Someone imagined a fascinating conversation that Jesus had with the Arch Angel, Gabriel, just after Jesus returned to heaven after the Resurrection and the Ascension.

And Gabriel asked Him, “Well how did it go? Did you complete your mission and save the world?”

 And Jesus said, “Well yes and no. I modeled a godly life for about 30 years, I persuaded a few thousand Jews in a little corner of the Roman empire to follow me, I died for the sins of the world, I burst from the tomb to persuade a little circle of frightened disciples that my life and my story are God’s way to save the world, and then I gave those 120 to the Holy Spirit and I left them to finish the task.”

 ”You mean,” Gabriel, said, “your whole plan to save the world depends on that little rag tagged bunch of former prostitutes and fishermen and tax collectors?” “That’s right,” Jesus said.

 ”But what if they fail?” Gabriel persisted in growing alarm, “What’s your backup plan?”

 And quietly Jesus said, “There is no backup plan.”

Jesus could have used angels to save the world, but He decided to use you and me, to preach the gospel and to transform society. I think Gabriel must have watched with dumbfounded amazement as that first small motley crew set to work, they had little money, less education and no political clout, but they loved Jesus with all of their hearts and they defied raging oceans and roaring lions. The message spread like wildfire in just three short centuries, they conquered the most powerful Pagan Empire that ever existed. And as the centuries rolled along, Gabriel must have watched amazed as Christianity spread west to Europe and south, deep into Africa, in the first few centuries. North to Russia, then further west to the America’s and then finally in the great missionary centuries in the 19th and 20th centuries, Gabriel watched Christianity sweep across Africa, multiply greater in Asia, and Latin America. The 120 in the upper room had become 2 billion people in every country on the planet, without any backup plan. Jesus’ strategy seemed to be working.  

 But as Gabriel looked more carefully an old anxiety resurfaced. Time after time He remembered in previous centuries, vast numbers claimed to be Christians without living what Jesus taught. He wondered were the people today who claimed the name any different from those who did not. How could the worst massacre in human history, perhaps, or at least the worst massacre of the Jews happen in the middle of the continent that had been most Christian for the longest time? What about the United States? Rich and powerful polling dates show at least 86% are Christians and 45% go to church every Sunday morning. But does their Christian faith make any difference in the way they live? They have the highest divorce rates in human history. In the U.S., jails have a higher percentage of its population than any other country. Violence stalks its cities. Christian’s are very visible in politics, but it’s not clear that Jesus’ special concern for the poor is central to their agenda. Was Jesus’ strategy for changing the world, really working after all? The picture wasn’t clear. 

  Here and there, of course, Gabriel could see wonderful examples of transformation. He looked down to inner city Chicago. He saw people living like the first 120. Wayne Gordon living in one of the poorest, most violent sections of the inner city there. And soon after his conversion Gabriel remembered, Wayne had looked up in the face of God and said, “I’ll do anything you want me to do with my life.” And he and his wife, Ann, defied roaches, break-ins, and violence in order to tell inner city kids who had virtually no hope for a decent education, a job or a good marriage, that the creator of the universe loved them and wanted them to live eternally with them. And because Wayne followed Jesus’ example of caring for the whole person, he also started a tutoring program, then recreational services and then a health clinic, and job training and small business development. And after 20 years there was a congregation of 1,000 people who had come to faith in Christ in a community center that had a budget of $10 million dollars a year, transforming a whole section of Chicago.  

 Gabriel could see other committed Christians, hundreds and thousands of them scattered all around the world. Jesus was the center of their life and joy. Everywhere they were leading people to faith in Christ, they were throwing their arms around these broken people, walking with them as Christ brought them to wholeness. The ministries renewed broken families, empowered the poor, transformed violent neighborhoods. They corrected environmental pollution. They worked for freedom and peace and life and justice in society. And again and again, their goodness and their wholeness improved whole neighborhoods and whole countries. “Yes,” Gabriel concluded, “Jesus’ strategy really works when the people who claim the name are unconditionally committed to Jesus Christ.” Even a small percentage, Gabriel decided, of the 2 billion people today could easily change the world in dramatic ways. The ravages of divorce could end. Almost everybody could enjoy a decent job and adequate income. Violence, racism, war could recede if only a fraction of Jesus’ followers really practiced what Jesus’ preached. 

 And as Gabriel looked ahead into the next hundred years, thinking about Jesus’ astonishing game plan, the question he asked himself was this, “will there be enough Christians, like the first 120, will there be enough genuine Christians?”