Sender

"An apostle not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father," Galatians 1:1.

What's an apostle? Dictionary time: an envoy. a messenger. somebody sent out with a message. someone sent out to tell someone else's story. It's like dad sending the one kid out to call his other kid in to clean the room. That one kid, the first one, is dad's apostle. Yes. It really is that simple. (And that other kid, the second one, better pay attention to the first one as delivering dad's message, right?) But here's the bigger deal in the New Testament: Who's the sender? The Sender of the apostles is not a man. God, the Father who raised Jesus from the dead, sent out the messengers with that life-giving message. Well, Jesus chose them, too, intending for their hearers to pay close attention to His story.

Visiting with a brother or sister today, we listen carefully to the story of Jesus his apostles told. And, together, we give thanks for his true life-giving word.