Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Listen to the Word

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:18-20)

Jesus calls us to make disciples of all nations. The word translated “nations” is the Greek word ethne. It is the word from which we get our word “ethnic.” He literally commands us to make disciples of all people groups. Jesus doesn’t say, “Peter, James, and John – go share with people like you. Go and make disciples of as many male Jewish fishermen as you can." No – he sends them, and us, to every tribe, every nation, every people, every language. Our world is full of barriers erected according to financial status or skin color or age or any other dividing line we can invent. Christ obliterates those barriers. In him, there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female (Galatians 3:28). All kinds of people are welcome with Jesus – rich and poor, nice and nasty. He reached out to all, and he calls us to reach out to all.

Live the Word

Keep your eyes open today for an opportunity to show kindness to someone who is different from you, and take advantage of that opportunity when it presents itself.