There’s plenty of debate around what Jesus prioritized during His ministry, but thankfully, we don’t have to guess — we can go straight to His own testimony.
I once heard a sermon where the pastor tallied up the number of resurrection miracles Jesus performed for men versus women. His takeaway? Jesus prioritized the poor, the female, and the marginalized — and therefore, Christians should too.
Before I move into the more serious portion of this article, allow me two (intentionally silly) rebuttals:
The vast majority of Jesus’ miracles were performed for Jews. Should Christians then prioritize Jewish groups? Marginalized Jewish groups?
Or should we pull a “principle of the matter” conclusion — that because Jesus primarily cared for His own ethnic group, we too should prioritize ours?
Ridiculous, right? But this shows how easily someone could arrive at either a nationalistic ideology or a well-meaning but flimsy social justice theology, depending on how they (poorly) interpret the text.
Here’s the good news: We don’t have to mine hidden meanings or dissect miracle demographics. We don’t need to overemphasize ethnicity or social categories. Jesus came for the spiritually poor, the spiritually needy, the spiritually overlooked. He came for the whole world, to reconcile people to God. He came to transfer His people from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of His marvelous light — and we know this because He said so.
What Did Jesus Say He Was Doing?
The Bible is the best commentary on itself. We don’t need to speculate about what Jesus was doing — He and the gospel writers tell us explicitly:
Matthew 4:17 – Jesus preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Matthew 4:23 – Jesus went throughout Galilee... proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.
Matthew 9:35 – ...proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease.
Mark 1:14–15 – Jesus preached, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Luke 4:43 – “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God... for I was sent for this purpose.”
Luke 8:1 – Jesus “proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God.”
Acts 1:3 – After His resurrection, Jesus continued speaking about the Kingdom.
Jesus’ own words in Luke 4 say it plainly:
“I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God, for I was sent for this purpose.”
Why was Jesus sent? To preach the Kingdom.
What did He do while He was here? Preach the Kingdom and perform miracles.
What did He expect His followers to do? Preach the Kingdom.
Covered in the Dust of the Rabbi
There’s an ancient Jewish concept, rooted in the Mishnah (Pirkei Avot 1:4), that talks about being “covered in the dust” of your rabbi — walking so closely behind your teacher that the dust from his feet falls on you. It’s a metaphor for discipleship: learning not just what your teacher says, but how he lives.
Jesus alludes to this when He calls Simon Peter and Andrew:
“Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”
He invited them to walk with Him, learn from Him, and become like Him. Their time with him would end with them doing what He did — fishing for people, proclaiming the Kingdom.
And they did:
Matthew 10:7 – “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
Luke 9:2 – Jesus sent the Twelve “to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”
Luke 9:6 – “They went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people.”
Luke 10:9–11 – “Heal the sick... and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
What About After the Resurrection?
Did the mission change? Not at all.
Acts 1:3 – Jesus appeared over 40 days “speaking about the kingdom of God.”
Acts 8:12 – Philip “preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.”
Acts 14:22 – Paul preached “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”
Acts 19:8 – Paul “argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.”
Acts 20:25 – Paul said “I have gone about preaching the kingdom.”
Acts 28:23 – Paul “witnessed... about the kingdom of God.”
Acts 28:31 – Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about Jesus with boldness.
So, What Did Jesus Do?
What did Jesus do: Evangelism, accompanied by good works
What did His followers do? Evangelism, often accompanied by good works
And here’s something interesting about that word. “Evangelism” comes from the Greek euangelion — meaning “good news.” It’s the same root word we get gossip from.
In a way, evangelism is just gospel gossip — speaking good news when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise.
Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom.
His followers proclaimed the Kingdom.
And that’s our calling, too.