Another Great Commission

Although we give the title "The Great Commission" to Jesus' instruction to the disciples at the end of Matthew, in reality all four gospels end with and the book of Acts begins with our Lord's command to evangelize the world.  In the past few days we have considered three of these passages (Matthew, Acts, and John) for any insights we need especially to ponder.  Today, I wish to look at Mark's version of the GC:  "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (16:15 NIV).

Rather than focus on the actions (go, preach) or the objects (all the world, all creation) -- both subjects  worthy of further contemplation -- what has captured my attention is "the good news."  Currently, there is much discussion among evangelical scholars about the exact nature of the gospel.  But Jesus did not tell us to debate the gospel but to proclaim it like the angels did at His birth (Luke 2:10).  Indeed, if we truly grasp the significance of what Jesus has done for us and to us, we will be as unable to stop talking about it as the shepherds were or the woman at the well and blind Bartimaeus were (John 4, Luke 18), or the apostles were after the day of Pentecost: "we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20 NIV).

It is human nature to talk about what we are excited or passionate about.  No one twists our arms to get us to talk about our grandchildren.  You don't have to be around a man long before you will know his favorite sport or team.  Casual eavesdropping on students will soon reveal their current boy/girl friend, their favorite music, or the latest app for their smartphone.  We have no trouble working our latest discoveries or advances into the conversation.  If we are excited about Jesus, we don't need any prompting to talk about Him, especially with someone who does not know Him like we do.

Perhaps we need to pray today about being more obedient to share the gospel.  Perhaps we need to pray about finding those who have yet to hear what we have heard.  Or perhaps we need to pray for renewal of our relationship with Jesus, a renewal that will have us unable to resist the impulse to talk about Him.  He is the good news.