A task is a tax

Often missionary types refer to the Great Commission as the ‘task’ that remains for the church. What, exactly, is a task? Words spring to mind, often very obvious ones: a job, a duty, a chore. Something to be done.

It’s interesting that something we want to do is rarely considered a task. Tasks are things assigned to us, things that make demands on our “time, talents and treasures.” The origin of the word ‘task’ comes from the very old Latin word ‘taxare’: ‘to censure, charge or compute.’ (This is, obviously, the same word we get ‘tax’ from.) It originated from the Greek word ‘tassein,’ which meant ‘to fix’: a task is something done to fix something.

Now, consider: what does it mean to “finish the task”? This phrase is widely used in the ‘missionary’ circles I travel in. I’ve used it myself. The technical term for “finishing the task” is “closure” (see The problem of closure). Both of these phrases are missiological terms with eschatological meaning—but most people don’t use words like “missiological” and “eschatological.” Without a great deal of effort, we usually don’t think of the technical definitions of words we use, regardless of the context. Our brains immediately go to the popular meaning of the word.

When we hear the word ‘finish,’ we think along these lines:

• “we need to finish the job by the end of the day”: to bring a task or activity to an end, to complete it, to reach the end, to conclude, stop, cease or terminate
• “finish your meal—don’t you know kids are starving in Africa?”: to consume or get through the final amount or portion of something (food, drink)
• “the war was finished”: an activity came to an end
• “I’m so finished with that series”: to have no more need of something
• “she finished the marathon in third place”: to reach the end of a competition

In the same way, if we use a word like ‘closure,’ the minds of our listeners do not automatically think of the ‘missiological’ definition. ‘Closure’ brings up images of:

• “the hospital was going bankrupt and faced closure”: something being closed or shut down:
• “I am desperately trying to get closure on this, but I just don’t know how”: a sense of resolution or conclusion, often emotional
• “we will close on the house on Monday”: the related idea of the completion of a sale

Think about those definitions:

• ‘finishing a task’ can emotionally feel like ‘paying a tax.’
• ‘Reaching closure’ can carry with it a very negative feeling about the thing we are reaching closure on.

This is further exacerbated by our Western culture: we have become ‘task driven’ to the point of ‘stressed-out busy.’ Each task finished (tax paid) is a point of pride (I had the riches of time, talent and treasure to accomplish that task), while each unfinished is a condemnation of our lack of capacity to ‘reach closure.’

It is no surprise, then, when people become disillusioned as they consider the scope of the Great Commission. A shallow consideration of the challenges can lead us to feel it’s an impossible burden: something that we cannot finish, where we will never reach closure, where we will never measure up. Is that the reality—or is it all in how we’re thinking about it?