commissioned for ministry

Psalm 8:1-9
1 O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Matthew 28:16-20
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.”
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Can you tell where we are in the story of Jesus?

What hints help you figure that out?

Jesus has spent maybe three years with his disciples. He’s now giving them some last instruction before he goes up to heaven. He’s giving them their mission for the rest of their lives. This mission, this great commission gave shape to the church’s life in those first years and continues to guide us in our ministry.

It’s a short passage but there’s a lot going on in it. First Jesus makes a bold claim. He says that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. That sounds outrageous after the disciples had seen Jesus surrender to the authority of the chief priests and Roman governor. It sounds outrageous coming from a guy who was whipped and beaten and mocked by soldiers. It sounds outrageous from a man who was crucified not many days before this. It sounds like an outrageous claim.

But then again Jesus is standing in front of them alive and risen from the grave. Maybe there is an authority greater than the obvious powers of the world at work in Jesus. Something made the disciples believe Jesus’ outrageous claim and by believing it they offered more evidence for its truth. In the power of Jesus they took an unlikely message across the region and soon, around the world. The power of God’s love in the disciples’ message proved stronger than disease, stronger than political and religious tyranny, stronger even than death. Maybe Jesus wasn’t making such an outrageous claim after all, but each generation, each Christian has to see that for him or herself.