“The Great Commission: Take One”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood PC, Birmingham, AL
Trinity Sunday, May 18, 2008
Text: Matthew 28:16-20
My favorite storyteller Garrison Keillor begins all of his stories, “It was a quiet week in Lake Woebegone, my hometown.” By contrast, it was not a quiet week in the pastor’s study. Lots of comings and goings. Meetings and more meetings, plus more distractions than usual-- sharing some great joy, and some genuine sadness. It was one of those weeks when the pastor is tempted to take a shortcut in sermon preparation--to go to the two bottom drawers of my file cabinet where ‘used’ sermons are stored to see if there is something that might be dusted off, freshened up for a second run.
After all, the gospel text--the Great Commission--is among the most prominent of the sayings of Jesus. In one form or another, it appears four times in the Newer Testament: once each in Matthew, Luke, John, and the Acts of the Apostles. Surely I could find something worthy of an encore. But I found nothing. Zip. Not a thing.
I can just hear some of my preacher buddies opining about that. ‘The man can’t even find a used sermon on the Great Commission and he wants to know why there are empty pews? Not a mystery to us.’ Just ask St. Paul:
“And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-15)
All of which is to say, I decided I needed to preach a sermon on this text from Matthew--and I’d better preach it here and now, and with conviction! So straight to the text I go: “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee”(v.16).
Once there were 12, now there are 11-- a stark reminder of the risk of betrayal in human affairs. Now there are 11 and they are in Galilee. The disciples’ presence in Galilee attests that the women--the first evangelist of the New Testament church--have carried out their commission from the angel at the empty tomb: “Go quickly and tell his disciples” that Jesus has been raised from the dead and will meet them back in Galilee (28.7).1
The disciples know to look for Jesus on the mountain--four times previously in Matthew, a mountaintop is the scene of sacred encounter. “When they saw him,” our narrator says, “they worshiped him.” By contrast to our inquiring minds the disciples first reaction to the Risen Jesus is not shock or fascination but kneeling in worship!
Well, at least most of them. Matthew plainly says, “some doubted.” This is an astonishing admission! Think about. Matthew is writing for the believing community, for the church--maybe for the benefit of new converts, new believers just trying to get the storyline straight. And here he concedes that even in the presence of the Risen Christ, on a mountaintop in Galilee no less, some doubted. Imagine that!
Listen to New Testament scholar Eugene Boring of Brite Divinity School in Texas:
(And some doubted) represents Matthew’s own theological
understanding
of the meaning of discipleship, which is always a matter of ‘little
faith,’
[“if you have faith the size of a mustard seed”] . . . . Faith (in
Matthew’s understanding) . . .
is not the same as cocksureness, but incorporates doubts within
itself in the act of worship.2
There is a television evangelist I confess to watching sometimes on Sunday evening on one of the local cable TV channels. This fellow is from up in Walker County and part of his charm is a pure Sand Mountain accent. He does the obligatory Bible-thumping of the televangelist, and he makes the standard pitch for his books and CD’s, guaranteed to solve your problems. But what mesmerizes me is his absolute certainty. Watching him I get the idea this fellow has never for one minute entertained a single doubt about anything in the Bible--not the flood, not the floating ax head, not the whale, not the walk on water. Why, I doubt he’s ever had reservations about anything in his life--no second thoughts about a major purchase, no uncertainty about how to raise his children, no indecision over the menu at the Cracker Barrel. This man is not the reflective type. How shocking it would be for him slow down for just one moment to focus on our gospel text today and see that even among Jesus’ disciples, his inner circle, “some doubted!” Even in the sacred presence of the Risen Christ, some wavered.
“Whatever the nature of the resurrection event,” writes Professor Boring, “it did not generate perfect faith even in those who experienced it firsthand.”3
Consider the contrast between the cocksure Dora evangelist, hawking his wares on TV, and the beloved Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Last year, on the 10th anniversary of her death, her private letters were published, with their shocking revelation that she was tormented by doubt--doubt about the very existence of the God whom she so selflessly served.
