CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
Proclaiming the Kingdom of the
Father: Mission as Faith in Action
WE BEGIN with what Mark calls "the beginning of the gospel." Jesus came into Galilee "announcing the good news of God and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, the reign of God is at hand: repent and believe the good news' " (Mark 1:14-15 ).
The announcement concerns the reign of God - God who is the creator, upholder, and consummator of all that is. We are not talking about one sector of human affairs, one strand out of the whole fabric of world history; we are talking about the reign and the sovereignty of God over all that is, and therefore we are talking about the origin, meaning, and end of the universe and of all human history within the history of the universe. We are not dealing with a local and temporary disturbance in the current of cosmic happenings. but with the source and goal of the cosmos. That is why it was inevitable that the answering of the question "Who is Jesus?" forced the writers of the New Testament further and further hack. As a missionary trying to introduce the name of Jesus to those who do not know it. I have always been perplexed by the question of where to begin. Mark begins with the baptism of John; Matthew, with Abraham; and Luke, with Adam. But the writer of the prologue to the fourth Gospel is compelled to press still further back and to introduce Jesus as the one who was with God and was God from the beginning, the Word through whom all things were made.
The Bible is unique among the sacred books of the world's religions in that it is in structure a history of the cosmos. It claims to show us the shape, the structure, the origin, and the goal not merely of human history, but of cosmic history. It does not accept a view of nature as simply the arena upon which the drama of human history is played out. Much less does it seek the secret of the individual's true being within the self - a self for which the public history of the world can have no ultimate significance. Rather it sees the history of the nations and the history of nature within the large framework of God's history - the carrying forward to its completion of the gracious propose that has its source in the love of the Father for the Son in the unity of the Spirit. The first announcement of the good news that the reign of God is at hand can be understood only in the context of this biblical sketch of a universal history. The reign of God is his reign over all things.
But if the Bible is in form a universal history, it is at once clear that it has a very special structure. All history is written by a process of selection and omission. What is deemed to be significant for the story as a whole is selected, and the rest is omitted. But the principle of selection in the Bible is clearly different from that employed by a modern historian. Although the perspective is cosmic and universal, at each stage the story proceeds by a process of narrowing. The broad picture is replaced at each stage by a close-up focused on one picture of the whole.
Thus, to begin with the Genesis story of humankind's second start after the disasters of total corruption and the flood, the saga shows us Noah and his family coming out of the ark and receiving the unconditional promise of God's blessing on his whole race and on the physical world. Humankind sets out under the rainbow arch which is the sacrament of the primal covenant with all humankind and with the created world for humanity's sake. Noah is told to be fruitful and multiply and to replenish the earth. Immediately there follows the list of the seventy nations. "the heathen," who are the fruit of the blessing. These "nations" will be in the background of the story that follows, but at the outset we are reminded that their existence is the fruit of God's primal blessing (Gen. 10).
There follows the sad story of the effort of the nations to create their own unity. It is the archetype of all imperial adventures, for "imperialism" is the name we give to programs for human unity other than those initiated by ourselves. Its name is Babel - archetype of megalopolis, of Nineveh and Rome. Its end is disaster and estrangement.
Patiently God makes yet another new beginning. Among the seventy nations the camera focuses on the family of Eber (Gen. 10:25). Among the descendants of Eber, Abraham is chosen to begin the adventure of faith, to get out from his own people, not knowing the end of the road but trusting the one who calls. He is promised the blessing, but it is not only for himself: it is for the nations. He will be the bearer of God's primal promise of blessing for all the nations.
But the narrowing continues. Not all of Abraham's children are chosen to be the bearers of the blessing; Isaac is chosen. Ishmael is not. Among Isaac's sons Jacob, not Esau, is chosen. As the story goes on the narrowing continues. Among the tribes of Israel, Judah is chosen and the rest disappear to the margin of the picture. And within Judah it is only a smaller and smaller remnant that is the bearer of the blessing.
But the rest never disappear wholly from the picture. Those who are chosen to he hearers of a blessing are chosen for the sake of all. The covenant of Noah is not revoked. The promised blessing is, in the end, for all the nations. Abraham, Israel, the tribe of Judah, and the faithful remnant are the chosen bearers of it.
