On the Move

Around the world, astonishing numbers of people are leaving their homes and familiar surroundings, to escape famine, violence, destitution, and terror. In the UK, we have received  large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. But most of us can barely imagine what it must be like to have to leave everything that we know and value. By contrast, our lives are very easy and mundane.

But the world of the Bible is much less settled than most of our own experiences. ' The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.' (Genesis 12.1) The whole area of the ancient Middle East was home to both settled communities, whose livelihood was based on agriculture, and also home to large communities of nomadic herders, whose flocks of sheep and goats were constantly on the move. 

When Jesus commissioned his first followers, he expected them to be people ready to be 'on the move'. ' Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.' (Matthew 28.19)

It is striking that Jesus did not say 'Wait for all the nations to come to you!' 

Just as Old Testament prophets like Jonah or Jeremiah were sent to specific people, so the New Testament tells the story of the call of God for faithful followers to be 'on the move', in order to reach out to those who have never heard of Jesus.

The question which therefore occurs to me is whether we are people who are willing to leave behind our settled and comfort-obsessed lives in order to reach out to those around us, so that we are a community 'on the move' with the Good News of Jesus.

Best wishes,

Richard