Holy
Trinity
Matthew
28:16-20
HERE COMES THE
A-TEAM
At the end of the
Gospel of Matthew the risen Jesus appears to the eleven disciples and gives them
the Great Commission: “All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded
you.”
In studying this
Great Commission passage I have never paid much attention to the verse
immediately before it. But this
week verse 17 jumped out: “When they saw
him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”
Consider who is
doubting here. We are talking about
the closest followers of Jesus—the A-team—the varsity. For three years they have walked with
him, lived with him, listened to him, and ministered with him. No one knows Jesus better than they
do. Jesus had assured them
repeatedly that he would rise again.
Yet when the risen Jesus appears to them, as he said he would, some
members of the A-team doubted.
That could be
discouraging to us. We would expect
the A-team to be full of confidence, to model faithful following of Jesus. How are we to maintain our faith if even
members of the A-team struggled with doubt?
Jesus, however,
does not appear discouraged. He
does not rebuke them for their doubt.
He does not wait for them to resolve all their faith struggles. He does not separate those who doubted
from those who believed.
When Jesus looks
at the disciples, he does not see a bunch of doubters. Instead, he sees a team of disciples
capable of carrying out the Great Commission. He entrusts all eleven members of the
A-team, including the doubters with that mission. His final assurance is that he will be
with them for the long haul as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus is confident that in the process
of going and making disciples their faith will grow
stronger.
Many of us
probably feel like we do not belong on the A-team. We too may be struggling with
doubts. Or we may feel simply that
our faith is not strong enough to make the A-team. But that does not stop Jesus from
commissioning us. Jesus looks at us
and does not see doubters or B-teamers.
He sees disciples capable of helping him carry out the Great
Commission.
The gospel of
Matthew was first written down for the benefit of the church community led by
Matthew. Surely there were members
of Matthew’s church community who struggled with doubt and their lack of
faith. They were not perfect
believers. The Great Commission,
however, was not given to perfect believers. It was given by Jesus to those whom
Jesus had chosen to be his followers.
The Great Commission was intended to be a source of comfort and
encouragement for the team of disciples in Matthew’s church community—especially
for those struggling with their doubts.
Despite their shortcomings, Jesus entrusted them with the Great
Commission.
During my youth I
remember watching the TV show “Mission Impossible”. At the time it seemed high tech. An agent would find a hidden tape
recorder and listen to a message describing his mission. The agent was allowed to choose whether
or not to accept this mission. The
last line heard was always: “This tape
will self-destruct in 5 seconds.”
Jesus gave his
disciples a mission impossible.
They were to make disciples of all nations or all peoples. What a daunting task! It was truly a worldwide mission, and
the first disciples did not have the benefit of air travel or the internet. Obviously Jesus did not expect this task
would be accomplished in a day or a week or a month or a year or even a few
years.
Notice that Jesus
specifies how he wants them to accomplish this mission. First, they are to baptize in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—that is, in the name of the triune God. Second, they are to teach them to obey
everything that Jesus commanded.
Thus, baptism is a
two part process. First there is
the one time event of baptism in which the baptismal candidate is
identified—without qualification— as a beloved child of God, loved by Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. So much can
be taken from us in life, but no one can take away our special identity as a
beloved child of God What follows the one time event is a lifelong process of
growing in our relationship to God, learning what it means to be a beloved child
of God and to follow the teachings of Jesus.
The inspiration or
motivation for this mission is a vision of community that is breathtaking in its
scope. Jesus sees the community of
God--that is, the community of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The community Jesus sees includes people
of every tribe and race and nation and culture; it embraces the whole
creation.
What holds this
community together? The answer is
love—God’s love— self-giving love.
God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit—the Holy Trinity— do not cling to their
love for each other. They reach out
in love toward all peoples and toward the whole creation. For this reason, we can be received into
the community of God as full members.
We do not need any special qualifications. As human beings, we can be loved by God
and others; and we can love God, other human beings, and the whole
creation. Therefore, we qualify for
the community of God. We are
children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, members of the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit. This is not pious
language. This is the foundation of
our faith. This is
reality.
Martin Luther King
Jr. and others have referred to this community of God as the Beloved
Community. A beloved person is one
who is totally and thoroughly loved.
A beloved community is one in which each individual is totally and
thoroughly loved by every other member of the community. The three persons of the Trinity are
seeking to gather all of us into the Beloved Community. No one stands outside the scope of God’s
love.
Thus, when Jesus
commissions the A-team to make disciples of all peoples, he envisions one
community of those beloved by God.
Every person is loved by God; so every person is included in Jesus’
vision. Jesus does not see insiders
and outsiders. He does not see
members and non-members. He does
not see believers and non-believers.
Baptism makes
visible that the one baptized is a member of the Beloved Community. That does not mean, however, that the
Beloved Community includes only those who have been baptized. Jesus’ vision includes baptized and
unbaptized alike.
While we are yet
sinners, while we are yet struggling with doubts, while we are yet afflicted
with prejudices and shortcomings, Jesus sees us in the Beloved
Community.
Given this vision
of Jesus, our mission can be understood as taking concrete steps to embody and
make visible the Beloved Community.
Our concrete actions can speak louder than words.
When we collect
food for those who are hungry, the Beloved Community is embodied. When Habitat for Humanity builds a home
for someone in need of shelter, the Beloved Community is embodied. When we welcome strangers into our
midst, the Beloved Community is embodied.
When someone serves as a guide or mentor for our youth, the Beloved
Community is embodied. When the
Green Team and others work to restore our wetland, the Beloved Community is
embodied. When Lutheran Community
Services Northwest helps those in special need, the Beloved Community is
embodied. When we seek to reconcile
with someone who has wronged us or who is different than us, the Beloved
Community is embodied.
We may not be
perfect believers. We may have our
doubts. We may have a host of other
shortcomings. Nonetheless, we are
capable of being loved and of loving.
When we begin to see the Beloved Community as Jesus sees it, it becomes
clear that in Jesus’ eyes we are all on the A-team and that Jesus
continues to need the A-team to get the job done.
In Jesus’ name,
AMEN.