Bearers - not exclusive beneficiaries. There lay the constant temptation. Again and again it had to be said that election is for responsibility, not for privilege. Again and again unfaithful Israel had to be threatened with punishment because it was the elect of God. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (Amos 3:2 -- my italics). The meaning of Israel's election and of its misunderstanding of it is depicted with supreme dramatic power in the story of Jonah, which is perhaps the most moving interpretation of the missionary calling of God's people to he found in the Bible. Jonah (Israel, God's chosen people) is called to go and bear witness in the midst of Nineveh (Babylon, Rome, the pagan world with all its awesome power and wealth). Jonah cannot face the challenge. He seeks to evade it and escape from the pressure of God's calling. He thinks he has succeeded. He sleeps soundly (the church somnolent) while God whips up a raging storm and the pagan soldiers devoutly pray for deliverance. It is the pagans who have to summon Jonah to his prayers. When lots are cast Jonah is forced to confess his guilt. But he also confesses his God -- "the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land." Jonah is ready to pay for his sin with his life, but the conversion of pagan soldiers by this improbable missionary has already begun. They labor to save Jonah and they pray to the Lord. But Jonah must be thrown to the sea. The grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die. The elect must suffer. The church must lose its life.
But out of death there is a resurrection. A penitent and restored Jonah goes to speak God's word to the pagan world, and his obedience is met by a stupendous miracle. There is universal repentance. The pagan world has been humbled. But Jonah is utterly disappointed. The heathen are not to be punished after all. What justice can there be in a world where God is so absurdly generous (cf. Matt. 20:1-16)? What is the point of missions if hell is going to be unnecessary? Jonah is frustrated and angry. He settles himself on the edge of the city (was it -- as a Tamil Christian friend of mine has suggested - the mission compound'?) "to see what would become of the city." And we are left with the picture of Jonah sulking while God pleads with him for Nineveh, that great city with its thousands of innocent babies and its dumb animals - God so tenderly pleading for the pagan world and Jonah so sullenly wrapped up in his own self-pity.
It is Jonah who must take God's message to Nineveh. He is the elect bearer of God's promise of blessing for the nations. No one else can bring the blessing. But the election and the promise are for Nineveh, for the nations, not for Jonah alone. As God's chosen one he must suffer. God will not let him off. But God will also not let him go. For God does not cancel his calling.
If a footnote to the story is allowed, we may take it from another story of a storm at sea, recorded in Acts 27. From the point of view of the story of salvation, it is Paul who is at the center of the story's interest. The rest of the ship's company scarcely interests us. It is Paul who must carry the word of God to Rome. Yet at the height of the storm an angel says to Paul: "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and lo. God has granted you all those who sail with you" (Acts 27:24). God's purpose of blessing has its focus, at the moment, on Paul: but its scope includes all who travel with him.'
The Bible, then, is covered with God's purpose of blessing for all the nations. It is concerned with the completion of God's purpose in the creation of the world and of man within the world. It is not - to put it crudely -- concerned with offering a way of escape for the redeemed soul out of history, but with the action of God to bring history to its true end. The Old Testament therefore is full of visions of a restored humanity living in peace and happiness within a renewed creation. These visions are not of an otherworldly bliss, but of earthly happiness and prosperity (Pss. 82 and 144), of wise and just government, of a renewed nature in which kindness has replaced the law of the jungle (Isa. 1:1-9 ).
But this universal purpose of blessing is not to be effected by means of a universal revelation to all humanity. There is, as we have seen, a process of selection: a few are chosen to he the bearers of the purpose: they are chosen, not for themselves, but the sake of all. The inner logic of this pattern of election - the few on behalf of the many - will be discussed in Chapter 7. Meanwhile we follow the story through the Old Testament with its repeated narrowing of the focus to a smaller and smaller remnant until we reach the moment that is "the beginning of the gospel." the moment when the focus is narrowed down to one who bears the whole purpose of cosmic salvation in his own person and who is hailed as the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased. He, the beloved Son, the chosen one, comes forth to announce that the long-awaited reign of God is at hand.
What does the proclamation mean? The reign of God is not a new "movement" in which those interested may enlist. It is not a cause for support, a cause that might succeed or fail according to the amount of support it attracts. It is. to he precise, the reign of God. the fact that God whom Jesus knows as Father is the sovereign ruler of all peoples and all things. The announcement means that this fact is no longer something remote - far up in the heavens or far away in the future. It is an impending reality, in fact. the one great reality that confronts men and women now with the need for decision.
But in what way has the coming of Jesus brought the reign of God near'? What is the relation of Jesus to the reign'? Is it that he now, as God's anointed. takes control of world events and shapes them to God's will? Does he become the master and manager of the world's affairs on behalf of God? Certainly the "powers of the kingdom" are manifest in him. He does mighty works, which to eyes of faith are signs of the presence of the reign of God (Luke 1 1:14-22). Yet, paradoxically, his calling is to the way of suffering, rejection, and death - to the way of the cross. He hears witness to the presence of the reign of God not by overpowering the forces of evil, but by taking their full weight upon himself. Yet it is in that seeming defeat that victory is won.
