All the ends of the earth
June 19, 2023 - Monday, 11th Week in Ordinary Time. Psalm 98:1, 2b-4
At the heart of Jesus’ message was the reign of God. His ministry began with the proclamation: “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 4:17). And many people could experience God’s saving power through Jesus’ powerful deeds: lepers got cleansed, the sick got healed, sinners were forgiven, the dead were raised back to life, the hungry were fed, and the poor heard the Good News.
The psalmist says that “all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God”. What did he mean by that? He could have in mind the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt or the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon. Both events are recorded in the Bible as God’s powerful intervention on behalf of his people. But did all the ends of the earth hear about those events? Did China, the inhabitants of yet undiscovered continents of Australia and America in the fifth century before Christ, hear about the Jewish people and their God? But, there is one person and one event in the history of humanity, known by now by all the ends of the earth. The person’s name means “the Lord saves” and the event changed the history of humanity forever.
When Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross, nobody could imagine that it was not the end but only the beginning. The Gospel of Mark abruptly stops with a statement that the women ran away from the empty tomb and out of fear said nothing about his resurrection (see Mark 16:8). Everything seemed to indicate that the end of the Church was approaching. Peter and Paul were dead, and Christians were being outlawed and persecuted across the Roman Empire. And yet, after some time, someone added the second ending to the Gospel of Mark. It summarises the stories of the appearance of the risen Lord from other canonical Gospels and includes Christ’s command to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world (see Mark 16:9-19).
Today, Jesus Christ is acknowledged by everyone as the most influential person in the history of humanity. Even those who do not believe in him cannot argue with this fact. H. G. Wells, the famous English writer and historian, wrote: “I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very centre of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history”. What is even more impressive is the fact that Jesus achieved all of this without any money or arms. Since his appearance on the planet earth and until now, Jesus draws people to himself by love that marked his entire life and ministry.
“All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God”. Today, they are 2.3 billion followers of Christ. The entire Bible has been translated into more than 700 languages and the New Testament into more than 1600 languages. Jesus is the most influential person in history and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of God that became flesh, is known by the majority of humanity. How about those who still have not heard it? We continue to proclaim it so that all the ends of the earth can know the salvation of our God, which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord.