Ambassadors

Hans Holbein (the younger!), while working for Henry VIII, painted a picture now called The Ambassadors. As part of my current obsession with all things Tudor (related to watching the Wolf Hall TV series), I watched a programme about his paintings, and much was made of this very clever picture. 

In it, we see two people, both French, the ambassador to Henry's court and a bishop. Both are young men, and yet they are surrounded by items suggesting the inevitable onset of death. This being Henry's court, that was quite a fair comment to make.

St. Paul reminds ordinary Christians that we are all ambassadors for Jesus. 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (2 Corinthians 5.19-20)

To be an ambassador is a great privilege - and the French ambassador in Holbein's picture looks very aware that he is in a very privileged position.

But as ambassadors for Jesus, we know that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus, so we have nothing to be smug about. But having been reconciled, we then become God's agents of helping others to come back home to the Father's family. But how does being an ambassador affect our lives?

Every day, we all meet people who do not know that they could come back to God. 

A good ambassador takes time to build good relationships with the people to whom he or she is sent. So, with prayerful care and attention, we may find that we have opportunities, to speak on behalf of Jesus to those who have never heard his voice before. What a privilege.

Best wishes,

Richard