Mission Monthly – July 1999
“…and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
Matthew 28:20 1999 Antiochian Archdiocese Conference Theme
When I was in 6th grade my parents promised me a new bike. Many of you will remember the style: chopper handlebars, banana seat, sissy bar… I was so excited! But there was a catch. I can still remember going to the store to put the bike on something called “layaway” and being told that I had three months to earn half the money to pay for the bike. The bike would be waiting for me once I earned the money but my time was limited. Catch or not, I was one happy boy. This was one great promise!
I believe it is safe to say that most of the time people love when promises are made to them. In general, to be the recipient of a promise produces anticipation, hope and security. This conference theme got me thinking about promises, especially the divine promises God has made to His children in Holy Scripture. “I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”(2 Cor. 6:16). “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened”(Mt. 7:7-8). “‘I will now arise,’ says the Lord, ‘I will place [the poor and needy] in the safety for which he longs.’ The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure…”(Psalm 12:5-6) “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them”(Mt. 18:19-20).
These words of the Lord are indeed comforting and produce much hope. We are reminded that the fullness of God’s promises extend even to this day and forever. But like the promise made to me by my parents, the promises of God also demand a response. I worked hard to earn enough money for my bike (though not hard enough… when the last day of layaway came I was short several dollars). So too we must work hard to nurture our worthiness of God’s great promises. St. Paul summed up this work clearly when he said, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God”(2 Cor. 7:1).
The 1999 Antiochian Archdiocese conference theme is preceded by Jesus’ charge to His disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…”(Mt. 28:18-19). The promise of Jesus’ presence wasn’t given just so that we could claim His name and live a comfortable, pampered life. It was given so that we who bear His name would be assured both of His authority and presence in our life of sacrifice as we witness and work as apostles (meaning: “those who are sent”) in our own day. His promise is to show that even though we fall short of this calling every day, the great gift of His salvation awaits only those who strive for faithfulness to the end.
I fell short earning the money necessary for my bike, though my parents must have felt that I did sincerely try. The day I was to forfeit my promise my parents lead their sad boy into the basement to a large box tucked away behind some storage cabinets. There was my bike. It was there all along. I knew that I didn’t deserve it… but maybe that was the point.