The one who hears you hears me
Sat, 26 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
“The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Jesus is sending out the 72 in pairs. He is appointing them to go into the towns He will visit, and they will prepare the way for Him to come. Along with all the instructions Jesus gives them, He gives them this word of encouragement: they are just bringing Jesus’ words. They are only representatives.
What do we learn from this?
Since the 72 are just bringing the words of Jesus, any opposition they receive is for Jesus’ sake, and any acceptance they receive is also for Jesus’ sake. They are not to think too much of themselves when they meet with success. Nor are they to become discouraged when they are rejected. They are simply ambassadors on behalf of Christ. They point others to Jesus.
That is the roll of all Christians. We are to point others to Christ, and if they listen, they are listening to Christ. If they reject what we say, they are rejecting Christ.
But this is very important for our pastors as well. Pastors are to bring us the words of Christ. They are not to just share with the congregation whatever they feel like talking about. They must faithfully preach from the scriptures what are found in the scriptures. It is a great responsibility, and an awesome task, but our pastors are to make known to us the words of God.
As such, when a pastor is faithfully preaching from God’s word, he can let the results to God. Those who listen and respond are those who respond to God’s word, and those who reject the sermon are those who reject God’s word. This doesn’t give the pastor the right to be lackadaisical in his sermon preparation or to become indifferent to the constructive criticism of the congregation. Just the opposite. Realizing the immense responsibility before him he should be inspired to work even harder in the preparation. But it does mean that ultimately, the congregation is responsible before God for what they do with the faithfully preached sermon.
Where is Christ in this passage?
We are representatives of Jesus Christ to the people around us. We are to be pointing them to Jesus Christ.
