The Nation - July 2009
Slowly but inexorably the world of Western academic theology is becoming aware of the rest of the world. The impact of missiology has brought to the attention of the theological community in the West the wealth of theological and hermeneutical perspectives that are, in some cases at least, the product of the success of mission over the past centuries. Mission has transformed the map of global Christianity. (Wright, Pg. 38)
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When you think of a “missionary” what first comes to mind? If the answer is “white” or “Western” then you are mistaken, for the face of “the missionary” is changing. While white and western missionaries are still quite prominent and formative, according to Christopher J.H. Wright, the fact is that over half of Christian missionaries are not white and western. (Wright, pg. 43) It is quite the opposite and now wonderfully common to witness the increasing diversity of missional people. The face of the missionary is as diverse as this world, which Wright states in The Mission of God is a direct fulfillment of the promises of God. For, as it says in Isaiah 11:10: “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
For too long, the “missionary” has become a vocation of man, in particular the white and western man, and is considered the distinct role of the Christian man. But, as Wright strongly asserts, the mission of the Christian man is not simply his command from God. Rather, the mission of man is first the mission of God, which is clearly threaded throughout the whole of scripture. The theology of God and the mission of man have become separated when Wright stresses the need to reunite God’s theology and mission into one unifying theme.
The stress on God’s redemptive plan for his people is what bind’s Wright’s Mission of God and what he states as “liberating” the entire gospel from the stereotype of binding and bland legalism. Instead, he states, “a broadly missional reading of the whole Bible […] actually subsumes liberationist readings into itself:”
Where else does the passion for justice and liberation that breaths into these various theologies come from if not from the Biblical revelation of the God who battles with injustice, oppression, and bondage throughout history right to the eschaton? Where else but from the God who triumphed climatically over all such wickedness and evil (human, historical, and cosmic) in the cross and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ? Where else, in other words, but from the mission of God? (Wright, pg. 44)
While acknowledging the stereotypical damage done by the “white” and “western,” who have obviously not represented correctly God’s prevailing battle with injustice, Wright also commends those who have represented well the mission of God. Of course, there is much needed improvement, in particular amongst the Western Protestant theological academy which “has been slow to give ear to those of other cultures who choose to read the Scriptures through their own eyes.” (Wright, pg 38)
Wright sees God’s mission as the fundamental basis of the Christian faith and with his theological mastery of scripture beautifully demonstrates this evidence throughout the Bible. It is vital to strongly grasp the importance that “the God of Israel, whose declared mission was to make himself known to the nations through Israel, now wills to be known to the nations through the Messiah, the one who embodies Israel with his own person and fulfills the mission of Israel to the nations.” (Wright, pg 123)
“To the nations.” Perhaps, it is what Paul writes of in Romans 15:7 when he says, “therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” If we are to welcome the nations, as Paul suggests, then Psalm 117 is all the more beautiful in God’s command to “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all people! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!”
These verses are never more poignant to me than when I reflect on what it means for one nation in particular to praise the Lord. The Yakama Reservation of Eastern Washington, home to the Yakama Nation, is riddled with alcoholism and drug abuse, broken families, and an extremely high percentage of homelessness, crime, and suicide. Yet, through the work of Sacred Road Ministries there are those of the Yakama Nation who now declare Christ as their Lord and Savior! Theirs is a nation fraught with the damage of years upon years of brokenness (much brought about by the very government that declares “liberty and justice for all”), yet by the grace of God true change is appearing on “the rez.”
In 10 or 20 years’ time, what will the Yakama church look like? Sound like? Preach like? Minister like? Though it is not yet to its full fruition, its church will certainly not look “white” or “western” but will fully reflect the beautiful diversity of its culture. Christ’s sacrifice will be equated to that of the salmon’s yearly sacrifice (He is the Ultimate Salmon), worship will consist of their flute and drum, and all will take place in the community of the longhouse. May it be so!
This is what Wright clearly desires through God’s mission. If Yahweh is the one true God, if Jesus is the embodiment of Yahweh and his desire to be known to the nations, then how can we but aid in this mission? How can we say no to those suffering injustice, oppression, and bondage? God does not say no, therefore we must not. “If then,” Wright concludes, “it is in Christ crucified and risen that we find the focal point of the whole Bible’s grand narrative, and therein also the focal point of the whole mission of God, our response is surely clear.” (Wright, pg. 535)
Surely it is, for as we “kneel with Thomas before Christ and confess, ‘my Lord and my God’” we are also submitting to this mission of God. If we refuse to submit to this mission, then we are not submitting to God. And, if we are not submitting to God, I think it is clear we are no longer of God’s people, of his nations, of his mission. We are instead denying what the post-modern world dreams of:
The Bible which glories in diversity and celebrates multiple human cultures, the Bible which builds its most elevated theological claims on utterly particular and sometimes local events, the Bible which sees everything in relational, not abstract, terms, and the Bible which does the bulk of its work through the medium of stories. […] The story. (Wright, pg. 47)
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“Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.
"Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
all who were incensed against him.
In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory."
Isaiah 45:22-25 (ESV)
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