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Scripture for Sunday, October 8, 2017: Matthew 28:16-20
Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 31 & 32
This week we return to our Words on the Wall series after participating in World Communion Sunday last week.
So far we our series has considered God's power and love in creation; his providence in the unfolding of history; and God's in-the-flesh coming in Jesus Christ.
Now we turn our attention to Jesus' mission in the world. What does his role imply for our own mission as his people? Join us on Sunday as we hear his call and receive his assurance for lives of following him.
All, all, all--yes all! is Christ's
In Jesus' Great Commission of Matthew 28, those who follow Jesus receive their marching orders.
It's a climactic scene. Jesus has risen! He has appeared to some of the women, and instructed them to tell his disciples to meet him in Galilee.
So Jesus' joyous, anxious, confused disciples come to meet him, as he directs, on a mountain in the north. Important things happen on mountaintops in Matthew--think of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), or the Transfiguration (Matthew 17).
There they are--assembled to see their Risen Lord. But someone is missing from the group. Judas has killed himself. Scholar Dale Frederick Bruner notes that Jesus is "commanding a defective eleven," rather than a perfect, complete twelve.
Then Matthew reports that, while the disciples worshiped him, some doubted.
The team is incomplete. The team wrestles with its uncertainties. Yet Jesus' mission in the world does not stall for lack of a perfect team.
Jesus moves to reassure and challenge those who are inclined both to worship and to doubt (Matthew 28:17). And his message is a cornerstone command for mission agencies, Sunday school teachers, and Christians who want to be good neighbors right up to the present time.
"ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me," Jesus says.
"Therefore, disciples, make more disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey ALL I have commanded you.
"And surely I am with you ALWAYS, even to the close of the age."
Notice how comprehensive Jesus' reign is. See how many times the word "all" appears in these short verses?
What do the "alls" suggest?
Jesus has (1) cosmic and comprehensive authority. He is a King who has "the whole world in his hands." (2) Jesus is ruler of all earthly people groups. No nation's troubles or needs surprise him; and he calls people from all kinds of places to belong to him. (3) He is a prophet/teacher, who has lived and taught comprehensively on what life with God entails, commanding us to obey him and to teach what he taught. (4) He is a priest who intercedes for us with God and gives us assurance. He grants us an all-times, all-places promise of his presence to empower us for lives that honor him.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion:
1. From the Sermon: What is it about who Jesus is that excites you, personally?
2. From the Sermon: What universal human questions does Jesus' priesthood, role as prophet/teacher, and king answer? Can you speak about these things in a way that a 10-year-old could understand? In a way that your neighbor who doesn't know Christ could understand?
3. What role--prophet, priest, or king--makes the most sense to you? Which role feels more foreign? What role gives you great hope?
4. When you are invited to follow Jesus in these prophetic, priestly, kingly ways, which role seems the most natural to who you are?
5. What role does (or has) doubt play in your own Christian faith journey? If you find yourself in a time of doubt, you are in good company. Calvin says that we need to have the gospel preached to us weekly, because we are all "partly unbelievers 'til we die." What gives you strength in times or places of doubt?
6. How do you understand your own call to follow Christ in his mission to live and share the gospel? What holds you back when you want to live boldly? What kind of equipping do you need?
