Isaiah 2:1-5 / Ephesians 3:2-12 / Mark 16:15-20
As Christians, we believe that God created the world and humanity.
God created all things good, and God created humanity in His image.
So, God created humanity in the best of His love and with the best of His love.
But when humanity sinned and disobeyed God, that image was tarnished and disfigured.
So, humanity didn't look like God anymore. Humanity took on the face of sin and evil. And that is the reality we see around us and in us.
But when humanity sinned and turned away from God, God did not abandon humanity or destroyed the world.
Rather, God promised to save the world and humanity.
God promised to save the world and humanity by coming into the world in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is our Saviour, and we believe that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man.
Jesus Christ came to proclaim the Good News of salvation.
Jesus preached about repentance and the forgiveness of sins.
He forgave the adulterous woman, He forgave the sinful woman who anointed His feet and dried it with her hair.
He forgave Peter for denying Him. He forgave His persecutors even when He was suffering on the Cross.
The Good News of salvation was also expressed in healing and deliverance. Jesus cured the sick and those afflicted by diseases.
He cured the blind, the lame and the lepers. He cast out demons from those who were possessed.
So, the Good News was proclaimed in word and in works.
In doing so, Jesus brought humanity back to God through repentance and forgiveness.
As it is said, God became man, so that man can come back to God.
As the Church celebrates Mission Sunday, we are reminded of this fundamental mission of salvation.
Just as Jesus sent His disciples to preach the Good News of salvation, we too are to proclaim the Good News to our generation.
And this mission brings us back to the core of our Christian spirituality and identity.
The proclamation of the Good News of salvation can only bear fruit when there is prayer and intercession.
Prayer and intercession is the core of our Christian spirituality and identity.
We pray because we know that God loves us, and God will hear our prayer and answer our prayer.
If God sent His son Jesus Christ to answer the cries of His people, then Jesus Christ is the answer to our prayers.
And we pray not just for ourselves. We pray for other people, for nations, and for the world.
The Good News of salvation must reach to the corners and to the ends of the world, and to all peoples.
The Good News has the power to change lives and bring about repentance and forgiveness.
The Good News is the medicine that will heal the world of violence and bloodshed, and bring about peace.
Mission Sunday is a call to prayer.
We need to pray, and we must pray to be empowered and recreated in God’s love and with God's love.
Because we are to be living images of the Good News of salvation to the peoples of the world.