The man who makes things possible

IT was impossible to miss the hype. In 1996 Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, burst on to cinema screens in the action thriller Mission: Impossible.

Hunt is a secret agent framed for the deaths of his espionage team. Fleeing from government assassins, breaking into the Central Intelligence Agency’s most impenetrable vault and clinging to the roof of a speeding bullet train, the action man raced to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

Cinemagoers were so taken with the action that a further two Mission: Impossible films have been made since. Another is on its way.

The films are based on a television drama series. The episodes chronicled the missions of a team of American government secret agents known as the Impossible Missions Force.

The missions on which they were sent seemed so difficult that only this particular force could hope to tackle them.

The Impossible Missions Force revelled in the challenge; but describing a mission as doomed from the start is not normally the best way to recruit people. Failure is not held in high esteem. To have tried and failed is not acceptable to our modern way of looking at things. Credit is not given just because we tried.

Jesus sent his followers out on a mission. ‘I am sending you,’ he said (John 20:21 New International Version). The mission was to go into the world and spread the good news of what Jesus was doing and teaching.

This may have appeared to Jesus’ followers as another mission impossible. What could they do that he had not already done?

But Jesus sent his friends out with all the resources they needed. They would not be left on their own. He would be with them all the way.

This is the amazing thing about the ‘sending Jesus’. He does not ask us to do something or go somewhere and then leave us to fend for ourselves. Through his Spirit, he goes with us, helping us every step of the way.

Jesus really is the best person to have by our side, the one who will never let us down or forsake us. He makes the impossible mission possible.

It all boils down to trust. Can we trust Jesus, who sends his followers out to do a job? The answer from thousands of people who have followed his way is a resounding yes.

UK War Cry June 2010