BACK TO THE CROSS

Sunday: 27th May, 2018

Reference text: Matthew 28:16-20

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

When we take a look at the concluding words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew and take into account the many words He spoke to the disciples, one would expect them to throw their hands up in exasperation and do nothing. This is because to teach others ‘all the things Jesus commanded’, seems like an impossible task even with the best of minds.

However, as we journey with the Lord through the Gospels, we come to the realisation that the disciples were given only one command to follow – that one command which encompasses all others. In Jesus’ words: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Therefore, the charge that the disciples received was to teach the world what true love is.

Such a ‘simple’ task should be require little motivation to accomplish, but it’s importance causes Jesus to offer His eternal presence as the motivation to spur these disciples on. Hence the question: why was that eternal presence a necessary provision for the mission of teaching his love?

CS Lewis answered this beautifully when he wrote that the words in 1 John 4:8 cannot be reversed since love is empty without the presence of God. Hence his words: ‘God is love, but love is not God’. My dear, we seem to keep on wondering where all the love in the world has gone and one reason we can deduce from the dearth in love is because the presence of the Lord is not being celebrated as much.

Because many fail to acknowledge and recognise His presence and the importance of it, we are also losing sight of what real love is. It’s time to get back to the feet of the cross.

Remember # What we need isn’t more love, but a reminder of what love is.

#sly