[AI translation] In a church magazine abroad, readers were asked some very thought-provoking questions and asked to respond in writing. The questions were: is the gospel of Jesus a help or a hindrance to you in your daily life? How well are you able to live the gospel of Jesus in your daily work? Do you experience the gospel as a source of inspiration and vocation? Would you do your work in the same way even if you were unaware of the gospel of Jesus? It would be good if we could answer these questions in writing. If we were forced to reflect on these questions and to measure our own Christianity in practical life against them. Perhaps we would become clearer and more self-conscious about questions such as why we are people of faith in the first place? How do we see ourselves in this world? We are surrounded by people who know what they want. Do we know? Do we know what we want in this world, in our daily lives as disciples of Jesus? Do we even have a specific role, a ministry, a vocation? And if so, what is it?In the passage we read, Jesus "called the Twelve to himself and began to send them out two by two" (Mk 6,7a). Do you know that the whole rhythm of the Christian life beats in this? Jesus calls his own and sends them out. He calls them to himself to send them out into the world. Jesus sends his disciples out into the world by first calling them to himself and then preparing them for sending out. The Christian always goes to Christ from the world, and always goes from Christ into the world. This is how we understand the importance of the church, of worship. From the world, we are always sent to the church at the call of Jesus, and from here he sends us out into the world, and from here we go out again into the world. We come here to Jesus so that we can go out into the world prepared. So don't think of this church as a little island that hasn't yet been invaded by the world's dirty tide, or as a little spiritual oasis where you can finally do something other than always be concerned with money and work and politics and bread and butter. In a way, churches along the highways are like places where we always come back to 'refuel', to recharge, to fuel up, so that we have enough to keep on travelling, driving, towing, serving, doing our tasks. On the road in the world - so see the relationship between life inside and outside the church.
I know very well that it is good for us here within the walls of the church, one feels so at home, the familiar liturgy, hymns, milieu, people, all make us feel at home. But let us never forget that the church, any gathering of the church, any Bible study, is nothing more than a place where our spiritual muscles are well massaged so that we can use them in the world, in everyday life, as well and as effectively as possible. If there is one thing in life that cannot be cultivated l'art pour l'art, it is to be engaged in the cause of God. We never listen to the word of God for spiritual enjoyment, but to prepare ourselves, to fill ourselves with that certain fuel for life. Call - send. He calls you to Himself in order to send you out. Of course, when he calls you to himself, he comforts you if you are sad, for example, but he comforts you so that he can send you out to comfort others. When he calls you to him, he solves your problem, but he solves your problem so that he can send you out now liberated. When he calls you to him, he cleanses you from your sins, but he washes you from your sins so that he can send you out with a free conscience. Both the consolation and the forgiveness of sins, the communion, are done to strengthen you, to prepare you, to fill you again and again. So that He can send you out.
If our whole piety, our whole life of faith, is not for the good of the world, but only for our own pleasure, our own pleasure, then it is better not to come here any more, and not to concern ourselves any more with the things of the Gospel. Any religious activity that is not focused on a mission to this world is sterile and abominable before God. Jesus calls us to Himself to send us out with proper equipment and instruction. This mission is symbolized by the blessing at the very end of our worship. When the congregation leaves the house of God, it remains a church, continuing as a church in the world. It is when we leave the church premises that the great test of what we have experienced in worship begins. The blessing is precisely that the congregation may stand this test and fulfil its vocation. That is precisely what God's people are blessed to do after worship. For it is precisely out in the world that God's people must truly live as God's people. For us, our special Christian task is to live in the world, in the often grey and monotonous world of our daily occupations, in the world of our family life, in the strange and multi-coloured world of politics, art, technology, sport and money.
We have to fight that particular beautiful battle of faith, which the apostle writes about in one place, in the world. In the TC, in offices, in laboratories, in schools, in the problematic situations of marriage and family life, and in political life. It is not here, in worship, that the Church lives out her ecclesiality, but out in the world. Here, in worship, in the silence of the church, it is only preparing for it. It picks up the fuel. More and more, the Church of Christ is beginning to see this throughout the world. There was a time in the history of the church when the watchword was: come and help the pastor do the ministry of love, organise the Bible studies, do the church. Now it's the other way round: the pastor helps you, and the Bible study, the worship service, the whole church machinery helps you to be the church, to live as God's people in the world.
