Character in a Crisis: Mission

This week is what Christians all over the world call Holy Week—the week leading up to Easter when we celebrate a risen Christ. As I read the story of Jesus’s last gathering with his disciples, I was struck by the character traits that Jesus emulated. Traits that allowed him to step toward the cross and purchase our redemption.

It couldn’t have been easy, he knew what awaited him, yet he walked with one purpose: to fulfill the call of God and bring eternal life. 

This week, I want to look a little more closely at the character of Christ as he walked through his own crisis, in hopes that it will help us walk through what is surely our collective time of crisis in the world.

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Mission: John 13:21-35

In the last hours of Jesus’s life, we see a man who stayed on mission. He was clear about his purpose: to glorify God (John 13:31). And he was clear about his disciples’ purpose: to show the world the love of God (John 13:35).

In this section of John’s gospel, Jesus confronts Judas, whom Jesus already knows will betray him. It’s an even more intimate scene within an already intimate dinner party. Jesus knows that Judas’s actions will lead him to death, but he tells him to go do what he’s going to do and to get it done quickly.

Despite the betrayal, Jesus does not change course. In John 14:2, Jesus tells his disciples that he’s going to prepare a place for them (and for us!). He knows his purpose and stays on course.

What is your purpose in this time of crisis?

Maybe you still have a job to do, only you’re doing it from home. Maybe you still have a family to care for and kids to homeschool (for now). Maybe you’re still trying to figure out your purpose in all of this. 

It’s a confusing time, and I imagine it can be easy to lose our bearings right now. But may I encourage you to keep going? Our purpose may have changed a little, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still have kingdom work to do.

Just as Jesus stayed the course, we can too. We can still serve. We can still encourage. We can still love. 

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9