Reflecting on her letters, journalist Rod Dreher wrote this on behalf of the editorial board of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS:
To learn of her radical doubt is not to lose respect for Mother Teresa. It is rather to be awestruck by what she accomplished despite her all-too human fears. In her weakness, the rest of us may find strength. Ten years after the great and good woman of Calcutta's passing, we now know that she was no plaster saint. She was one of us.4
Mother Teresa would have been right at home among the 11 disciples on that mountaintop in Galilee. “Some doubted” and still, to this wavering group Jesus issues the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples. . . .” In other words, don’t wait for perfect understanding . . . . In fact and in faith, could be that an inquiring mind and a healthy dose of skepticism is just what Jesus has in mind for the group he entrusts here with the mission of spreading the good news of the gospel to all nations. Don’t wait for all the mysteries to be solved . . . . Don’t wait for unanimous consent or even Momma’s approval. “Go therefore” means go now, “and make disciples.” In the vernacular, Jesus might have said, “Boys, quit starring at your navels, and get to work.
Writes Matthew scholar Warren Carter: “Disciples do not live for themselves. Jesus commissions this group of disciples to form a worldwide community of Jewish and Gentile disciples.” This community--the Church--is to live out the ethic, the teachings of Jesus. Throughout his gospel Matthew has been trying to show the contrast between the values of Christian community versus the values and practices of the Empire. In the tradition of Rome and the Caesars, the gods commission the Empire to worldwide domination and military superiority. By stark contrast, Jesus commissions the Church to spread the gospel into all the world not by military conquest but using compassionate power, healing mercy, an inclusive community, and life giving words.”5
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded”(vv. 19-20).
Do this even though some of you are still uncertain. Some of you still have doubts. “It is not to angels or perfect believers, but to the worshipping/wavering community of disciples to whom the world mission is entrusted.”6
Not to the empire--with all of the trappings of power. Not to the academy--with all resources of intellect and knowledge. Not to commerce--with all of its wealth and privilege. But to the worshiping-even-as-we-are-wavering Church.
To the Orthodox Church in the East, to the Roman Church in the West, to Protestants, Catholics, the rapidly growing church in Africa to the marginalized mainstream church in America. To the mega-church and the little church; to this particular church: “Go therefore and make disciples,” baptizing them in the name of Triune God, and teaching them to obey all of our Lord’s commandments.
This is a daunting challenge, especially so for Presbyterians. We are fairly good at conducting worship; certainly here, we are faithful in celebrating the sacraments. Presbyterians have a long tradition of a teaching ministry. But outreach and evangelism? For these tasks, we usually organize a committee.
But we need not be so shy. After all, we believe that salvation--relationship with God--is a gift of grace that God freely gives. Only God calls, elects, sends and saves people. The Great Commission simply says that the Church has been chosen to tell people, to enlighten them, to let them know about the gracious gifts of life and faith God has given them. We are to tell people--people of all nations--of God’s sovereign love and mercy and justice.7
And do we do that? Following St. Francis, preach--and if we must, use words. Following Mother Teresa, reaching out with compassion and mercy to the least of these our sisters and brothers.
Now to the One
who by the power at work within us
is able to do far more abundantly
than all we ask or imagine,
to God be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20, 21
1 Carter, Warren, “The Gospel According to Matthew,” THE NEW
INTERPRETER’S STUDY BIBLE, notes, p. 1800.
2 Boring, Eugene, “Matthew,” THE NEW INTERPRETER’S BIBLE, vol. VIII,
p. 502.
3 Ibid.
4 http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2007/08/mother-teresas-suffering.html
5 Carter, notes, p. 1800.
6 Boring, p. 502-3.
7 George, Sherron Kay, “Reluctant Evangelists?”, from the “What
Presbyterians Believe” series in PRESBYTERIANS TODAY, April, 2002.