This year, Kallan celebrates ten years. This will we do whith a new website that we will update step by step. We hope we are finish in summer 2009. If you want, you can already now take a look at our swedish website.
The commission was a great challenge. But it was
Jesus who had given them this challenge and as
his disciples, they wanted to follow their
Master.
It was not a piece of advice neither a wish nor
an expectation. Jesus gave his disciples a
command, a mission and a goal to go and make
disciples of all nations (Matt 28:20)
It was not a matter of chance that Matthew
chooses to finish his gospel with what we call
“the Great Commission.” If you read this gospel
of Matthew from beginning to end you will have a
very exciting walk together with Jesus and his
disciples. As a reader you may join in among the
disciples and so you just follow at a distance
but at the same time rather close.
From birth to a grown-up life. Down at the cross
but also into the empty grave. And finally to
that mountain to which Jesus had told his
disciples to go.
When they saw him there they fell on their knees and worshipped him. Then Jesus started to speak to them: "All authority in heaven and on earth is given unto me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations." The words echoed inside their minds. "Therefore go to all nations."
The apostles who themselves were disciples had
for some years been trained by their Master.
Soon he should not be among them in the same way
as before. The sand had run through the hourglass
and it was time for them to try their wings to
fly out over the world with the gospel of
liberation.
But none of the apostles could at the end of
their lifes say that they had reached out to the
whole world. They had not even as a group filled
their commission.
Could it be said that the apostles had failed
their task? To understand this we have to
understand what happened on the mountain.
When the apostles got their commission it was as
if Jesus had given them a baton, because they we
going to run their part of a race but not the
whole distance. But they should have the goal
before their eyes even if they were not going to
brake the finishing tape. If you run a relay
race then you are in a team. Everyone runs to
win the race and is fighting to reach the same
goal.
The apostles ran and took responsibility for
their part of the race. Then a new generation
took over the baton from the first disciples and
ran their part of the race.
The same commission that Jesus gave to his
disciples is now passed over to us who want to
be Jesus' disciples in our time. The commission
is as great a challenge in our time as it was
then. It has to do with Sweden but not only
about Sweden but also about the whole world. You
need to think about this so that you can get
your priorities right in your life.
Something happened once when several thousand
people had gathered around Jesus. They were very
hungry and needed something to eat. But they
were far away from any shops. One of the
disciples happened to see a boy who had five
bread and two fishes. Then the disciple felt it
was foolish to think that those bread and fish
should be enough for five thousand. But Jesus
blessed the bread and the fish and divided it
among the people. Everyone got his share and
quite a lot was left over. Let us keep this
story in mind when we give of what we have to
Jesus.
The apostles didn’t reach out to all nations.
Did they fail their task? No but if we don´t
take the baton and run our part of the race then
you can say that they failed. They ran their
part of the race, they did what they could. Now
it´s our turn to hang on and continue to run.
Perhaps we are going to brake the finishing
tape. Maybe it is our generation who is going to
reach out to the rest of the nations and
together with them may welcome Jesus when he
comes back to the earth.
Carl-Henrik Karlsson