Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-april-4-2024
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I’ve occasionally heard people who call themselves Christians – and even a few who don’t call themselves Christians – say they try to live by the Sermon on the Mount. A big chunk of our denomination calls its churches “Matthew 25 churches.” Judging by the T-shirts, tattoos and the signs behind goal posts at football games, lots of people think of themselves as “John 3:16 Christians.”
But there don’t seem to be that many followers of Jesus who point to the passage that’s today’s gospel reading as the touchstone passage of their faith. That seems like a shame to me. It’s called the Great Commission, and for good reason. Although it might not be mentioned that often when you ask people for their favorite passages, it seems to me that the Great Commission has to be considered one of the central texts of the Christian faith.
I suppose one of the reasons the Great Commission isn’t considered such a popular ‘life passage’ is that it commands us to go into the world and make disciples. Most people in our ‘mainline’ segment of the church don’t have much enthusiasm for evangelism – and that’s probably putting it mildly. Actually, most Presbyterians hate the idea of talking about their faith anywhere outside the walls of the church. There’s an old joke: What do you get when you cross a Presbyterian with a Jehovah’s Witness? Some who knocks on the door but doesn’t say anything.
I even got a hostile response recently from a Presbyterian pastor when I mentioned the idea of our responsibility to make disciples.
“No one can make disciples!” she said with great finality. “Only God can do that!” I suggested that she could straighten Jesus out on that point when she meets him in the heavenly kingdom, since he specifically directs us the make disciples in this famous passage.
(I probably should have kept my mouth shut. I guess that’s why some people think my spiritual gift is ‘irritation.’)
Anyway, it seems to me this passage ought to challenge us to rethink our commitment to making disciples, and even to reflect on how we understand the meaning of discipleship. If I understand the meaning of the word disciple, it means a person who has made a deep personal commitment to learning all they can from one particular teacher, and to learning in a way that will change the way they live.
It seems to me we need to distinguish between being a disciple and being a church member. Being a church member means your name is on the membership rolls of a church somewhere, and that you generally agree to obey its rules – both its written and unwritten rules. In most churches, that means if you come to worship regularly, sit quietly while you’re there, and throw a few bucks in the offering plate, you’re considered a good member. That’s true even if you hardly think about Jesus from Sunday to Sunday, and never give a moment’s thought to his teachings as you live your daily life.
But being a disciple has daily ramifications. A true disciple thinks daily about the teachings and the example of Jesus. Very few major decisions are made in the life of a true disciple without considering how that decision reflects living by the teachings of Jesus.
So it seems to me that for those of us who identify ourselves as followers of Jesus, the first step in obeying the Great Commission is to ask whether we have actually committed ourselves to genuine discipleship – to ask if we’ve ‘made disciples of ourselves.’ To ask ourselves whether we’re really committed to learning from Jesus, and whether we’re really open to having him change us. Because it’s probably true that only those who are really functioning as disciples themselves can fulfill Jesus’ commission to make disciples of others.
Teaching others to obey the teachings of Jesus is part of the deal, as Jesus describes it here. Lots of Christians seem to think their task is to explain to others how sinful they are, and how they’re going straight to hell unless they straighten up. But that hardly ever works. A far better strategy, and one that actually does work sometimes, is to let it be known that we see ourselves as sinners who are working hard to do a better job of being disciples – of living by the example and teaching of Jesus. If every follower of Jesus suddenly switched from self-righteous judgment of others to humbly confessing our sins and opening ourselves to transformation by the Holy Spirit, we’d have a lot more success in leading others to obey what Jesus taught.
There are several other things in this passage that deserve a lot of thought. One of them is that it says that the disciples worshiped the risen Christ, but that “some doubted.” Some followers of Jesus struggle with great guilt because they have doubts – especially about the resurrection. But this passage says that even some of the original disciples wrestled with doubt – and those people knew Jesus personally. Faith is belief in the presence of doubt, so it’s important to walk the path of discipleship to deepen your faith, but don’t feel guilty if you experience doubt.
It’s also significant that the Great Commission begins with the word, “Go.” Centuries ago, churches became institutions with buildings and grounds and programs. By now, most church members have fallen into the habit of thinking that the main work of the church is to have a comfortable sanctuary and good music and spellbinding preaching and a really entertaining kids’ program so that people will come to us. But Jesus did not say, ‘Stay here and see if you can get someone to come in.’ Instead, he commanded us to go into the world with the gospel message. Most of the work of a truly vital church takes place outside the walls of its meeting house.
It’s also in the Great Commission that Jesus talks about the Trinity as a theological concept. There have been hints about the Trinity at various points in the life and ministry of Jesus, like at his baptism when God spoke and the Spirit descended like a dove. But it’s at this point, after his resurrection, that Jesus specifically links the three persons of God together in a way that suggests that they are equal and inseparable persons united as the God we serve.
And finally, we should notice that the closing words of the Great Commission (and the whole gospel of Matthew, for that matter) are a promise: Jesus says that he is ‘always with us, to the very end of the age.’ I don’t know about you, but to me that’s a tremendously comforting thought in scary times like these, when war and turmoil raise their ugly heads. If his death on the cross proved anything, it proved that God was willing to be with us in the very worst of the human experience. So wherever we are on our walk of faith, we can be confident that Jesus is there.
Maybe you can see why I say the Great Commission should be regarded as a central text of the Christian faith.
Let’s pray: Lord, you know that we find the Great Commission very intimidating, but we trust in the promises of Jesus, and so we know that with his strengthening presence, we can do the work he has given us to do. Empower us to that work, we pray. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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