Matthew 28:16-20'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.'
It was a time of wonder. And it was a time of fear. The eleven disciples had just heard what was most difficult to believe. Some of the women among them, also disciples, had gone to Jesus’ tomb and had found it empty. And those women came back to the eleven with a message: Go ahead to Galilee. He will meet you there. Jesus will meet you there.
It’s like they had gone full circle, isn’t it? Galilee is right where their ministry started. It was right where they had seen their lives transformed, where they had seen other lives transformed. Healings, prayers, meals where everyone was included, and life-altering parables. They had seen it, traveling around Galilee with Jesus.
And now, after their experience of grief, pain, and confusion in Jerusalem, they return to Galilee, uncertain of so many things. They doubted. Could it be? Could he be? But even in their doubt, they risked the journey. They went to that mountain in Galilee. And there was Jesus – the Risen Christ – standing right in front of them, sending them out to be who they were called to be from the beginning, people who are commissioned, sent in love to disciple others, called to baptize others into the Name of God which is a Communion of Love – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and to send these new disciples out as well, living as the ones they were created to be. This was full circle, this arrival in Galilee. And these disciples were being commissioned to participate in a circle that was becoming deeper and more widespread all the time. A full and progressively fuller circle.
I’m grateful that the text says they doubted. I’m not grateful that they had an experience of doubt, of course – that’s never a pleasant experience - but I am grateful that they were like us. Sometimes we doubt. We doubt God. We doubt possibilities. We doubt ourselves. We doubt one another. We doubt too.
The NRSV translation above says that “some” doubted when they worshiped Jesus on the mountain. So do a few other English translations. “Some.” But I was stunned and oddly heartened when I discovered the Greek text of this passage doesn’t say the word ‘some’. It just isn’t there. It says, “But they doubted.” Not ‘some’. ‘They’. That sounds like all to me. The word “some” is in a few variant manuscripts of Greek that were copied later, but the word isn’t there in the majority of Greek manuscripts. Who knows? Maybe English translators wanted to be comforted that doubt was there. . . but it was only some of those people, you know. . . those people, those doubter people. Not us.
No, the disciples all doubted. We’re all doubters at least at one time or another.
And so Jesus – the Risen Christ - looks at the bunch of them - rag-tag people, really. They were fishermen and tax-collectors. Nothing really special, at least not in any extraordinary sense. Jesus knows they’re a bunch of doubters and a rag-tag group of people who aren’t too extraordinary in the world’s eyes. He sees them for who they are, and he loves them. And he trusts them. In fact, he entrusts them with an ever-enlarging mission. He entrusts them with a Great Commission. He entrusts a rag-tag group of doubters because he sees them, not through the lens of their doubt or their lackluster. He sees them through love and knows them as transformed human beings who will transform the world – not through their own authority and power, but through his. He has chosen to entrust himself to them and through them.
And, you know – that’s what faith is really about: trust. It’s not ultimately about belief, at least in the ways we define that word today. Isn’t that strange? We hear the word ‘believe’ a lot when we talk about faith. We read it in our scriptures. And perhaps one of the saddest things is that when we see the word, especially in our scriptures, we often super-impose our cultural understanding of what that word means onto the text. In our culture, when someone believes, that person intellectually assents to something. “Yep, I believe that. Check yes!”
But the word ‘believe’ in our scriptures says something much deeper than that. Often in the gospels, in the original language, the word ‘believe’ is often followed by the word ‘into.’ Isn’t that interesting? Believing doesn’t simply mean to intellectually assent to some idea. It means to believe into – to trust – someone, in this case, Jesus Christ. Believe into Jesus Christ. Entrust yourself – your entire being – into Jesus Christ. Trust and risk that you can put your weight on the foundation of Who He Is. Believe into him. Lean yourself – your convictions, your doubts, your gifts, your weaknesses, your questions, your pain, your joy – lean all of it – all of yourself – into who this one is. That’s much deeper than intellectual assent, isn’t it? That’s much deeper and more profound than a ‘check yes’ mentality to this theological proposition or that theological proposition. It’s also much harder.
