Jesus gives instructions to the disciples

Matthew 28:16-20

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Jesus told the women at the tomb to tell the rest of the disciples to meet him in Galilee. And that is where they saw him. (Matthew skips over the other stories of the disciples seeing the risen Jesus, this is the one he wants to tell because it acts as a fitting conclusion to his account of Jesus.)

When they see the risen Jesus – they all worship. Worship is the only logical response to meeting Jesus raised to life again. Jesus had proven that he was exactly who he claimed to be the Son of God, worship is the only logical response.

But in their worship, even as they worship, some of them doubted. We are not told the details of their doubt, that is unimportant. What is important is this: the choice to follow Jesus, to obey Jesus, to worship Jesus does not mean we will have no questions, that we will have no uncertainties. Choosing to follow Jesus means that we bring our questions, our uncertainties with us, we do not need to have worked everything out before we start following. We begin following as we are, following because we love Jesus and want to love Him more. Along the way we find answers to some of our questions and we also discover that other of our questions become less important than we thought they were.

All disciples, even those with doubts, are sent by Jesus, on Jesus’ authority, as teachers of the Jesus way and to baptize those who wish to become Jesus’ followers. The disciples, and we, have been given a mission, to nurture followers of Jesus, people who will become loyal to the Jesus way – both in being baptized as belonging to the Triune God of grace (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and in becoming obedient to Jesus. These newly formed disciples are to live Jesus’ pattern in the world – for Jesus too was baptized and was obedient to God the Father. This is the pattern of following Jesus.  

PRAYER:

O Lord, we rejoice that you have raised Jesus to life, in wonder and awe we worship. Help us, even as we have doubts, questions, uncertainties, to follow Jesus. Shape us into people who encourage others to follow the Jesus way, becoming disciples of Jesus. In whose name we pray. Amen.