Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

John 20:21-23

Why exactly I chose to have these three verses only for a post is actually beyond me. There’s basically a can of worms for each verse, if you choose to go there.

Can 1: So if the Father sent Jesus, did Jesus have a choice to go to the cross? If he didn’t, is this divine murder?

Can 2: Is Jesus giving the disciples the Holy Spirit here? Don’t they have to wait until Pentecost? Why is there a double handout? (And spoiler alert for tomorrow, Thomas wasn’t there. Did he have less spirit?)

Can 3: Isn’t God the only one who can forgive sins?

Because this is a 500-word blog post and not a commentary, I’m not going to answer those questions. Personally, I don’t think the passage is as problematic as some might make it. Still, it needs to be acknowledged that there are plenty of times when Jesus says things and if we stop to read them again, we’re left thinking “What the what?”

It’s probably a good thing that we’re left scratching our heads sometimes. It’s better than skimming over it and not taking Jesus’ words to heart and thinking them through carefully.

But I’m going to zoom out onto a wider scale instead. I’m going to zoom out to what Jesus is doing in this passage, big picture: a mini commissioning.

I am sending you…  Jesus says to his disciples.

Jesus sent the disciples first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. That was their mission.

Jesus has not changed since that time. He still sends people on missions. Missions and Commissions.

This is the God of the Bible. He’s a missionary God.

So, therefore, it seems logical to assume that his people today are called to be on mission.

No question about it.

The actual question is – where? Where is God sending his people for mission? Where is he sending me?

Because there’s plenty of places he could send you.

Some are called to workplaces outside of the church. Some are called to work for the church. Some are called overseas. Others work, teaching in Bible Colleges. Still others…

Wherever we are called to be, we can trust that there is a God overseeing the mission he has sent us on.      

And he knows where he is sending us, even if we don’t. And if we don’t know where we’re being sent…

We only have to ask.

Yours with some questions and answers,

Alison