Reflecting on Mark 16:9-20
"The Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." (Mark 16:20) This added line confirms what is said elsewhere. The disciples task was to go and to preach (show and share) the good news. It was not their job to perform signs; this was the Lord’s part. It was Jesus, not the disciples, who performed the miracles.
“So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.” (Acts 14:3)
This idea is very encouraging to me.
My job is to serve Jesus humbly and boldly.
Not boasting in my own deeds, not promoting what I can do.
But boasting about Jesus, sharing and showing the goodness of Jesus.
When it says “confirmed His word”, it does not mean the bible.
It is referring specifically to what He came to bring, and what he spoke about,
Luke (in the quote from Acts 14:3) calls it “the message of His grace”.
Jesus came to share and to show grace, and people experienced it.
His word was that God was love, that God did not come to condemn the world.
His word was that He was the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.
And He did this by showing and sharing gracious gracious love.
This is what the whole Law and Prophets hangs on (Matthew 22:40).
Our task then is to demonstrate and declare God’s love in Jesus.
It is not my job to heal people, to multiply loaves, to walk on water.
It is not my job to cast out demons or to raise the dead.
These signs are what the Lord does to confirm our message of grace.
They do not always happen, but sometimes they do.
There are stories from all over the world of times when they do.
Which is wonderful, but they are still just signs, proof, of something greater.
That something greater is the gracious love of God.
God is for us, not against us.
God has overcome sin, Satan and death for us in Jesus.
Nothing can separate us from the gracious love of God in Jesus (Romans 8:39).
Evil cannot overcome us, but we can overcome evil… with good (Romans 12:21).
I am encouraged to know that Jesus has my back.
Jesus works with and through me as I share and show His love.
As I declare and demonstrate the good news of God’s better world.
Currently I am working on a project to get food to Haiti, especially for children.
In God’s better world, all people have access to food, without fear.
In Haiti violence and hunger go hand and hand; this is not God’s will.
I declare God’s better way in Jesus, where everyone is generously blessed.
Where God values people more than the birds of the air and flowers in the field.
Where God steps in to help, and enters their suffering to rescue them.
This project is huge to me, like it was for the disciples then.
It involves raising money, and getting food past the gangs and other hurdles.
This is beyond me, impossible really, but not for Jesus.
He made a way where there was no way, and is still at work doing this.
I definitely need Him to confirm my words and actions with signs.
So far there are some signs of this confirmation.
God and Jesus do care about Haiti, and all other struggling people around the world.
God and Jesus are overcoming evil with good, making this world ‘very good’ again.
But God and Jesus do not do this good work alone.
We need to go out and preach everywhere, we need to be and to bring good news.
This partnership requires us as much as it requires God.
God has called me to Cambridge, and to Haiti, and so I must go.
Jesus is sending me there, but He will also work with me, to confirm His message.
I look forward to sharing how the Lord worked in and through me.
May the Lord’s kingdom come, and will be done here, in Haiti, on earth as in heaven!
May the Lord’s kingdom come, and will be done in and through me, as it is in heaven!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I am going, but I need You with me to confirm Your message. May I see signs that accompany my witness, not for me but so that others may know and experience Your good news for themselves. Please intervene in Haiti, they desperately need Your good news right now!