Matthew 28: 16-20
It is Trinity Sunday and the earliest ‘formula’ for even
thinking about the Trinity is in the Gospel of Matthew. But rather than focusing on what or how
the Trinity really works – that’s waaay too doctrinal for a sunny Sunday
morning after a busy and very strawberry infested Saturday so I want to focus
on what is called the ‘Great Commission’ which is also part of this morning’s
scripture reading. The Trinity is
of course important to our faith because that’s what makes us uniquely
Christian as opposed to being Unitarian, Buddhist or Jews. But the great commission is why
Christianity is still alive today as one of the world’s faith traditions.
Today’s scripture comes from the end of the Gospel of
Matthew. The women who followed Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, have
come to the empty tomb looking for Jesus.
After much rumbling of an earthquake they come to find an angel parked
at the tomb instead. The angel
tells them to run and tell the disciples that Jesus has been raised to life and
that he would meet them up in Galilee.
And so following celestial orders they run back and are met by Jesus who
also lets them know that they should meet him up in the Galilee region. Galilee was home to these fisher men. I
find it reassuring that Jesus wanted to meet them up in their old familiar place.
So let’s pick up the Gospel of Matthew, the 28th chapter.
Now the eleven disciples went to
Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him,
they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “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. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This is not a lot of passage but it packs a punch for its buck. After the disciples get themselves back
home in the Galilee and to the mountain Jesus directed them to…Godly things
always happen on mountains in the Bible….they finally saw Jesus and they worshipped
him. This was the first time that
they had seen their risen Lord and they were happy to see him and probably fell
to their knees and prayed. But also scripture says, some doubted. Funny how Matthew sticks this little
bit of information in there. Some
weren’t sure of all this and some had reservations as to how this could
be. Jesus was dead and now he is
alive.
There are probably a few of us who have some uncertainty to as to this
resurrection story or any part of Jesus’ story. Right after college I went to talk with my pastor because I
thought that I was sensing a call to missionary work. Well after much soul searching I realized that I had some
doubts of my own about this whole Jesus thing and really didn’t want to tell
that ‘old, old story’, or be a witness in the world. Obviously that has changed, God brought me down few notches
right to where God needed me to be and now I love to talk about, to preach and
to live that ‘old, old story of Jesus and his love’ because the truths that lie
within and the hope for my life and my living are all contained in them.
So doubt is ok, we can still tell our stories of faith, it may not be
as overt as a preacher but any way you manage to live out Christ’s story and
then tell about it works. That is
effective witness. The key is
living it out, not keeping it in which is what Jesus says next to his disciples
in this passage. Go. Teach.
Baptize. Remember. These are
pretty basic instructions. He commissions them for service in the world. If
ever you wondered what God wants from you, remember this. Go. Teach. Baptize. It is the ‘great commission’ for the
disciples and for us too.
But let’s admit it, fulfilling this great commission go, teach
baptize, might seem like just one more thing to do doesn’t it? Or if not that, it might just make some
of us downright uncomfortable to talk about our faith with others or even with
those inside of our four walls. Do
we really even know how to begin to share our faith? And what part of our faith do we share? The command is to go and immerse the
world in the Christian story and your faith.
‘Go’ seems to be the operative word here. Simply go. Do not stay put and get comfy in your cushioned
pews, do not stay within these beautiful sanctuary walls and contemplate the
deep meaning of life, you can only do that for so long.
Jesus didn’t say ‘If you build it, they will come.” Remember that line? It was spoken by the character Ray
Kinsella played by Kevin Costner in the movie “Field of Dreams” way back in
1989. He saw a vision and heard a voice
urging him to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield in Iowa. He follows
that dream and Shoeless Joe Jackson appears as do others for the windup and the
pitch. Hundreds of people stream
to the cornfield baseball diamond all because of the voice he heard, “If you
build it, they will come”. But
that is the movies where anything can happen and usually does. Well we do not
live on a movie set and ‘Jesus didn’t say, if you build it they will come’[i],
not even close.
White clabbered sanctuaries didn’t
even cross his mind as a carpenter in the first century! It’s the real unusual person who will
just come on a Sunday morning because we have a pretty bucolic footprint here
on the Green in Orange. No, we
need to go out and tell the story of our lives and how that intersects with our
faith. And you can do it without
going all doctrinal on people who might roll their eyes at the hint of
doctrine. Tertullian and
Athanasius wanted doctrine. We do
not. And yet our faith and the
tenets of it are very important to our lives. And so is witnessing, Go. Teach. Baptize.
So here’s one way to witness your faith in public.
Let’s say we had a strawberry festival recently. And after
the sweet aroma of strawberry pies wears off from your clothing, after you’ve
had a chance to soak your feet, massage your lower back, that realization hits
you like a brick on the head that you have to go back to work, or your normal
routine. Monday happens. And people will inevitably ask about
your weekend.
What will you say?
A generic response, “Oh it was fine, busy but fine”. Or might you say with all of the
enthusiasm that you can possibly muster, “It was fabulous. MY CHURCH, the Orange Congregational
Church (note the commercial here) had a strawberry festival and I worked
it. It was great, I got to see old
friends and work right along side someone that I hadn’t see in ages. And it was so wonderful to see everyone
of all ages working so hard together.
But honestly, it wasn’t work, it’s just something we do as a community
of faith so that we can help others in the area”!!!
That’s witness!
This is Go. Teach. Baptize.
This is where your life’s story interests with Christ’s life story and
we must tell it. If you are not
excited about your faith and what your faith community does then chances are
others will not be interested either and so why bother? To make money for our coffers? Nope, that’s not it, if that’s all we
do then we will fail as Christ followers.
Everything we do at Orange Congregational whether it is to make jam,
polish our red cars, hull strawberries ad nauseum, flip burgers is for Christ
and others, not ourselves.
When looked at that way it becomes a powerful witness to the
miraculous power of God’s love.
All I can say is go and tell.
Be assured. Be confident
that God is with you every step of the way creating opportunity and growth for
you, that Jesus the Christ will redeem you from every ill that will consume
your life, and that the Holy Spirit will sustain you in God’s love, God’s grace
and God’s abiding energy and affirmation of your life.
Amen.
[i] Idea from
Jennifer Copeland, The Living Word from the Christian Century Magazine. p 20 June 11, 2014 issue.
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