The Reality of Ministry (Friday Devotional)

They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

- Luke 6:18-19

The enemy spaceship is hurtling toward you at full speed. You jerk the controls to the right and dodge impact by what feels like inches, only to be confronted with a brand new danger: an asteroid field dead ahead. Ducking your head with the motion of your ship, you weave between asteroids, all while firing at approaching ships from the rear. Suddenly, before you know what’s happened, your vision goes red and you feel a rumble that shakes your entire body. You’ve been hit, and there’s no coming back from this one.

So you rip the virtual reality headset off your head, blink as your eyes adjust to the light of the living room, and head into the kitchen for a snack.

Virtual reality, once confined to visions of a Jetsons-like future, is rapidly becoming, well, reality. In games like the one described above, putting on a VR headset can transport you to whole other worlds, where suddenly you are flying through space, running from dinosaurs, or playing football with the pros. In a virtual sense, you can explore new places, meet fascinating people, and have great adventures—all without leaving home.

The rise of these games speaks to a bigger truth—more and more, we are growing content with virtual experiences replacing physical ones. When we need to talk to someone, we send a text message or an e-mail. When we want the entertainment of a story, we pull up Netflix. When we want to catch up with an old friend, the interaction starts and ends with Facebook. In a world of social media, online shopping, streaming video, and even drone warfare, it seems like there is little that cannot be handled virtually anymore.

But in the face of this brave new world, the ministry of the gospel remains stubbornly tied to the physical, the here and now. When Jesus healed people, the gospel writers tell us he almost never did so long distance—rather, he laid his hands on those who needed him; he looked them in the eyes and spoke aloud the words of grace they needed to hear. When he gave us the Lord’s Supper, he did not only command that we remember and reflect, but that we “take and eat”—that there be a physical act to accompany the spiritual significance. And when he gave us our salvation, he did not do so with a message airdropped from heaven, but with a broken body, spilled blood, and a physical resurrection from the grave.

For all the ways that your relationship with God and your ministry to others can be carried out virtually—by listening to sermon podcasts and praise music, by sending kind words in a text message, etc.—following Christ must eventually happen live and in person. Comforting the grieving entails wiping away wet tears. Serving the hungry requires ladling out hot soup. Rejoicing with new parents means holding their precious child in your arms. Our digital world has made many mundane tasks more convenient, but ministry remains as tactile, difficult—and glorious—as ever. So may your walk with Christ be more than just a virtual reality—may it be a present one.