The word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins, as it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the Prophet: A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord: . . . and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. (Luke 3:2b–5,6)
The description of John son of Zachary find a parallel in John 1:6. The Baptist was sent by God with the mission of testifying to the Light. The perfect aspect of “sent” indicates that John’s sending and its effects were present in some way at the time of the writing.
John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord—to go before the one who would be God’s instrument of salvation. The one who penned John 1:6 saw that John’s commission would have a continuing effect that reached decades past the birth of the church.
The church too has its commission. This is seen in John 20:21 where Jesus sends the disciples. This commission is not a one time event but is continuous. On December 24–25, the church remembers the coming of the Savior and renews its commission to be a continuous witness to the Light.
JohnDave, Catholic or not – this post is very Christian! Its great.
Re: your comment “The perfect aspect of “sent” indicates that John’s sending and its effects were present in some way at the time of the writing.”. A number of linguists have pointed out that this is also true of a repetitive action so to discern the suggested meaning that ‘John’s sending’ was continuous is great insight!
That said, you should clarify what you mean by ‘church’ in arguing [John 20:21] was a commission to the ‘church’.
The verse in Greek is “εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς πάλιν Εἰρήνη ὑμῖν καθὼς ἀπέσταλκέν με ὁ πατήρ κἀγὼ πέμπω ὑμᾶς” and was directed to His disciples (so is subject to interpretation).
This commission doesn’t even mention the ‘church’. D.A. Carson calls this type of exegesis the ‘[exegetical] Fallacy of reading between the lines” (his words not mine). We have look to Jesus, or other scripture, for context about His commission:
Jesus said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” ([Matt 15:24]) and further instructed the same people (from [John 20:21]) to “Go nowhere amongst the nations and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” [Matt 10:6].
Therefore, this commission was far broader than mere ‘church’, being directed instead to the entire Kingdom of David, Judeans and Israelites, predicated by faith as exemplified in the Israelites to whom Jesus spoke. This should not be a surprise – the scriptures predicted this great commission! (This is the Abrahamic covenant indeed!)
To Israel and Judah He predicted:
[Lev 26:12] “I will walk amongst you and will be your God, and you will be my people”;
[Exo 6:7] “I will take you as my people, and I will be your God ..“;
[Jer 30:22] “You will be my people, and I will be your God.“; and
[Exo 19:6] “You will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Although some post-modern types disbelieve words have meaning – I do actually believe words generally mean what they say (lest I be accused of being motivated by tribalism). I assume you don’t believe God was a liar, so we can recognize that God’s commission was not restricted to the ‘church’.
Your insight is great – that this commission was not a one time event, and continuous, except that on December 24–25, every member of the Kingdom should recall the coming of the Saviour and renew their role in the commission to be a continuous witness to the Light. This should not be seen to be restricted to just the church.