Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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 Multitude- The Ability and Availability for Mission.


St. Matthew 15:29-31
“Large crowds came to him,…he healed them. The people were amazed…and they praised the God of Israel.”( St.Matthew 15:30,31)
Political correctness is the transformation of understanding that we have in our day-to-day life, which ensures that; our words and deeds are not excluding or humiliating anyone in any means. The Christian understanding towards Differently abled had over time changed and transformed in a sense that; they are recognized as abled people and not as anyone with limitations. Here we see Jesus and his public ministry opening up the public spaces towards the differently-abled people of those times, which were socially and culturally excluded in many manners. Here the ministry of Jesus Christ is becoming the tool of political correctness in the context of Roman Empire and Judaistic religious extremism. From the Mediterranean towns of Phoenicia, Jesus returned to the region around the Sea of Galilee and then continued on into the Decapolis, where the population was largely Gentile. It seems that for a period his ministry was mainly among Gentiles, and many became believers in the God of Israel (Matthew 15:29-31; Mark 7:31). One of the people he healed was a deaf and dumb man. Because of the man’s deafness, Jesus used actions rather than words to ensure that the man’s faith was active and that he understood Jesus’ actions (Mark 7:32-37). Again Jesus had compassion when he saw a multitude of hungry people around him and he decided to feed them. On the previous occasion the crowd consisted largely of Jews (see John 6:14-15), but on this occasion, it probably consisted largely of Gentiles. That may have been why the disciples doubted whether Jesus would use his power to feed them (Matthew 15:32-33; Mark 8:1-4). But he fed them as miraculously as he had the Jews (Matthew 15:34-39; Mark 8:5-10). Here the multitude, to whom Jesus was engaging, was the excluded community of people, particularly gentiles; because of their physical limitations caused by their various diseases or stigma towards that particular group of people. In a time when we engage with multiplicity, multitude, and mission; we can evidently observe the missionary zeal of Jesus Christ towards the multitude of his times. The reference to the people glorifying "the God of Israel" is one clue that the people were mainly Gentiles. They saw a connection between Jesus and the God of Israel. The Decapolis region east of the Sea of Galilee was strongly Gentile in population. Identifying the multitude through life engaging mission was the ministry delivered by Jesus to the people who were living in their disabilities. Jesus’ Empathetic engagements towards the multitude ensure ability as their liberation in their times. This enacts the Nazareth manifesto as Christ declared it in the synagogue (Luke18-20). When we identify the multitude of people who are in need and disabilities around us, we will witness our God as the life-engaging God of Israel in our times. It will transform the disabilities of the multitude into a community of abled people of cooperation and commitment towards each other. Our mission as a faith community is to identify the people, who are the multitude excluded in our life arenas. Identifying with the multitude is witnessing the living God. This was the model of ministry that Jesus enacted for us. Here we see that people are bringing those who are weak towards Jesus Christ. People’s participation in defining the ministry towards the multitude. It means multitudes of people with their own limitations are identifying each “other” as their own “brother”. Looking after each other and towards their needs, they are realizing the purpose of their life. This transformation of purpose and participation in life-engaging actions is happening in the presence of Christ. Thus as Christ identifies with his mission towards the multitude, the multitude is identifying towards the mission of Christ by being with the people.  Hence, the ministry of Christ is becoming a liberating act for the multitude and by the multitude. As a church let us all submit ourselves to be the participatory agents of missionary liberation by being the multitude and being for the multitude.
 
Prayer
 Gracious God, help us to find the ability in all limitations and transform us to identify the mission around us by being the part and parcel of the multitude of our times. Help us to engage in the world as Jesus did, and enable us to share your mission of love and care. Amen.


Rev.Jibin Mathew Joy
Assistant Missionary
Narasapuram and Allagadda Mission

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