It is the Season of Easter—Christ is alive! Today in our story we encounter the risen Christ as he draws close to his disciples with some final words. During this season, we are exploring what the resurrection narratives might reveal to help us prepare for Pentecost in just a few weeks. Last week, in John, it was peace that Jesus offered the disciples behind locked doors—a peace we, too, receive as we prepare to welcome the Holy Spirit and be sent out, just as they were.

This week, we hear another sending story—one we know well as the Great Commission—where Jesus names his authority and sends his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. As we return to this familiar text, perhaps there is something new waiting to meet us as we continue preparing for Pentecost.

So, let’s pray, read some scripture, and see what there is to discover in this final resurrection appearance from the Gospel of Matthew.

Prayer of Illumination
Holy God, resurrection is a story of the impossible made possible by your Love. As we listen today may we be aware of your presence inviting us into all that is possible through your Love shown to us through the life of Christ. Amen.

Read text…
Commissioning of the Disciples
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. 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 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

Holy Wisdom, Holy Word… Thanks be to God.

Unlike in John’s story, Jesus doesn’t appear on the evening of the resurrection. In Matthew, several days have passed as the disciples travel from Jerusalem back to Galilee, where it all began. When they finally see him on the mountain, they worship—and some doubt. It’s here in this moment, holding both faith and uncertainty, that Jesus steps toward the disciples and speaks his final words.

Jesus begins, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth.” Now, authority is complicated and can feel like a bit of a dirty word these days. We have come accustom to authority being nothing but a power grab, by people with privilege, rather than a position received based on merit. In the age of information - we are also keenly aware of how often people abuse the power that comes with their positions. But authority in the most positive sense of the word, is not just about power—it is also about trust.

So, what if this statement isn’t so much about authority or at least not just about it, but more about Jesus offering the disciples the opportunity to entrust themselves in him and this Way again. What if after all that had happen in the last two weeks, betrayal, denial, desertion this is another moment for the disciples to consider, to reflect, and to decide if, out of all the things and people they could put their trust in, they would faithfully trust in Jesus, and all that he had shown them about what God desires for the world.

It might seem strange to consider Jesus taking such a vulnerable position as to offer the disciples to chance to decide to put their trust in the way of Love, but we are given opportunities every day that reveal what we ultimately depend on.

Do we speak or keep silent?
Do we live as our full selves or hide parts of us away?
Do we look on people with judgment or seek understanding?

In each of those scenarios and so many more we choose to act with Love toward others and ourselves, or not. And no matter if we hit the mark or totally miss it, God meets us again and again giving us another opportunity to trust in a pattern of life shaped by Love.

Jesus continues “therefore” - it’s a word that points backward before going forward. If what I have just said is true for you - if you trust in my authority - go and invite others to share in this experience we have had together. Invite them into this alternative way of living grounded in radical love and peacefulness, compassion and justice.

This calling is so much bigger than simply making more disciples. It is an invitation to be cocreators, builders, of the kin-dom of God with God. It is here for the first time that the disciples are entrusted to teach, something reserved for Jesus alone in Matthew, and the first time they are told that the message is not just intended for Jews, widening the circle so that more lives might be transformed and through them, the world.

In this moment Jesus passes the baton to the disciples - it is now their turn to teach as he taught. Jesus used various teaching methods throughout his ministry; he preached, told stories, asked questions, and gave object lessons - but his most profound method of teaching was the way he lived his life - the way he embodied the Love of God in community. For Jesus to tell the disciples to go teach is to entrust his teaching, his life, into the very bodies of his disciples inviting them into an inextricable relationship with the divine, where, together with God, the disciples will participate in bringing about God full intentions for all of creation.

We as disciples today, are invited into this very same divine relationship. In our commitment to the way of Christ, we too are invited to co-create the kin-dom of God through the ordinary, embodied living of our lives. Living not for God but with God as Christ’s body here on earth, teaching not just with words, but through the way we show up in relationship with others. The others of “all nations”—all people, in all their diversity—so that the kin-dom we ultimately build, will not just consist of people who look, and think, and act like us but - will reflect the fullness of God found in the diverse spectrum of all of creation.

I know that in light of all that feels broken around us - it can seem as if there is no amount of goodness that we can put into the world and no number of relationships we can build that will make a difference, but we cannot give that kind of thinking control, we cannot allow all that is wrong determine how we live the lives we have entrusted to God.

I was listening to a podcast this week called —Death, Sex & Money— yes, I just said money from the pulpit, in this podcast the host seeks to talk about things people think about all the time, but don’t actually talk about much. Last week host Anna Sale and travel writer, Rick Steves were talking about a trip to Iran he took back in like 2009. Steves told a story about someone asking him why he would go there, to which he said, “I think it’s kind of good style to know people before you bomb them. You know, it should hurt.”

That line stuck with me, because it reminded me just how powerful human connection is. Human connection and relationships are so threatening to certain powers at work around us, that whole schemes are developed to keep us scared, distracted, and self-absorbed. There are entire principalities that want us to remain isolated and disconnected from each other so that we won’t be appalled when they use their power to do treacherous things. Why? Because they know that wars don’t start with bombs. They start with broken relationships.

And yet, even as these powers and principalities conspire to keep us apart and afraid, God draws near to us and draws us near to each other, because connection and community are the antidote to fear. Relationships allow us to see one another’s humanity—to seek understanding, to see and be seen. It’s a lot harder to hate, disregard, or dehumanize someone you’ve actually taken the time to know. Don’t give up on connection and community, to do so would be to surrender to an authority that is antithetical the way of Jesus, because being together is how we share the love of God with the world.

So send the text to the family member you muted because things got too tense. Check in. If you’re overwhelmed by what’s happening around immigration, but don’t know where to begin —go meet people, listen, learn. If there is a group of people you don’t understand—seek out their stories, their voices, their lived experiences.

Don’t let the ills of this world - have the last word on relationships.
Let Love have the last word.

I know these all sound like menial tasks but having placed our trust in a Love that brings about the very fullness of life, as we have joined with God through the embodiment of all the kin-dom has to offer - we are not just sending a text, or meeting a new person, or learning one person’s story - we are actively stitching back together the fabric of creation. We will never know how our faithfulness to living as Christ impacts others or what each little step in the direction of love can do in our communities - so take the step, and take it knowing that as you do, you are not alone.

Because Jesus’s final words are this, “I will be with you, always.”

Before Jesus spoke a word in our story this morning, we are told that the disciples worshipped and doubted, and yet Jesus approached them and spoke about all these things we’ve just discovered, promising to be with them always.

I am with you in your faith and in your doubt.
I am with you when you choose love, and when the world feels full of hate.
I am with you when you work to mend what is broken, and when you feel the need to step back and rest.
I am with you when you embody this way of life—and when you don’t know how.
I am with you always.

Today, we don’t just hear a sending—we witness a God who draws close. A God who invites us, again and again, to trust the way of Love. A God who brings us into this shared, sacred work of co-creating something new. And a God who promises to remain with us through it all. 

As we continue toward Pentecost, may we become increasingly aware of God closeness even as we are sent out.

Prepared so that...on Pentecost…

When the wind blows, we will recognize it as breath.
When the flames appear, we will feel them as warmth.
And in the noise of many languages all at once, we will hear a familiar voice saying:
I am close.
I am with you.
Always.

Amen.