John:15:18ff - An Incarnational Mission.

Reflection on John 15:18ff.

John 15:18-16:4a moves the farewell discourse in a new direction. For the first time in the discourse, Jesus addresses the believing community’s relationship to those outside the community. Here Jesus discuss about the struggle between Kingdom values and the values of the world. When Kingdom values spread the struggle also increases. Jesus warns his disciples that engaging with the market driven world always invites hate (15:18-19, 23-25), persecution (15:20, 16:2a), and death (16:2b). Indwelling relationship with Christ always leads disciples towards a confrontation with the unjust world. What kind of engagement Jesus demands from us when we follow the kingdom values?

1. Reject the values of a business world. John15:18ff challenges the contemporary church to reflect the way the world does business and to present the world with an alternative, an alternative grounded in the love of God revealed in Jesus. John challenges the Christian community to be fully present in the world while at the same time not following the dictates of the world. Because the faith community does not belong to the world, it is not governed by the world’s interests and expectations.

2. Incarnation as a paradigm to witnessing Christ. John clearly portrays the model of witness. We are called to follow the model of Christ. Christ’s model is rejecting the model of the dominant, powerful model of the profit oriented world. Christian disciples have the responsibility to reject the “successful” model of witness instead they are supposed to engage with the model of incarnation. When the church chooses to play the world’s games or when it adopts the market driven rules, the church risks loosing its genuine identity. Incarnation is the real model of witness today. It never play games to be “powerful or successful” as today’s church. If we follow incarnation as a paradigm for our mission we will face hate, persecution and death. Jesus vividly teaches that he himself faced all these challenges. In our mission engagement there is a struggle between the standards of incarnation and standards of business world..

3. Mission is not against any Faiths(religions) as such but it is against the falsehood and dominant unjust structures. Church exists only when it rejects falsehood and injustice and stand for justice, love and reconciliation. Mission of the church is nothing but just discourses and engagements for peace in the midst of the unjust and violent realities.Mission is against all kinds of imperialism which is built on power and power to impose and subjugate and oppress.We are called to resist all kinds of dehumanising and life negating elements which are inherent in our society explicitly or in subtle ways.We may misunderstood mission as negation of all cultural practices or traditions of a particular sects of the society.Instead we are called to nourish culture by identifying and destroying the falsehood in and aroud us.

Christ’s communion with the Father led him to Calvary, communion with the crucified Christ and the consequent Christ like love of one another will lead loyal Christians to the cross.Church has to resist the three syndroms of today,success syndrom,TINA(There is No Alternative) and Pleasure Syndrom.Then only we could be able to move with Christ in the way of discipleship.