Consequently, the reign of God is a reality that can only be announced in parables. It is a "mystery," at once both hidden and revealed: the characteristic language of parable. When asked to explain this he quotes the terrible words with which Isaiah received his commission as a prophet: "Go and say to the people: 'Hear and hear, but do not understand: see and see, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed" (Isa. 6:9-10). Jesus tells his disciples that the secret of the kingdom has been given to them but that to others it will he riddles so that the hardening of the heart of which Isaiah spoke will happen. The principle of election is still at work. A few are called to be bearers of the secret of God's purpose. The announcement of the kingdom will snot of itself automatically open their eyes to its presence, for the reign of God is present under the form not of power, but of weakness. It is strictly a mystery, a reality that remains hidden unless it is revealed by the action of God.
Not only do the words of Jesus have this character of parable, but his works also have the same character. They are signs of the kingdom only to those to whom eyes of faith are given. When John the Baptist sends to ask, "Are you the Coming One or not?" Jesus replies by referring to his deeds of power in language that recalls the prophetic words of Isaiah 35, and he adds, "Blessed is he who takes no offence at me" (Luke 7:23). The mighty works of Jesus do not necessarily manifest the presence of the reign of God. They have the same twoedged character the parables have. They can cause those who hear of them to stumble, or for some - and blessed are these - they can be the occasion of faith.
The supreme parable, the supreme deed by which the reign of God is both revealed and hidden, is the cross. When Israel rejected Jesus' call to repent and believe the good news of the reign of God, there were two roads that (humanly speaking) he might have taken. One would have been to withdraw with his disciples to the desert and there, like the contemporary communities of which we know from the Qumran documents, pray and wait for God's action to establish his reign. The other would have been to take the way of the contemporary "freedom fighters" and seek to establish the messianic order by force. Jesus did neither. He led his disciples right into the Holy City at the season dedicated to the memory of national liberation. He chose a mount, however, that suggested a humble royalty, a kingly meekness, a donkey. He challenged the leaders of the nation at the very center of their power, and he accepted in his own self the full onslaught of the powers that reject the reign of God. Here is the supreme parable: the reign of God hidden and manifest in the dying of a condemned and excommunicated man; the fullness of God's blessing bestowed in the accursed death of the cross. Who could believe this unless it was given to them by an act of God's sovereign grace? To know the power and the wisdom of God in the weakness and foolishness of the cross is not an achievement of ordinary human discernment. It is not the work of "flesh and blood." It is the gift of God to those who are called to receive it (I Cor. 1:24). That the cross is indeed victory and not defeat is made manifest in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is not the reversal of a defeat but the manifestation of a victory. And this manifestation was "not to all the people" but to those "who were chosen by God as witnesses" (Acts 10:41). It is not true, though it is often said, that the risen Jesus manifested himself only to believers. Saul of Tarsus was not a believer. What is true, and it is in line with the consistent teaching of the New Testament, is that the risen Jesus was manifested to those whom God chose - not for themselves, but to be witnesses to all.
The resurrection is, however, more than "the manifestation of a victory." It is this, but it is more. It is the "firstfruits" (I Cor. 15:23) of a harvest that is still to come and that is the end of all God's works, the putting of all things into subjection to God's works, the putting of all things under God's reign. This is the consistent interpretation of the resurrection both in the Epistles and in the Gospels. The manifestations of the risen Christ to his apostles are not only demonstrations of the fact that he is risen; they are also the occasion for pointing the apostles forward toward a task and a promise that lie in the future. They are the assurance that victory has been won and that therefore all nations and all things must be claimed for him who has conquered. The initial announcement of the "good news," namely, that "the reign of God has drawn near," is validated by the resurrection. But the content of the announcement is still a mystery entrusted to a few in order to be communicated to all. The reign of God is both revealed and hidden in the words and works of Jesus and supremely in his cross and resurrection. It has to be proclaimed to all the nations by those to whom its secret has been entrusted.
