POKEMON GO & THE SON OF MAN’S GO!

The world is buzzing with the talk of Pokemon Go! Matt Vella wrote these lines about our world’s latest craze for Time magazine: “Even in an era of viral fads and Internet-breaking stunts, Pokemon Go became a thing at record pace. It shot to the top of the app charts, the fastest mobile game ever to reach No. 1 in terms of revenue. According to Google Trends, ‘Pokemon’ searches even surpassed those for porn, if only temporarily.” (July 25, 2016). Outlook magazine report talked about what an Indian youth Utkarsh aged 13 years. He plays Pokemon Go for an hour on weekdays and fours hours on weekends (August 1, 2016). He is just one out of the many out there! S. Shyam Sundar, in the same issue, explained why people are crazy about this smartphone game this way: “The excitement (in playing Pokemon Go) is akin to going on a safari to spot animals in the wild.”

The Pokemon Go phenomenon reminded me of the times when the Son of Man, even our Lord Jesus, mouthed the action-word, “Go!” While Pokemon Go excites its multitude of users to go in search virtual animated versions of creatures pictured in the popular trading cards, Jesus motivated his followers to go in search of actual lost souls who are on the road to hell with no real purpose or lasting joy in their lives. Here are four times Jesus said “go” in the context of motivating his hearers for the important task of evangelism:

Go To Your Clan: Jesus told the demonized man whom he had just delivered this: “Go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been” (Mark 5:19, NLT). Yes, we must go and tell our family members about the Lord Jesus Christ! We have this lovely promise from God in this regard: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31 NIV). The priority method of sharing about Christ with our family members is through an exemplary life. Apostle Peter wrote about this “without-words-but-by-behaviour” way of evangelism to one’s  immediate family (like your spouse) in I Peter 3:1.

Go To The Countryside/Your Immediate Contacts: “The Lord then recruited and deployed 70 more disciples. He sent them ahead, in teams of two by two, to visit all the towns and settlements between them and Jerusalem” (Luke 10:1, Voice). I imagine Jesus telling this group of 70-plus this: “Go to the countryside and share with your immediate contacts the glorious Gospel of the Kingdom!” Jesus asked his disciples to “go to the village ahead of them” to bring a young colt for his use (Luke 19:30). That’s a reminder that I must be a donkey who carries Jesus to the countryside villages. We must give out Gospel Literature, Tracts, Bibles, and invites for our local church events to those we meet in our locality – in our flats, in our offices, in shopping malls, in traffic junctions! Recently, when our neighbour fell ill and was admitted in a hospital my wife and I visited her, prayed for her healing and gave her a copy of the Bible.

Go Outside Your Comfort-zone: Jesus told his disciples in Gethsemane, “Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand” (Matt.26:46, ESV). Jesus was keen that he would march to Jerusalem to be crucified and he wanted his disciples to be going with him, even though that would not be an easy thing to do. We must be ready to go areas that are outside our comfort-zone to share the Gospel. We could apply leave from our jobs and join a church short term ministry trip to an area where we may not be as comfortable and cozy as our home, perhaps. My visit to the Bhutan-border along with a team from our church in 2014 meant that I had to step out of my comfort zone. But I felt privileged to do it out of a deep sense of gratitude to the Lord who stepped out his comfort-zone in heaven to save me here on sinful earth in an infinitely greater way!

Go to all Creation: Jesus said, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all whole creation” (Mark 16:15). This means, if the call of God for fulltime ministry is upon us, we must be ready to go to the place God has called us to, settle there, and preach the Gospel there, till our last breath or till the return of Jesus!  Are we ready to “go” for Jesus, Pokemon Generation, in the one life we have?!