Kosmos or Ethnos? We Still Must Go! Mark 15-16

 Mark 16:14-15 (ESV)

The Great Commission

Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Each week, on my prayer list, I have a list of missionaries to pray for.  On one day, I pray for three missionaries.  One couple is in Bosnia, one is in Chile and one is in Kentucky, USA.   Metaphorically speaking that might cover the above text.  I love that day because it reminds me to be equally committed to my neck of the world.   We tend to like to go to our own people, but we don’t necessarily have as much enthusiasm, however, for those in other ethic groups.   It is interesting that Mark says go into all the world (Greek “kosmos” ... which means all the places of the world) but Matthew says go into all the nations. That is the Greek word, “ethnos,” which means “ethnic” groups.  Together we see that our role is to go to all places and speak to all types of races.   We are not just to talk to the people we are familiar with about the love of God through the sacrifice of Jesus.   Jonah had a problem with that.  He was a prophet to Israel and spoke to his people (2 Kings 14:25).  But, when he was asked to go to another part of the “kosmos” to speak to another “ethnos” of people, he refused.   Do we believe in the power of God to speak to people in our back yard, in the hills of Kentucky, the land of Chile and/or the nations like Bosnia?  That is the command.