Day 2: The impact of life in community

It likely would’ve been easier for Jesus if He had carried out His ministry on His own. But would it have been as impactful?

The early days of Jesus’ ministry were a recruitment project. He didn’t want to do it alone. Instead, He intentionally built a life in community, inviting fishermen, tax collectors and people from all walks of life to become His closest friends.

This immediately created an impact—people started to notice almost right away: “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Luke 5:30)

Jesus lived His life and did His ministry in community—and He was intentional about what that community looked like. He tells His critics, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32) And indeed, Jesus spent His time with people in a way that aligned with that mission and mandate.

Fast forward to the evening before His death, and Jesus is still practicing this radical life in community. After several years of impactful ministry together, Jesus shares a meal with the same group He originally called together at the outset of His ministry. Among them was the man who would betray Him to be killed.

On this final night together, what does Jesus choose to do? The answer: be in community.

Jesus shares a meal with His friends and instructs them to do so together often as a way to remember Him. They sing a hymn together. They are simply together.

Impact is not for us or about us, it is about others. Jesus shows us that to have an impact on others we must live our life in community with others. What could this look like in your life?