The Three-Pronged Ministry of Jesus

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. (Luke 13:12)

Dramatic changes in the prevailing social and moral consensus often provide the impetus for a certain amount of self-doubt and second-guessing on the part of individuals and institutions. As long-cherished traditions, values, and assumptions are, first, scrutinized, then criticized, and finally marginalized, people can begin to think that what they have long believed and trusted in is suddenly wrong. Then the search begins for new beliefs, positions, and practices that are felt to be more agreeable to the shifting tides of the moment.

The Church is not immune from this tendency. Suddenly ubiquitous postmodern sentiments and lifestyle changes are causing many church leaders to question venerable forms and practices. George Barna, for example, seems to think that the rising tide of postmodern independency and relativism means that the local church may now be regarded as optional, if not irrelevant (Revolution). Pastors in many churches have set aside traditional homiletics and are trying to reach contemporary seekers through drama, story-telling, and other “more contemporary” forms of communication. Emerging church advocates call for an overhaul of established liturgies and methods of evangelization. Everywhere, worship styles and sermon content are undergoing dramatic changes in response to the shifting moral and social consensus.

Some change or adjustment in our approach to ministry is perhaps in order. But at all times, when we are considering radical changes in inherited forms and practices, we need to make certain we are taking our cues from the right place. The point of reference for all adjustments in Christian life and ministry must, in the end, be the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, not the tastes or preferences of the surrounding culture and society.

It might, therefore, be helpful to review the ministry of our Lord Jesus, who has sent us into the world, as He Himself was sent, to do the work of our Father and His (John 20:21). We may summarize the work of our Lord Jesus under three headings, all focused on one primary objective, for the manifestation of the glory of God. Jesus maintained a three-pronged ministry throughout His earthly sojourn, a pattern of ministry relevant for any age and designed to restore all things to uprightness before God.

THE MINISTRY OF TOUCHING
The first facet of Jesus’ ministry was that of good works, touching people with the tender mercies of God at the point of their need. Wherever Jesus went, as in the case of this woman bent over without relief for eighteen years (v. 11), He did good to those who were suffering. He healed the sick. He gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He cleansed lepers, raised men from the dead, and delivered sufferers from the torments of demons. He fed the multitudes and spoke words of comfort and forgiveness to the broken. His good works attracted throngs of needy, suffering people, and often brought upon Him the scorn and anger of the established religious authorities.

Jesus was renowned for doing good. His ministry of touching the needy was a crucial component in His witness to Himself, as well as in the early Church’s testimony concerning His Lordship (cf. John 5:36; Acts 10:37,38). It should not surprise us to see that, as the first Christians took up the mantle of ministry Jesus bestowed upon them, good works demonstrating the love of God had a conspicuous place in their ministries as well (Acts 4:32-37; 6:1-7). Within the changing dynamics of any age, the need for good works—the ministry of touching the needy—will always be present, and churches, if they would be faithful to the example of our Lord Jesus, must be prepared to respond to that need in a variety of ways.

THE MINISTRY OF TEACHING
Equally important in the Lord’s earthly ministry was the work of teaching. The context in which Jesus healed this poor woman was one of teaching in the synagogues (v. 10). In Jesus’ ministry of teaching we include everything that pertained to His work of proclaiming the Kingdom of God—evangelism, preaching and teaching, and training His disciples.

Jesus’ work of teaching often went hand in hand with His work of touching. The Gospel writers never present these as being very far from one another. Jesus’ good words often provided the setting for His good works; His good works gave credibility to His good words, and this, in turn, attracted more people for His good works. Jesus maintained an active and variegated ministry of teaching, all of which revolved around the proclamation and explanation of the Kingdom of God. He did not mince words, and He portrayed the cost of seeking the Kingdom as the self-denying, cross-bearing journey it is for all who take up His challenge to follow Him.

Jesus’ ministry of touching addressed the immediate, felt needs of the people of Palestine. His ministry of teaching, on the other hand, proclaimed the nature of the Kingdom of God and the requirements it imposed on all who would enter into it. The Church needs to pursue both facets of ministry, without confusion or omission. Whenever the church turns its ministry of touching into one of teaching—devoting all or most of its instruction to felt needs—it has confused its mission and compromised both the ministry of touching, which is now reduced to kind words rather than hard deeds, as well as that of teaching, which sets aside Kingdom themes for personal concerns. Touching cannot be done by teaching; teaching that endeavors to do the work of touching fails in its distinctive Kingdom component. Let the churches make sure they pursue both these facets of the ministry of Christ, each in its proper composition and place.

THE MINISTRY OF TORCHING
There is a third aspect of the ministry of our Lord Jesus; it also shows up in this story of the woman bent over for eighteen years. This is what we might call—if only for the sake of alliteration—His ministry of torching His detractors. Jesus was neither patient nor gentle with those who tried to derail or obstruct His ministry. They objected to His good works, and He responded, “You hypocrites!” (v. 15) They sought to make Him look bad by proposing mind games and performing subtle exegetical gymnastics. He responded by telling them they were wrong and did not understand the Scriptures; He called them white-washed tombs, full of dead men’s bones; He said they were the sons of hell and of the devil. He infuriated His adversaries to the point of burning rage, but their fiery anger only provided the ignition and fuel for their own destruction. Jesus torched His foes, burned them until it stung, and then left them a heap of ashes, with nothing more to say.

Jesus, I’m afraid, would not be welcome in some of our seeker-friendly pulpits. He would be an embarrassment to many churches today which, in a strained interpretation of being all things to all people, run the risk of being nothing particularly Christian to anyone by being warm and fuzzy to everyone. Jesus stood in the line of the prophets, and every prophet knew that life and death issues were at stake when the Word of God was being preached and taught. Those who, by their snobbery, elitist posturing, righteous indignation, ad hominem attacks, and innuendos bordering on slander, tried to confuse the message of the Kingdom, or to keep others from hearing it plainly, found themselves at the end of the flame-thrower of Jesus’ outrage. Where are the churches today that are standing up against the promulgators of lies, half-truths, and outright deceit, the gas can of Scripture and the matches of the Spirit in hand to torch to ashes the worldviews of radical unbelief?

THE GOAL OF JESUS’ MINISTRY
Touching, teaching, torching—a three-pronged ministry every church today must take up in a manner appropriate to its own context and resources. And the objective? “And immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.” The objective of our three-pronged ministry is to see this bent-over world, long clapped in the bonds of sin, returned to the upright and good condition in which the Lord God first made it (Ecclesiastes 7:29; Psalm 45:6, 7), to restore goodness, beauty, and truth to every aspect of human life, and to further the rule of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit, which is the Kingdom of God (Romans 14:17). All this to the glory of God, that the world may know truly that God exists, that He is advancing His gracious rule, and that all who turn to Jesus and receive the touch of His grace and the words of His teaching can expect to know uprightness in every area of their lives.

As for those who, whether outside the Church or within it, dare to stand against Him? They run the risk of making an ash of themselves.

FOR REFLECTION
In what ways does the ministry of your church reflect the three-pronged ministry of Jesus? Is any aspect of His ministry being omitted in your church? How might you help to bring better balance into the ministry of your church?