Being Sent “Just As” Jesus

January 29, 2008 | Filed Under missiology, missional, theology |

In [John] 20:21, the point seems to be that the mission of Jesus’ followers is to be guided by the same kinds of parameters that determined the sender-sent relationship between Jesus and the Father. Also, Jesus is shown to invest the disciples with authority and legitimacy.

The more general reference to ’sending’ ties the disciples’ mission to the characteristics of Jesus’ relationship to his own sender, the Father. At this stage, Jesus, the paradigmatic ’sent one’ (9:7), turns sender.

Now Jesus’ followers are to embody the qualities characteristic of their Lord during his earthly mission. As Jesus did his Father’s will, they have to do Jesus’ will. As Jesus did his Father’s works, they have to do Jesus’ works. As Jesus spoke the words of his Father, they have to speak Jesus’ words. Their relationship to their sender, Jesus, is to reflect Jesus’ relationship with his sender.

These correspondences are explicated well by the following observations on the force of kathos (’just as’) in 20:21:

The special Johannine contribution to the theology of this mission is that the Father’s sending of the Son serves both as the model (the comparative aspect of kathos) and the ground (the explanatory aspect of kathos) for the Son’s sending of the disciples. Their mission is to continue the Son’s mission; and this requires that the Son must be present to them during this mission, just as the Father had to be present to the Son during his mission (R. E. Brown, The Gospel according to John)

- Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A bibilcal theology of mission by Andreas Kostenberger & Peter T. O’Brien