Why We Evangelize - Go and Make Disciples
Why We Evangelize (¶28-33)
28. We must evangelize because the Lord Jesus commanded us to do
so. He gave the Church the unending task of evangelizing as a restless
power, to stir and to stimulate all its actions until all nations have
heard his Good News and until every person has become his disciple.15
29. The Lord commanded us to evangelize because salvation is
offered to every person in him. More than a holy figure or a prophet,
Jesus is God's Word,16 God's "very imprint,"17 the power and wisdom of God.18 He is our Savior. Becoming like us and accepting our human nature,19
he addresses in himself, in his death and resurrection, the brokenness
of our lives. He suffers through our sin; he feels our pain; he knows
the thirst of our death; he accepts the limits of our human life so that
he might bring us beyond those limits. "[H]e humbled himself, becoming
obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly
exalted him! . . ."20 Taking on our death as Savior, Jesus
was raised to life. In Christ, all can come to know that the sin, the
coldness, the indifference, the despair, and the doubt of our lives are
overcome by God's taking on our human nature and leading us to new life.
In him, and him alone, is the promise of resurrection and new life.
30. We evangelize because people must be brought to the salvation
that Jesus the Lord offers in and through the Church. While we
acknowledge that the grace of God is mysteriously present in all lives,
people all too often resist this grace. They refuse change and
repentance. We evangelize so that the salvation of Christ Jesus, which
transforms our human lives even now, will bring as many as possible to
the promised life of unending happiness in heaven.
31. Jesus commanded us to evangelize, too, in order to bring
enlightenment and lift people from error. The Lord Jesus, "the way and
the truth and the life,"21 came to us as a teacher, opening
for us the wisdom that not only leads to life eternal but also leads to a
human fulfillment that reflects the dignity and mystery of our nature.
Unless people know the grandeur for which they are made, they cannot
reach fulfillment and their lives will be incomplete. Nor will they know
that they are called into interpersonal union with God and with each
other. The intimate union that Jesus revealed in his life, being one
with the Father22 and rejoicing in the Holy Spirit,23 can envelop our lives. This is the union in which Jesus wishes all to share,24
a union whose realization brings great peace to people, families,
societies, and the world. Evangelization opens us to Christ's wisdom and
personal union with God and others.
32. The Lord gave us a message that is unique. All faiths are not
merely different versions of the same thing. Knowing Christ Jesus and
belonging to his Church are not the same as believing anything else and
belonging to any other community. Pope John Paul II has pointed out,
"While acknowledging that God loves all people and grants them the
possibility of being saved (cf. 1 Tm 2:4), the Church believes that God
has established Christ as the one mediator and that she herself has been
established as the universal sacrament of salvation."25 The
unique claim of our message does not negate the sincerity and faith of
others; likewise, the sincerity and faith of others do not take away
from the clarity and truth of our message. As Pope John Paul II reminds
us, "It is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the
real possibility of salvation in Christ for all humankind and the
necessity of the Church for salvation. Both these truths help us to
understand the one mystery of salvation."26
33. Finally, the Lord gave us yet another reason to evangelize:
our love for every person, whatever his or her situation, language,
physical, mental, or social condition. Because we have experienced the
love of Christ, we want to share it. The gifts God has given to us are
not gifts for ourselves. Like the large catch of fish27 or the overflowing measure of flour,28
faith makes our hearts abound with a love-filled desire to bring all
people to Jesus' Gospel and to the table of the Eucharist. As Jesus
wanted to gather all Jerusalem, "as a hen gathers her young,"29 so also do we want to gather all people into God's kingdom, proclaiming the Gospel even "to the ends of the earth."30
Notes
- Matthew 28:18-20
- John 1:1; 1:14
- Hebrews 1:3
- 1 Corinthians 1:24
- Philippians 2:7
- Philippians 2:8-9
- John 14:6
- John 14:10
- Luke 10:21
- John 17:21
- On the Permanent Validity of the Church's Missionary Mandate, no. 9
- Ibid
- Luke 5:6
- Luke 6:38
- Matthew 23:37
- Acts 1:8