Participating in the Missio Dei | Part 7

In part 6 of our series, we began looking at what Jesus was doing in his mission of restoring and renewing Israel. Jesus’s purpose was to gather Israel and restore her to fulfill its unique role in history: to bring salvation to the nations. The way Jesus begins to do this is to first choose twelve disciples as a prophetic action of this mission. The twelve disciples will be Jesus’ pupils but will also represent the twelve restored tribes of Israel. This symbolism signifies that God’s gathering of Israel for the sake of the nations has begun.

Jesus intentionally shows the twelve disciples their role (and the role of Israel!) in terms of Old Testament images that bring to mind Israel’s original mission. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where he refers to the promise that the nations would flock to Jerusalem, he says:

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14–16).

Jesus clearly aims to bring Israel to its original calling: to be a light to the nations. For Jesus to restore his people to this calling, he announces God’s coming kingdom and urges women and men everywhere to repent of their sins, believe in him, and follow his ways. Those who respond to Jesus become a part of God’s new community called to live in the grace and obedience that marks God’s kingdom people.

Jesus’ call to his listeners to “repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15) is essential to highlight. The Old Testament shapes this call to repent. Again and again, we see Israel called to return to God (see Deuteronomy 30:2; Hosea 14:1-2; Zechariah 1:3). Jesus takes this call and urges Israel to turn from their idolatrous ways and return to the Lord with all their hearts, committing to following all of his ways. Part of this repentance for Israel is to forsake their bent toward nationalism and to take up their role as a light to the nations, a missionary people. But the most memorable part of Jesus’ call to repentance is that he calls Israel to return to God by committing themselves with allegiance and loyalty to Jesus himself! The call was repentance accompanied by faith, believing Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus’ announcement of the kingdom was thus a clarion call for the radical reorientation of one’s life to Jesus. To enter the kingdom of God was to give up all other worldly responsibilities (Luke 9:57-62), love Jesus more than others (Matthew 10:34-39), and consider Jesus and his kingdom as the greatest treasure one could have (Matthew 13:44-46). Jesus gets to the heart of what allegiance to him requires when he tells his disciples:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:23-26).

For Israel to take up its call to be a light to the nations, it must repent, believe the gospel, and follow Jesus. Yet, how can Israel live up to its God-given mission when it has failed significantly in the past? To that question, we’ll turn next time.

–Wade