christ

Christ
Jesus’ Holistic Mission
Statement

Session 8
 article: the perceived threat of jesus’ call to jubilee: how
jewish leaders avoided jubilee
Jewish leaders during Jesus’ time were terribly concerned about two things:

1. ey wanted to maintain the status quo which had enabled them to
gain power and wealth
2. ey wanted to be known as law-abiding and faithful citizens who
were intent on obeying the law

To sustain their power and uphold the current social structures, thus, they
interpreted the law in a self-serving manner. While they called the people
to obey the law, they were not interested in teaching and having people
obey any portion of the law that would jeopardize their power and control1
Assuming this dual interest of the Jewish leadership, which of the four
provisions of Jubilee could the Jewish religious, economic and political
leaders afford to apply without loosing any of their control and power and
wealth and property?

It seems they could afford to apply the first provision, “Letting the land
fallow”, which would give the impression that they were indeed obeying
Jubilee, yet wouldn’t compromise their hold on power and wealth. And in
fact, that’s the only one stipulation out of the four that they consistently
followed and obeyed. Numerous historical references outside of the
Scriptures suggest that the practice of letting the land fallow on the
sabbatical year was consistently applied until the destruction of the temple
in AD 70.2 ere are no similar references pointing to the application of
any of the other three stipulations of Jubilee. is means that the other
three stipulations were simply avoided, since following these would have
stripped the Jewish elite of their wealth and power and jeopardized their
arrangements with Rome. Notwithstanding, as good religious leaders and
law-abiding citizens, they tried to give the impression that they were
obeying the law by keeping at least one of the four provisions of Jubilee.3

Interestingly, some scholars have suggested that a recent Jubilee year may
have made the Isaiah text fresh in the minds of Jesus’ hearers when he
quoted it in the synagogue of Nazareth in Galilee. In fact, through
Josephus’ writings we know that one such Sabbatical year was AD 26-27.
One scholar is even convinced that AD 26-27 was actually a year of
Jubilee! Guess what year it was when Jesus pronounced his mission on
that Sabbath afternoon in Nazareth? Based on research, Jesus most likely
delivered this announcement during AD 26-27!4

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 So what went on in the minds of the Jewish leaders, when Jesus
proclaimed that he was here to usher in the year of Jubilee in its fullness,
with its four stipulations? How do you think they heard Jesus’ words?

In essence they heard Jesus implicating them in front of the assembled

people: “I have come to liberate the nation in every way, so that all will live
under Jubilee, not just the most powerful. Wealth and power can no
longer just be in the hands of a few while the rest are condemned to a life
in abject poverty. I have come to bring good news to the poor. My
ministry will signal that time for the liberation and healing of the
despaired and oppressed has come. rough my work the ideal and social
concern of the Jubilee year will be fulfilled. Don’t just blame the Romans
for the misfortune of our people! You too are not keeping Jubilee. You are
only keeping a small provision of Jubilee – the one provision that won’t
hurt you and undermine your power base. You really don’t care for your
people! While you pretend to uphold the law, you actually object to the
full implementation of God’s just and loving laws. However, you are to
keep the entire Jubilee and not just one regulation of it! So again, don’t
just blame the Romans for our misfortune. You have a responsibility even
before them. Give up your arrangements with Rome! Change your
dehumanizing behavior. Become part of the full Jubilee, release the
oppressed, remit all debts, return the land to its original owners!”5

When you understand what was going on in Jesus’ time, you understand
how he was righteously indignant about the Jewish elite’s massive
disobedience of the law. Oppression, exploitation and control not only
happened; they happened in the name of the law! In the eyes of Jesus this
was a greater wrong than sheer abuse of power, for it appeared to put God
on the side of injustice. To him, Israel once again was a far cry from what
the Mosaic stipulations called them to: to promote the stewardship of the
wealth that God had invested in the nation, in order to establish the
common good and defend the poor. With such a mission statement, then,
it’s not surprising that Jesus was steering into direct confrontation with
the powers that be. His vision of a full liberation of the people and
systems of Israel struck terror into the political, economic and religious
elite of Jewish society. No wonder they and sought to silence Jesus.

writing a personal mission statement: what do you live

for?
In what follows you’ll work on writing your own personal mission
statement. As you do so, take into account Jesus’ mission statement which
we studied in Luke 4. Here are a few more things you should consider
before writing such a statement.