Never see the Church as a company of people who are disgusted with this world, but as one who is very much in this world, and through you, through your own life. Where you live and work in this world, the Church, Christ, is present in your meadows. Let us never see things as this is the church and that is the world, and these are two opposing areas working against each other. From the Church's point of view, this is certainly not the case. The church is for the world. It is not for itself, but for the world. God's purpose for the church is not that it should just be, flourish, grow, become as rich as possible, become more exalted, but that it should be an instrument of God, with which he works in the world, for the world. What is important is not that we feel comfortable and at home in this or that church, but that we can tell this world what we know about Jesus through our behaviour and our words.
It is precisely not by turning away from the world, by turning in on itself, that the Church must live its own particular life, but by turning towards the world. It is not with a sense of confinement in a spiritual ghetto, but with a heightened sense of responsibility for the world. The Church is the instrument of God's mission, the missionary people of Jesus in this world. Jesus calls us to himself in order to send us out. Send me out! Do you know what you are out in the world? He sent me out. You're part of a delegation. Someone who's out there on a mission. In the world, in the world of family life, in the world of politics, in the world of science, in the world of art, in the world of sport, we are all there with a certain mission, as those sent out there by Jesus. Try to realize this in your particular situation. I am here now sent by Jesus. I am not representing myself, not my own interests, but Jesus himself. Like an ambassador in a foreign country: he is not a private person, but represents a cause, a country, a people, always, everywhere. In a way: you represent the cause of Jesus, the kingdom of God, the people of God, always and everywhere. That is your mission. Not your profession, but your mission. You may be a high school student, a factory worker, a night watchman, but you are a high school student, a factory worker, a night watchman, as Jesus sent you. That's your mission.
What does that mean in practice? What one of our brothers told me about an incident at his workplace. The brother in question works in the admissions office of a hospital. One day a man in his 30s applied for admission. Our brother asked for his documents to be admitted. He didn't have any documents and instead of explaining in an apologetic tone why he couldn't get them, he started shouting: isn't it enough that I'm sick? Is it the paper that's important, not the person? Hurling nasty, profane words at his brother, he turned and left the office. What usually happens at such a time? The clerk shouts even more, lectures the misbehaving client, the client gets even more angry - the storm is over. But that's not what happened. The official was there as a messenger of Jesus. This is how he told me the rest of the story: I wanted to stroke this ugly little man. The Lord must have sent love into me, because instead of indignation, I felt a wonderful sense of calm and compassion. I tried to explain to him that I had not asked for his papers as a form of harassment, but because I was bound by the rules, but I would talk to the doctor to see if they could give me an emergency form so that I could take him without papers. Then we started talking. In a quiet voice. More and more intimate. Slowly it became clear that he had no one, he was disappointed in everyone, everyone had left him. She started to cry. Then he begged me not to be angry with him. He'd had so many bad things from people, he thought I was hurting him. He vowed three times that next time he wouldn't come without papers and that I really shouldn't be angry with him. It's kind of like that when you're there as an emissary of Christ in an office.
Another brother's son. He went shopping at the Budagyöngye market. There were several people waiting in front of a counter while their turn came. The father heard someone say something like this in conversation: 'How many of my friends are dying! Son of the Father interjected: "It's only our bodies. The other one looked up, "Do you believe in eternal life?" he asked eagerly. Of course I believe, said the brother. This faith is the balance of my whole life on earth. The other sighed heavily: 'But it would be nice to talk about it! "Here's what it's like to go to the market as a messenger of Christ and buy half a kilo of carrots.
Another case. One of our believing brothers works in a factory. He found out that there were two other brothers in Christ working in the same factory. He approached them and they became friends. Now the three believing brothers talk to each other and to Jesus about all the problems of the factory. Jesus also sent the disciples out two by two. Today it is better for two or three of them to take responsibility for others, for all the things of the whole factory. They discuss together, think together, pray together about the problems of the whole community. The three of them pray, for example, for things like: not so much waste in production, that the Lord will protect the workers from accidents in the factory, that He will give strength to those working the night shift, that He will protect the moral atmosphere from pollution.
Once, a high-ranking churchman was asked: 'Do you fish here with a net or a hook? The person replied: 'Neither, we are just trying to change the water so that the fish can live. That's what the two students did when they went to shovel snow off the sidewalk of a house where two sick people lived and where snow was a big problem. That's what it's like to spend your free time as a messenger of Christ.
Jesus calls us all to Himself to send us out. Just try to realize that you, where you are, are a messenger of Christ. And really try to give yourself an account of whether the gospel will be a help or a hindrance to you in your daily life. You will most certainly experience that the gospel of Jesus is truly a source of inspiration and vocation for you!
Amen
Date: 10 March 1963.
Lesson
1Pt 2,9-12