Understanding Our Mission

Each of the gospels conclude with the “The Great Commission.” The Book of Acts, in reporting the follow-up of what Jesus began, gives us the result of fulfilling “The Great Commission” (cf. Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). This is no surprise to those who remember what the Lord Jesus told His disciples when He called them: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19; Mark 1:17).

Fishers of men are not born but are made by knowing the Master Fisherman and by knowing and following His plan rather than their own. In John 21:1-14 Jesus illustrates this reality. Just before His ascension, Jesus manifested Himself to seven of His disciples that were at the Sea of Tiberias. They had been fishing all night without success; their human efforts had been in vain! But then, at the break of the new day, when Jesus arrived and told them to cast their net in a specific place, they pulled in a great catch of fish. Their faithful obedience caused them to receive the prize! This event highlights what the resurrected Christ is for us and what is doing today: calling people away from their lives of frustration and disillusion into lives of meaning and productivity as they learn to live in communion with the Savior.

   Note a few things from verse one:

  “After these things” The resurrection of Christ concluded seven great signs (i.e. “these things”) described by John. He then provides the purpose of those signs, “[T]hat you may believe” (John 20:31).  It is fundamental to remember that the mission of the disciple of Christ is to bring people to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and through Him is the only means of salvation (John 20:28-31). John 21 is the epilogue meant to encourage the disciples to fulfill their mission with the knowledge that the help of the Lord is not going to be lacking.

   “Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples” Jesus, the resurrected one, the one who died for our sin, showed Himself. Jesus intentionally revealed certain things about Himself as the resurrected and ascended Lord of life that are vital for our faith and faithfulness. Christ manifested Himself to those who were His followers, to those to whom He gave and would repeat The Great Commission.

 As the prologue in John 1 reveals Jesus as the Word who became flesh to reveal God to mankind, so the epilogue in chapter 21 reveals what Christ really means as the incarnate and glorified Son of God. If life without Him is a series of frustrations, then fellowship with the resurrected Lord motivates our existence. As all our efforts and attempts fail without Him, the trust and the obedience to the Master’s plan produces the satisfying success that our soul craves!

As we begin our journey in search of understanding our mission better, as stated in The Great Commission, let us remember and ponder its final purpose: “I have come that they [i.e. Christ’s disciples] may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

— Paolo Di Luca