The Task Unfinished

Communion Meditation – February 2024

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.   Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:   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.

Matthew 28:18-20

Before He ascended to be with His Father, Christ gave His disciples their marching orders: to make disciples from all nations. This task has something of the military objective to it. It was a tall order, and from a human perspective one could easily see how a journalist living 2000 years ago would have thought the whole thing a big joke. After all, the Christian army consisted of fishermen, tax collectors, and women. No funding. No army. No existing institutions.

The logistics for launching such a mission would have been incredible: how would they be equipped? How would they be fed? How could such an army be sustained? The odds against Christianity surviving even a generation would have been massive.

But fast forward 2000 years and you won’t find any doubters. Not to say that the mission is complete: we still face a task unfinished. And scoffers and doubters still abound who think that the Church is on the verge of collapse. But what no one can deny is that against all odds, Christ has sustained His Christian soldiers and they have marched onwards, taking the news to every land, wafting it on the rolling tide, singing above the battle strife, and preaching to sinners far and wide that Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves.

God fed the children of Israel for 40 years in the wilderness by giving them manna from heaven. Christ blessed a boy’s sack lunch and fed over 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 little fish. But for His Church, Christ gives us Himself. He feeds us and fills us. He is the Bread that came down from Heaven, and there is plenty to go around. Be it 5000 or 5 million, He is enough for everyone who sits at His table. So come, let us gather around the table again and let the Captain feed us, love us, and strengthen us for the task unfinished.