"All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God" (Ps 98). For the psalm-writer, the world was a smaller place. It wasn't just a limited geography (not actually knowing what lands or seas lay beyond the boundaries of common experience), but also a limited theology, inasmuch as people tended to equate their own race and land with "the ends of the earth". The first Christian preaching of the Good News, likewise, was among the Jewish people from whom Jesus himself and his followers came. It's location was the synagogue and the Jewish sabbath. It was a little while before the young Christian community began to include the "pagans". Acts 13 tells of the experience of Paul and Barnabas in their synagogue preaching, the opposition they met, and becoming aware of the fact that their mission was to be to the pagans. This was how the salvation brought by Jesus would "reach the ends of the earth".

After 2000 years, though, can we yet say that Jesus' salvation has reached the ends of the earth? We may be better informed about earth-geography and space, and the history of peoples and religions, and the name of Jesus may have reached all corners of the earth. But when will all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God? We're really only a small community, and our mission is incomplete. Are we maybe still stuck with a limited geography and theology, giving us false notions of influence and importance in the world today? How do we share the risen Jesus' role as "Light for the Nations"?