Bloom where you are planted:

Bloom where you are planted: (based on Mark: 6:7-13)
Rev.Sajesh Mathews, Dharma Jyoti Seminary, Haryana

Dr.K.Sarah Nageshwari is a missionary doctor at Bishop Memorial Hospital, Anantnag, Kashmir in India. She was born in a staunch Hindu family where her mother became the first convert, who then dedicated Sarah as a missionary. Dr. Sarah’s life in the mission hospital, especially in Kashmir exposes the boundaries of mission. Though she has faced constantly intense situations in Kashmir from the rioters, she challenged their life by proclaiming the love of Christ among the local communities. Now let us raise a basic question before we reflect up on the text. How do we test one’s faith? Is it in a comfortable arena of life or in a challenging situations where we face lot of crises? It is how the diaspora community respond to the gospel wherever they are sent and planted.

The gospel of Mark Chapter 6: 7-13 is the best example of witnessing Christ in the journey of our life. It illustrates how we need to bloom where we are planted. The text begins with Jesus’ response to people of Nazareth. He was rejected by his own community. Mission that is entrusted to disciples was an extension of Jesus Ministry. It was a practical training for the disciples for the future ministry. Verse 8-9 depict the provisions which are required for ministry. Few reflections on the instructions which Jesus gave are given bellow.

a) Sending Two by Two: Partners of Ministry

Jesus sent out the disciples two by two and gave them the power over the unclean spirits. Sending two by two (v.7) was a usual pattern of early Christian missionaries. In those days religious and philosophical ideas were communicated mainly by wandering or traveling missionaries. In Jewish tradition, the disciples of Rabbi were used to travel two by two. This pattern focuses on the team ministry and the fellowship and care which the disciples are supposed to give each other. Self centered and self glorified ministry is questioned here by propagating a team ministry which envisions the partnership in the ministry. No individual or organization or parish can claim for their mission because it is the mission of God. Sometimes we are confined as a sponsoring agency or we are satisfied as a viewer of mission. The text urges us to be a part in God’s ministry.

b) Living with Limited Resources: Walking the Talk

The text portrays the urgency in ministry because the Kingdom of God is near. Sandals were the symbols of freedom. When the slaves become free they were asked to wear sandals. In the story of lost son, he was put new sandals and welcomed to be a part of the family.   Denial of travel kit (verse10) was an invitation to voluntary poverty for wandering prophets or traveling missionaries. They had been taught to trust in the Lord rather than the material blessings. Jesus sent the disciples with the singularity of purpose and their goal is to preach about the kingdom of God. Carrying wealth and other provisions for comfort will always be against the mission of God.  In explaining the provisions on mission, gospel writers have their own slight variations but they all agree that they were to travel light. Staff (v.10) is the symbol of shepherd. Shepherd is the one who guides and leads the sheep in all the stages of their life.

Disciples’ pattern of witnessing was a pattern of wandering prophets. In Palestinian context, hospitality was a part of their Culture. When a stranger entered a village, it was not his duty to search for hospitality but it was the duty of the village to offer it. Because wandering missionaries had no permanent place. Moreover they have to respect and accept the culture of the local community and are supposed to stay with them. It is one way of acclimatizing. Staying in one house for more than two days is demanding comforts. Living with limited clothes also symbolizes the simple living. Shaking the dust of the sandals was custom among the Pharisees when they used to travel in a non Jewish territory. It was commonly used as a symbol of cursing. It is not be interpreted literally because the receptor has the right to accept or reject the gospel. Therefore shaking the dust is not to curse but to remind about repentance. Disciples preached about repentance which was a simple message which Jesus commanded them to share.

“What do we advertise through our life”? asks Rick Warren (Author of Purpose Driven Life). Often we become the ambassadors of the corporate world. But Rick Warren says that we are called to advertise Kingdom of God through our life. Mar Thoma community shares a heritage of mission that every member of the Church is a missionary. The migrated community is called to fulfill God’s mission. Simple living or Living with limited provisions is not generally seen in the world where luxury is appreciated. We don’t carry anything to the grave. During the end of life, people would realize that no possessions are helpful to attain eternal life. When we share our potentials and resources for the mission of God, God’s name  will be glorified. In Luke 10: 17 (the parallel text) warns about the self congratulations. Jesus reminds that never be exited for the good things we do, but our name will be written in heaven.  

Throughout the history of God’s people, God has accomplished God’s mission by moving people from land to land. According to the  Bible, the Nature of God,  is that of one who dwells among the people and also one who travels with his people. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses are a few with whom God travelled in their journey of life. The History of Israel in Old Testament testifies that God works among the migrating generation.  In the New Testament, Jesus promised that His church was to be His witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (ref. Acts 1:8). The first believers migrated and were scattered because of the persecution against the church in Jerusalem. So, “those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (ref.Acts 8:4). Philip went to Samaria, and there are many oral traditions that record the apostles traveling to faraway places to preach the word (Thomas to India, Barnabas back to Cyprus, etc.).

     The exponential growth of the Early Church depended on scattered believers reaching out to pockets of immigrant population around the ancient world. Many of the apostles focused their ministry among pockets of migrant Jews throughout Asia Minor and Rome. Paul’s strategy in Asia Minor, while intended to target the Gentiles, started at the synagogues of the immigrant Jews in places like Derbe, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth (ref.Acts 16-18).

In Europe alone, several works have been started because of immigrants who, having received Christ and His message of holiness in their homeland, have taken the message to the new lands in which they have been planted. Examples abound: In Portugal, the church was started with and by immigrants from Cape Verde; in France, the church was started by immigrants from Martinique, Haiti, and Egypt; in Spain, the core of the Church of the Nazarene today is composed primarily of immigrants from Latin America. In those cases Nazarenes from mature mission fields have migrated to other parts of the world and they have taken the message and the doctrine along. This is also true for the church in America. Global migration therefore is not a new phenomenon. Most successful missionary movements have included a migratory element. Several conclusions can be drawn from Scripture, history, and the recent global realities of cross-migration. The most important one is that God has chosen the mobility of people as one of the ways to accomplish.