It’s much harder! And here is the Risen Christ standing before a bunch of rag-tag doubters, and he puts this type of belief into action. He believes in his disciples – not because of their specialness or extraordinary-ness, not because of their ‘check yes’ intellectual assent (they’re doubters!) – he believes in his disciples by entrusting himself to them. Yes, entrusting himself to them! In his name and in his authority, these disciples will make disciples and baptize those disciples into Love, sending out even more people. They are participating in and reverberating through a circle of love, mission, and service – sending it wider and wider all the time.
And Jesus isn’t leaving them. No, the Risen Christ entrusts himself, pledging to be with them every moment along the way. Not just here and there. Every moment! Not just at the end. Every moment! He says, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Always. To and through the end. Always. Always, Christ is present with his disciples. Always, Christ is present with us.
And Christ is present with us at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. We’ve discerned Christ’s risen presence among us. We’ve worshiped. We’ve had doubts. We’ve asked questions. We’ve journeyed. We’ve laughed. We’ve played. We’ve cried. We’ve confided. We’ve loved. We’ve prayed. We’ve invited others. And through it all, we’ve witnessed Christ’s presence among us. We’ve made disciples. We’ve taught. We’ve sent one another forth. And we’ve done all these things – not because we’re more special than others, or because we’re extraordinary – we’ve done them because we’ve had the opportunity – the incredible opportunity! – to participate in a circle larger than ourselves, a circle that grows wider and wider all the time. We don’t do it in our name. We do it in Christ’s Name. What a gift.
Have you ever dropped a rock into a pond of some kind and watched the ripples go out? When we drop a pebble, we can see those ripples for a while, but as they spread out wider, it’s hard for us to see how and where they’re continuing. But they are. And have you ever participated in something that led to something else which led to something else, onward and onward with a constant ripple effect? Maybe those ripples have been initiated by us, but after a while, they take a life of their own and move outward from us in ways that are beyond our control. I think that’s what we’re doing here in this community. I think that’s what God is doing in and through us. In our lives together, in our actions together and out in our larger spheres of life, we’re working (failing sometimes, but working) to entrust ourselves to Jesus Christ, who has entrusted himself to us, and that process of entrusting ourselves is like dropping a rock into the pond of God’s grace, and we too are being commissioned for service. We’re called to make waves. We’re called to set waves of God’s love into motion. We do this as individuals, but maybe even more importantly, we do it as a community.
You are invited into a community that makes waves. And you are called to make more waves all the time. Swim deep. Splash and play with all your gusto! Jesus Christ has entrusted himself – he has leaned all of Who He Is into you – and he commissions you to fully live, making disciples, doing works of justice and kindness in this world. Make waves! Make waves, Pasadena Presbyterian Church. Splash like crazy! Splash and make waves because you have experienced the Risen Christ and you are witnesses in this world.
Thanks be to God for the gift of entrusting, for the gift of becoming, for the gift of belonging. Make waves. It’s who you are!
Renée Roederer
And so Jesus – the Risen Christ - looks at the bunch of them - rag-tag people, really. They were fishermen and tax-collectors. Nothing really special, at least not in any extraordinary sense. Jesus knows they’re a bunch of doubters and a rag-tag group of people who aren’t too extraordinary in the world’s eyes. He sees them for who they are, and he loves them. And he trusts them. In fact, he entrusts them with an ever-enlarging mission. He entrusts them with a Great Commission. He entrusts a rag-tag group of doubters because he sees them, not through the lens of their doubt or their lackluster. He sees them through love and knows them as transformed human beings who will transform the world – not through their own authority and power, but through his. He has chosen to entrust himself to them and through them.
And, you know – that’s what faith is really about: trust. It’s not ultimately about belief, at least in the ways we define that word today. Isn’t that strange? We hear the word ‘believe’ a lot when we talk about faith. We read it in our scriptures. And perhaps one of the saddest things is that when we see the word, especially in our scriptures, we often super-impose our cultural understanding of what that word means onto the text. In our culture, when someone believes, that person intellectually assents to something. “Yep, I believe that. Check yes!”
