THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605180039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: ISSUES OF FAITH
SOURCE: BETSY WRIGHT
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
WHEN Christians justify their missionary activity, proselytizing and evangelism, they usually point to one thing: the Great Commission.
Other than the two great commandments - love God and love your neighbor as yourself - the Great Commission is Jesus' most important mandate to his followers. It is also the mandate that has caused the greatest amount of turmoil and division amongst his followers, as well as the mandate that has caused some Christians to do harm to non-Christians.
Found at the end of all four Gospels, the Great Commission is Jesus Christ's instructions to his disciples to go into the world, tell his story and be witnesses of the power of the Gospel message. The best known of the four versions of the Great Commission is found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28:18-20:
``And Jesus came and said to them, `All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of (or ``in'') 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 that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.''
The Gospel of Luke tells how the risen Christ appears to the disciples, and in explaining Scripture, says, ``Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things . . . ''
The Gospel of John, considered the least historical of the Gospels, gives two versions of the great commission. An allegorical version has the risen Christ asking Simon Peter to ``Feed my lambs,'' ``Tend my sheep'' and ``Feed my sheep.'' In an earlier verse, Jesus appears before the disciples and says ``As the Father has sent me, so I send you.''
Note that in all these versions, Jesus is simply asking his disciples to go into the world and tell the Gospel story. When they find believers, they are to baptize and forgive in his name, and they are to teach new believers Jesus' commandments, which he had earlier summarized as loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Nowhere in these three versions is there condemnation for non-believers.
That comes in the Gospel of Mark. The first of the surviving Gospels to be written, Mark was penned about 40 years after Jesus' death. It is in Mark that readers find what I consider to be the most violent form of the Great Commission, appearing in Chapter 16:15-18.
According to the Gospel of Mark, in verses 15 and 16, Jesus says: ``Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be damned.''
Pretty blunt, huh? Only one problem. Jesus never said it. The earliest copies of the original manuscript for the Gospel of Mark all end chapter 16 with verse 8. Verses 9 through 20, in no less than three different forms, were added about 100 years after the Gospel was written.
So why were these words attributed to Jesus? Politics, baby. The early church wanted converts. What better way than to convince folks that Jesus says, ``If you join, you live forever. If you don't, you die and go to hell.''
Coercion - either physical or psychological - can be a great motivator. What it motivates, however, is not faith, but fear and hypocrisy. It is my personal belief that the power of the Gospel does not lie in coercion, nor does it lie in manipulation or deceit.
The power of the Gospel lies in its message of love. God loves us. God wants our love. God wants us to love each other. It is that simple.
Some today believe we need a new interpretation of the Great Commission. I don't buy it, mainly because I do buy the Gospel message. The world needs Jesus' message of compassion, selfless love, service to humanity, grace, mercy, hope and peace.
How should Christians ``witness'' the Gospel message? The ways are many and each Christian must answer this personally.
How do I do it? I live life joyfully. I tell folks, ``I'll say a prayer for you,'' and then do it. I find opportunities to talk about Jesus and what his Gospel message means to me. I try not to preach the Jesus thing, but to live it. I show respect and listen to others, Christian or non-Christian, taking joy in their messages of faith.
And then I do the toughest thing of all.
I leave that ``witness'' behind, and trust God to do with it what God wants of it. MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to her
opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The Virginian-Pilot,
150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510; call (804) 446-2273; FAX
(804) 436-2798; or send computer message via bmw(AT)infi.net. Deadline
is Tuesday prior to publication. Must include name, city and phone
number. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
COLUMNIST'S NOTE
This column is exploring varied Issues of Faith, all through the
prism of the concept of salvation. This is not an attempt to turn
this column into a purely Christian column. This is instead an
attempt to get at the heart of that thing which influences
Christians to treat non-Christians with either love and
understanding or with hate and vengeance.
by CNB