Let me summarize what has been said up to this point in answer to the question "In what way has Jesus brought the reign of God near?T' Negatively I have said it has not been done by the introduction into history of a power that is manifest to the natural perception of men and women and that will therefore progressively overcome and eliminate the powers that oppose it. Positively I have said that the coming of Jesus has introduced into history an event in which the reign of God is made known under the form of weakness and foolishness to those to whom God has chosen to make it known, and that it is made known to them so it may be proclaimed to all. Because it is the reign of God that is proclaimed, it is the true secret of universal and cosmic history. It is not a program for private deliverance but is the hidden reality by which the public history of humankind is to be understood. The seals that close the scroll of history so that it is hidden from natural human perception have been broken by the slain Lamb who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:1-10). Therefore he, and he alone, can and does reveal its meaning to those whom he chooses. As they follow the Lamb on the way he went, they bear witness to the true meaning of what is happening in the history of the world.
One of the most popular slogans in the missiology of the past decades is "God is at work in the world." It is, in one sense, indisputable. What can and must be disputed is that the apparently successful movements and forces are the work of God. This rests on a view of human affairs that has not taken adequate account of sin. But what also cannot be disputed is that we are required to read "the signs of the times" and to interpret them truly so that we may know how to act rightly. Proclaiming the reign of God over all events and things must involve some kind of interpretation of what is happening in the world, however provisional, modest, and tentative it may be. Unfortunately the history of Christian attempts to discern the signs of the times makes discouraging reading. At many times and places Christians have been sure that the line of God's action was clearly discernible in the growth and influence of the church. in movements of social and political change. These judgments have often been the occasion of shame and embarrassment for Christians of the next generation.
Does the New Testament help us to understand the shape of public events in the light of the proclamation of the kingdom by Jesus? As far as I can see, the answer to this question is to be sought in the so-called apocalypses of the New Testament - the "Little Apocalypse" of Mark 13 and its parallels, and the great Apocalypse that forms the last book of our Bible.
What these apocalyptic passages do is to sketch for us the public history of the world in a form that is shaped by the cross and resurrection of Jesus. Parallel to the repeated assertion that the Son of Man must suffer is the assertion regarding the tribulation of history that "these things must take place" (Mark 13:7). The form of the cross is projected across the picture of world history. It is not to be a smooth story of successful struggle leading directly to victory. Rather it is a story of tribulation and faithful witness, of death and resurrection.
First there is the warning of false messiahs (Mark 13:5-6). For untold ages peoples have accepted their lot as something that cannot be radically changed and have accepted the ancient picture of human affairs as part of the cycle of nature, rising only to fall again, being born only to grow old and die. When the idea of total salvation enters into history this cycle is broken. People begin to dream dreams of a world from which pain, suffering, and injustice have been banished. The vision is created of a single world history leading to a single goal. Politics become messianic. Where the gospel is preached the way is opened for movements offering the hope of total liberation. It is not an accident that in those parts of Asia where Christian penetration has been most thorough. Marxist messianism has also taken root. "Wars and rumors of wars" will be the evidence that the birth pangs of a new age have begun (13:7-8). The world itself will experience the messianic tribulations as a new world struggles to be born. Very specially the church will share their tribulations (13:9). But this very suffering will be the occasion of the Spirit's witness, and this witness must be given to all the nations (13:10-13; cf. John 15:18 and 16:7-15).
The scenario leads on into a still more dreadful crisis where evil enthrones itself in the very city of holiness (Mark 13:14-23), and through the dissolution of the natural order itself (13:24-31) will come the final triumph of God, which will be an act of pure sovereign power and -race. In his own time and in his own way God will fulfill his purpose. Therefore, those to whom the secret has been disclosed must be ready and watchful, faithful to the commission they have received (13:32-37 ).
It is, no doubt, impossible to say how much, if any, of this passage comes from Jesus himself. In any case its detail reflects the kind of apocalyptic teaching current in some quarters in the time of Jesus and his first disciples. What is important, however, is that we have here an interpretation of coming history that projects forward the proclamation of the kingdom that was the substance of Jesus' message. God's reign is indeed at hand. God is indeed active in history. But his action is hidden within what seems to be its opposite - suffering and tribulation for his people. The secret has been entrusted to those whom God chose. They are to be witnesses of it to all the nations. In fact it will be the Spirit himself who bears this witness in and through the messianic tribulations to which they are called. Their task is to remain faithful to the end. By faith they know that the reign of God has conquered the powers of evil. Their calling is to proclaim that fact to all the nations. They will themselves proclaim it, but even more powerful will be the proclamation of the Spirit, who takes their faithful enduring of rejection as the occasion of his witness.
Mission, seen from this angle, is faith in action. It. is the acting out by proclamation and by endurance, through all the events of history, of the faith that the kingdom of God has drawn near. It is the acting out of the central prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to use: "Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as in heaven."