospel upon which we have reflected during the Easter season, Jesus promised that he would not leave us, His Church, as orphans. He promised to send His Spirit so that we might accomplish the mission He gave us, the followers of the Apostles, and that our mission might be fruitful.
What is our Mission as Church?
Put quite simply, it is to make the world a healthy place to live. We generally prefer the word: Salvation. How we do this will always be a kind of mystery. All of life is a mystery. As is said: Life is a mystery to be lived. Some people want satisfying clearcut answers to everything. The Apostles did not have any such answers as Jesus left the face of the earth. That is why we hear as the last question they ask Him: “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom of Isreal?”
In order to understand the question, we need to know some of the Old Testament story. During what is considered as their glory days of some 500 years, Israel was an earthly kingdom. We might recall the Kingship of David and Solomon. Jesus had already given the answer as He was on trial before Pilate when He said: “My kingdom is not of this world.”
Evangelizing the Culture
Jesus came to teach us how to live in this world so that we might be free. His way to realize that freedom is not through force (mititary might) but through love. This Gospel style of living that He taught is life-giving. We settle for what is the culture or way of living of the time and place where we live. As witnesses of the Lord, we are to evangelize our culture. That is our job description as Christians.
How is this done? We are to study, to pray, and to suffer. If we do our job, our culture will be healthy; if not, it will continue to be sick. Issues such as forms of government as well as styles of marriage and others related to a free and healthy person as well as society require study, suffering, and prayer. We ought never lose sight of our goal, i.e., to live freely in a healthy world.
That goal will never be fully realized in this world. Jesus did not realize it before He left. He did His best and left the rest for us, His followers, to accomplish. The Good News is that He continues to love us even when we make mistaken decisions on how we do or do not do our Mission. That love will be with us always. Since love is what we all seek, is this truly nothing other than Good News?
We call it Gospel!