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 What is the Purpose of Writing a Personal Mission Statement?
Everyone’s life is driven by something. You may be driven by guilt, by
resentment or anger, by fear, by wanting to make more money, by the need
for approval, by wanting to be successful, or by any other kind of force.
What are the driving forces in your life? Most likely you’re unconscious of
many of these driving forces within you. God, however, wants you to have
a clear purpose and mission in life, one that will allow you to become more
of what he intended for you to be. Do you know what you’re living for?
Or are you simply taking life as it comes? Do you know we’re you’re
heading, or are you living life aimlessly and without direction, basically
seeking to survive? What do you think God wants to do with your life?
ese are important questions to answer, since God doesn’t want you to
end in the category that writer omas Carlyle describes: “e man
without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder – a waif, a nothing, a no
man.”

Martin Luther King Jr., the African-American civil rights leader once
remarked: “If you have nothing worth dying for, you may have nothing
worth living for.” Is there anything in the world you feel would be worth
dying for? Take some time to reflect on this question, for it will help you
clarify part of your mission in life. Writing a personal mission statement
will help you clarify some of the questions above and give you more
insight into the direction God wants to take you on.

What is a Personal Mission Statement?

A personal mission statement is intended to be a clear, concise expression
of your main purpose in life. Instead of living life without a clear
direction, a good mission statement can provide you with a strategic
outline and general direction for your personal goals and growth in life. A
personal mission statement should answer the following questions:

• What are you living for?

• What are your main goals and dreams in life?
• What would you be willing to die for?
• Who do you feel God has called you to become?
• What part in God’s unfolding story of transforming the world, do you
feel called to play a part in?

It may take plenty of thought and meditation and prayer to create such a
statement, and it may be very hard to fit statements that are supposed to
be long-term guidelines into one or two sentences, but that is the nature of
your charge. It is tough but hardly impossible.

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 Step-by-Step Process to Writing a Personal Mission Statement
1. A good way to start is to remember that one day you will stand before
God, and he will do an audit of your life. He will examine how you’re life
contributed to his vision of Shalom or distracted from it. From the Bible
we can surmise that God will ask us two overriding questions:

• What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ, and the Kingdom he
proclaimed? God won’t ask you about you’re religious background and
doctrinal views. e only thing that will matter is, did you accept what
Jesus did for you and learn to trust him, to follow him, and to make his
mission your own, and if yes, to what degree?
• What did you do with what I gave you? What did you do with your life
– all the gifts, talents, opportunities, energy, relationships, and resources
God gave you? Did you spend them on yourself or did you use them for
the purpose God made you for – Shalom? Did you contribute to
expanding Shalom on earth as it is in heaven, or did you just look out for
yourself?6

2. After reflecting on these two crucial questions, think about the

significant people in your life. Part of your mission statement should
include establishing or maintaining meaningful relationships with these
individuals. Remember to take their individual needs into consideration.

3. en, imagine yourself in the best situation possible ten or twenty years
from now and jot down what stays constant in your life – the things that
are most important to you – and the wonderful things you will have
achieved by then with God’s help. is will give you a really good idea of
what your priorities should be, what you want to accomplish and become,
and how you want to contribute to the extension of God’s Kingdom of
Shalom.

4. Finally, once again review the questions stated in the paragraph above
under “What is a Personal Mission Statement” and jot down your
answers.

5. Now you may want to join the words, thoughts, ideas, impressions,
goals, dreams etc. that you want to be part of your personal mission
statement. Once you’re done jotting down all of your main points, you
will have to start the difficult task of summarizing all of the above, in order
to create a concise personal mission statement that you can easily
memorize.

6. If you want you can then decorate the mission statement in whatever
form you would like, in a journal, as a poster, in a treasure chest, in a photo
album/scrapbook, on your computer, etc. Make it look nice and add in
pictures and drawings, designs, etc.

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 7. LASTLY, dedicate your personal mission statement to God and ask
him to help you live it. Make a habit of reading over it and lucidly
imagining the important ideas you have collected, and allow it to inspire
and motivate you!

Come prepared to share your mission statement with other members of

your group!

application journal: my personal mission statement

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 endnotes
1 Based on class notes from Bob Linthicum’s course “Building a People of Power”.
2 Donald Kraybill, e Upside Down Kingdom, 99
3 Based on class notes from Bob Linthicum’s course “Building a People of Power”.
4 Howard A. Snyder, A Kingdom Manifesto, 69
5 Based on class notes from Bob Linthicum’s course “Building a People of Power”.
6 Adapted from Rick Warren, e Purpose-Driven Life, 34

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