But the word ‘believe’ in our scriptures says something much deeper than that. Often in the gospels, in the original language, the word ‘believe’ is often followed by the word ‘into.’ Isn’t that interesting? Believing doesn’t simply mean to intellectually assent to some idea. It means to believe into – to trust – someone, in this case, Jesus Christ. Believe into Jesus Christ. Entrust yourself – your entire being – into Jesus Christ. Trust and risk that you can put your weight on the foundation of Who He Is. Believe into him. Lean yourself – your convictions, your doubts, your gifts, your weaknesses, your questions, your pain, your joy – lean all of it – all of yourself – into who this one is. That’s much deeper than intellectual assent, isn’t it? That’s much deeper and more profound than a ‘check yes’ mentality to this theological proposition or that theological proposition. It’s also much harder.
It’s much harder! And here is the Risen Christ standing before a bunch of rag-tag doubters, and he puts this type of belief into action. He believes in his disciples – not because of their specialness or extraordinary-ness, not because of their ‘check yes’ intellectual assent (they’re doubters!) – he believes in his disciples by entrusting himself to them. Yes, entrusting himself to them! In his name and in his authority, these disciples will make disciples and baptize those disciples into Love, sending out even more people. They are participating in and reverberating through a circle of love, mission, and service – sending it wider and wider all the time.
And Jesus isn’t leaving them. No, the Risen Christ entrusts himself, pledging to be with them every moment along the way. Not just here and there. Every moment! Not just at the end. Every moment! He says, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Always. To and through the end. Always. Always, Christ is present with his disciples. Always, Christ is present with us.
And Christ is present with us at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. We’ve discerned Christ’s risen presence among us. We’ve worshiped. We’ve had doubts. We’ve asked questions. We’ve journeyed. We’ve laughed. We’ve played. We’ve cried. We’ve confided. We’ve loved. We’ve prayed. We’ve invited others. And through it all, we’ve witnessed Christ’s presence among us. We’ve made disciples. We’ve taught. We’ve sent one another forth. And we’ve done all these things – not because we’re more special than others, or because we’re extraordinary – we’ve done them because we’ve had the opportunity – the incredible opportunity! – to participate in a circle larger than ourselves, a circle that grows wider and wider all the time. We don’t do it in our name. We do it in Christ’s Name. What a gift.
Have you ever dropped a rock into a pond of some kind and watched the ripples go out? When we drop a pebble, we can see those ripples for a while, but as they spread out wider, it’s hard for us to see how and where they’re continuing. But they are. And have you ever participated in something that led to something else which led to something else, onward and onward with a constant ripple effect? Maybe those ripples have been initiated by us, but after a while, they take a life of their own and move outward from us in ways that are beyond our control. I think that’s what we’re doing here in this community. I think that’s what God is doing in and through us. In our lives together, in our actions together and out in our larger spheres of life, we’re working (failing sometimes, but working) to entrust ourselves to Jesus Christ, who has entrusted himself to us, and that process of entrusting ourselves is like dropping a rock into the pond of God’s grace, and we too are being commissioned for service. We’re called to make waves. We’re called to set waves of God’s love into motion. We do this as individuals, but maybe even more importantly, we do it as a community.
You are invited into a community that makes waves. And you are called to make more waves all the time. Swim deep. Splash and play with all your gusto! Jesus Christ has entrusted himself – he has leaned all of Who He Is into you – and he commissions you to fully live, making disciples, doing works of justice and kindness in this world. Make waves! Make waves, Pasadena Presbyterian Church. Splash like crazy! Splash and make waves because you have experienced the Risen Christ and you are witnesses in this world.
Thanks be to God for the gift of entrusting, for the gift of becoming, for the gift of belonging. Make waves. It’s who you are!
Renée Roederer
Director of Young Adult Ministries
No comments:
Post a Comment