Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
After being interviewed by the school administrator, the prospective teacher said, “Let me see if I’ve got this right. You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their t-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs & STD’s, and raise their self-esteem and personal pride. You want me to teach them good citizenship and patriotism, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. You me want to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass exams. You want me to do this all this with a dry-erase board and markers, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps. You want me to do all this and then you tell me…’I CAN’T PRAY?”
This against all odds feeling translates well to what the disciples must have been thinking and feeling as Jesus prepares to ascend into the heavens. Maybe it went something like, “Let me see if we’ve got this right. You want us to go out into that Roman world full of barbarians, idols, and slavery, and tell them they need to repent. You want us to tell them that after being crucified that you were resurrected from the dead. That you’re not here now because you are up in heaven rooting us on. And you want us to start this worldwide evangelism campaign in Jerusalem, where you were killed by the powers that be, and spread our operation to cover the globe. You want us to do all this with some second-career fishermen, a couple of extra women, a bible of promises, and with a heart of joy. While you ascend to glory we have to stay here and probably be martyred. No wonder you tell us we have to pray.
Of the four gospels, Luke is the most user-friendly and well written. He is both a gifted story-teller and a concise narrator. In his introduction, Luke sets up his own clear report surrounding Jesus with phrases like investigated everything, orderly account, were eyewitnesses, and stewards of the Word. Luke addresses his gospel to the mysterious Theophilus that means “friend of God”. Scholars speculate that Theophilus could be an imaginary inquirer/generic Gentile who Luke targets for evangelism. He might be a Roman citizen or wealthy patron who is in the church. Some suggest Luke is trying to prime the financial stewardship pump as we are.
One thing is for sure, his gospel includes stories, that the other gospels do not, that explain why some believe Luke was a physician, a healer by profession. Stories like the thief on the cross who is shocked to discover to find out he has a ticket to heaven after all. The prostitute who after anointing his feet, Jesus promises her act of love will always be remembered. Luke alone gives us the Prodigal Son who comes stumbling home bleary-eyed and broke. Stunned by his father leaping off his porch rocker, racing down the road to embrace, restore, claim his beloved son.
Luke tells us Jesus is big on prayer. Jesus prays at his baptism, after healing the leper, in Gethsemane, even on the cross, “Into your hands, I commend my spirit.”
In fact, before Jesus sends them out post-resurrection to be his witnesses he says that they must wait and pray so they are fully equipped to go and tell the story. Luke makes sure that nobody misses the point that Jesus was always stewing about the needs of the poor. Luke includes some harsh parables that come right out and say that if the haves don’t do their share to help the have-nots they better watch out.
Luke’s content- personal stories and unruly parables go with Luke’s stress on prayer and helping the poor. Luke was an evangelist and he writes to help us be evangelists as well. To be an evangelist simply means to be one who shares the good news. Most of us are more comfortable with reaching out than we are evangelism. Whatever you call it, there are two elements of reaching out, the two hands of evangelism. With one hand we fulfill the command love our neighbor with acts of mercy and generosity. At Vinland, my sense we are generous both inside and outside the general budget. We support ministries financially, volunteer at Martha Mary and with Habitat, youth serve on mission trips, Good Sam reaches out, and Living Stones.
The other side of the evangelism equation we need some work. Sharing your faith and testifying to the good news fulfills Jesus’ the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples”. We are God’s witnesses and we all have a Theophilus or two in our own network of relationships. There is no doubt, reaching out is hard to do for us. Someone gave me an article entitled, “Do Lutherans Hate Evangelism?” One pastor is quoted, “I don’t know if we dislike evangelism or whether we don’t have a clear biblical perspective of what evangelism is. It’s about being who we are. For most Lutherans, talking about ourselves or our faith doesn’t come naturally.” One Bishop commented, “We have always been a little embarrassed at talking about God’s grace, and we are not as active as we should be in reaching out to others. One woman told me, ‘If I need bus fare, I go to the Lutherans. If I need Jesus I go to the Pentecostals.’ I’m not saying aggressively sell Jesus as a product that saves. But, we Lutherans need to be confident in sharing God’s grace in our stories.”
A colleague told me his experience of launching a new mission church. What a daunting task! Yet, he clearly relished the experience. It was eighteen months in development and very much rolling the dice for the sake of evangelism. Everyone and everything was new so it was exciting. He recruited a core of willing participants from a couple of partner churches. He built and trained them into teams; worship leaders, education, set-up/teardown, Mr. Fix-it ministry. Recruits were instructed to avoid asking certain clumsy questions of visitors, “Are you new? Everyone was new here and “If you should die tonight how do you know you’d go to heaven?”
The idea is they would work themselves out of a job but all the people had so much fun they stayed. They met at the local VFW hall. Challenging space with pictures of battleships and veterans, American flags everywhere. Plus, they had to stay very portable, set up/tear down every week. Two weeks before the launch they had a full dress rehearsal to make sure they were ready to reach out. I asked him what they learned about evangelism. He said that we tend to fear the unknown and we fear expressing our personal faith. But, with a mission it helped that everyone was a beginner. The group purpose was clear- pulling in the same evangelical direction.
Maybe that is what we amateur evangelists and rookies at reaching out need to know. Like the disciples, we fear the unknown, wonder why Jesus doesn’t do his own dirty work, are afraid we will ask a dumb question while we try to reach out.
Yet this is an imperative from Jesus, share the good news, generously and verbally. To assist you in this task of telling the story, we have passed along brochures that highlight service and worship, outreach and opportunities to invite others to Vinland. For some of us, this may be a daunting task. For others, they are naturals. What I want to say is that we all have a story to tell. A story of God’s love in our own life.
A friend here at church passed along this story. Last year my grandmother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She and I had never been very close, but had an amiable relationship. We visited her in the summer and tried to make the most of the visit. She had come to grips with her illness, but it was hard for her to say things that needed to be said. As time passed, it became apparent through conversation with my dad that my grandmother had never accepted Christ into her life. More than her illness or her impending death, her lack of faith made me very sad. I started exchanging letters with her in the fall. She and I wrote back and forth a few times. Finally, I wrote the letter that I had been waiting to write. I wrote to her about my faith and Christ’ love for her. Her illness worsened in the weeks after she received my letter. She died on Christmas Day. I felt great solace in knowing I had shared with her the most precious thing I could have at that point in my life.
What a story we have to tell! Christ was born on Christmas in a barn, God lived and healed among us, Jesus died for the sins of the world, and was raised from the dead. At some point, the gospel story has intersected our story. The life of faith is not just about our own private pilgrimage. It is about becoming agents of God’s new world, workers for justice, explorers of spirituality, creators of beauty, makers and menders of relationships. That’s a lot of stewardship stuff for us to administer. We had better pray. But, remember God will do all the God stuff ; creating, calling, judging, forgiving, providing, saving, blessing, and resurrecting. Our work is to love people, pray non-stop, give generously, do justice, worship faithfully, tell the story.
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