The Other Omission
The Other Omission in Matthew 28: 16-20
Jesus’ eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted.
Jesus came to them and said: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth!
Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples.
Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.
I’ve asked people to complete the verse… “baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” People continue with “… and teach them everything I have told you.”
What’s missing?
“To Do”
We’ve too often fallen into the trap of framing discipleship in terms of acquiring knowledge. “Know more. Remember more. It’s the banking method. Invest information and make withdrawals of knowledge.”
But here Jesus wants people TO DO everything he’s told his disciples.
The good news is that we get to have a go at embodying the kingdom of God, just like Jesus did. We get to be involved in the healing of people, the healing of communities. We can take part in the resistance movement started by Jesus, challenging the powers of evil in us and around us. We are invited to share in the relationship with God modelled by Jesus.
The difficult news is that we get to share in the suffering, misunderstanding, sacrifice that Jesus endured for the sake of a new world coming into being.
2 Responses to “The Other Omission”
By Mandy on May 21, 2005 | Reply
I like what you are saying about the “TO DO”. We like coming in to church, getting our blessing and then carring on as usual, and not have to do anything. (I think that you are on to something with your line of thinking) But, I also have to say that it also seems that as in all things there is a fine line that has to be negoatied. The fact is that to often we find our selves thinking that the “TO DO” is a permit to go out and judge and condem and assume that we have all of answers instead of going out and loving and sharing in the ministries of Christ.
By Duncan on May 21, 2005 | Reply
Yes I pondered over how I’d write the bit about challenging evil. I’m working with groups on Moses, his call and passion, using some of Brueggemann’s work on prophetic critique, as in Prophetic Imagination. There’s a sense of naming not only the unsatisfactory nature of the status quo, but also working on the alternatives.
I’ve seen many examples of judging/condenming campaigns, either on the basis of ‘false belief’ or ‘false behaviour’, using this passage as the foundation. In many cases the zeal to root out false teachers etc. can become evil in itself.
At the heart of our relationship with Jesus is the challenge to get on with what he wants us to do. Not on what we think someone else isn’t doing.