Nougat 11

Most of us are familiar with the Great Commission of Matthew 28. But do we recall Jesus’ directions to the disciples at their ‘work experience’ commissioning? Consider Today’s Holy Nougat

“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭8‬ ‭NRSV‬‬

Receiving, Giving and Affirmation

Commissioning someone usually entails publicly conferred duties and responsibility on them. This is what Jesus did with those disciples. They had been His understudies for some time, and one could say it was time for their practical engagement. Their task wasn’t completely simple: they only had to cleanse the lepers (by restoring them to wholeness and community), do a few exorcisms and resurrections, and of course heal people. Emm … yes Lord.

Jesus didn’t just send them out without encouragement. He assured them that they had something to offer. He reminded them that what they had was offered freely to them, so they should not peddle their gifts. That is, they had received both the power and authority to demonstrate the wonders of God’s grace out in the communities – for free!

And in every Gospel that included this commissioning, they did as much. Jesus obviously had not demanded the impossible.

The Great Commission tells us Jesus has final authority, we know they were authorized to use Jesus’ power. So we ought not be surprised that there is a similar expectation for each of us. At the time of accepting Jesus as Lord of our lives, we received blessings of Salvation, Eternal Life and God’s Spirit. Shouldn’t there be an expectation that we will give freely from that which we have received?

Yet, most of us seen to sit on the Gifts of God’s Spirit. We wait for charlatans, televangelists and some genuine ‘ordinary’ preacher to do their work and ours, while the world dies. We have, for the most part, opted to minimise the value of spiritual gifts, despite the teachings on same in Acts and the Epistles.

We have freely received the gifts of God’s Spirit, let us ensure that we give of them to others freely.

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May all we seek be found in Christ