you know the nearer your destination

the more you're slip slidin' away

A sermon on Matthew's conclusion that's only the beginning:

The Gospel ends AS it began, with breathtaking assurances of Christ’s enduring presence. Only now, the child born Emmanuel, God WITH us, stands on the other side of the grave. And he makes a promise only someone standing there can make; he promises to be with us no matter what, come what may, even unto the end of the ages. 

This, by the way, is what makes Christ’s promises unconditional. We don’t often think about it, but all of our promises are provisional, or conditional. We all regularly contend with forces beyond our control. And should any one of those powers get the upper hand, all our assurances will be sidelined.

For instance, this is why we say “until death do us part” at weddings. It’s not that this a romantic phrase. No, it’s an admission of reality! It’s making a promise you can keep! It’s promising to be faithful until DEATH does you part. Because when, not if, when Death does you dirty, your love, and everything else of yours, will be hopelessly null and void. 

But not Christ! After Easter, Christ stands definitely on the far side of Death! Christ can promise his presence to the end of the ages because the entropy of time no longer has dominion over him! As such, Christ now stands above and beyond ALL of life’s contingencies! He can make any promise he darn well pleases!

And he pleases to double down on the promise made at his birth! Christ pleases to be God with us no matter what, come what may, even unto the end of the ages. This time, however, instead of delivering that message to a remote corner of the empire, Christ commissions his disciples to carry this assurance out TO the very ends of the world itself!

Thus, we are confronted with the GREAT Commission TODAY.

…However, it must be admitted that today ISN’T the best day. Is it? What’s more, neither are we sure we’re the best candidates. Are we?

Today is the first Sunday after Easter. And this Sunday is notoriously low. Long gone are the Easter crowds. In fact, so far removed from the triumph of Easter are we that all the pomp and circumstances of that day seem like nothing more than a distant memory.

And if that wasn’t enough, we’re all nursing a post-Easter hangover. Aren’t we? All the extras that go into Easter here and at home take it out of us. Don’t they? Easter may have been a joyous occasion, but we’re all having trouble ginning up that kind of exuberance today. Aren’t we?

*Why, as far as I can tell, it’s taken you everything just to get here and sit there like a bump on a log!

On days like this, it’s easy to feel like the GREAT Commission wasn’t meant for us TODAY. Isn’t it? Truth be told, even on our best days, we’re just trying to get by. Aren’t we? Forget about getting out there for mission.

So often, the GREAT Commission seems like something meant for other people. Doesn’t it? For stronger people and more successful churches. And if, and we do mean if, if the commission was meant for us, it’s not meant for us right now. The GREAT Commission belongs to our past; our glory days when we really had power. Or it belongs to some distant, theoretical future when the winds of fortune finally turn again in our favor. Either way, though, the GREAT Commission ISN’T meant for us right now.

…Of course, such a notion fails to attend to how implausible, inadvisable, and downright impossible the GREAT Commission was when it was first delivered! For heaven’s sake, if we have reason to doubt this commission is meant for us, the first disciples had even more!

For example, notice the way today’s Scripture begins! “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee….” The eleven?!? Who ever heard of the eleven disciples? No one, that’s who! It’s supposed to be twelve!

…It’s supposed to be twelve. BUT it’s not. It’s not because Judas’ treachery still hangs like a pall over Jesus’ missionary movement. 

What began with twelve is now down to eleven. And it’s down to eleven because one of the core members defected. Jesus first gave the GREAT commission to an incomplete and broken group of disciples.

But that’s not all! It’s not just that there were only eleven disciples left. It’s that this undersized band doesn’t have much to commend for itself, either!

This comes a little later in today’s Scripture, but what happens when the disciples finally see the risen Jesus on the mountain?

…That’s right! They worship. BUT what else do some do?

…Right again! SOME doubted! They worshipped, but some doubted!

This broken assembly Jesus first gives the GREAT Commission to is also a community beset with uncertainty, misgivings, and weariness! Uncertainty, misgivings, and weariness that doesn’t just go away.

Imagining our ordeals are beyond the pale of our Lord’s GREAT Commission does us no favors. First of all, it overestimates OUR troubles. And more importantly, it underestimates GOD’S powers, too!

The GREAT Commission first came to a damaged church struggling with doubt. And yet, HERE we are, two-thousand years later, standing in the ever-widening wake of the audaciousness of that GREAT Commission! To riff on St. Augustine, just as the sight of Christ helped the disciples believe the promise of the future church, so the sight of the present church ought to encourage us to believe the promise of the risen Christ’s GREAT Commission!

…This, incidentally, is how COMMISSIONS work! 

What makes a commission a commission is that you don’t come up with it! You are given it! And neither do you self-select into a commission! No, what makes a commission a commission is that you are commissioned INTO it! As Christ said, “You DIDN’T choose me. I choose you.”

And for that matter, what makes CHRIST’S commission GREAT is that he’s the one making it! What’s great about the GREAT Commission is not its scope. ALTHOUGH the scope of the GREAT Commission is as great as the bonds of the earth itself. But, no. What makes the GREAT Commission great is that Christ, the great I AM, is the one who gives it! 

And he gives this commission to you! And he gives it to me. And he gives it to us. And he gives it HERE, today!

We tend to think mission is for others. Don’t we? For other people. For other times. And for other places, too. But it turns out all those things we think disqualify us from receiving the GREAT Commission are really just the qualities Christ is looking for!

A damaged church is not damaged goods as far as Christ’s concerned! On the contrary, by his reckoning, they’re his greatest assets! And neither does Christ struggle with a bunch of worshipers struggling with doubt, either! No, they’re actually his greatest triumph!

Brokenness is not a problem for Christ! And neither is trepidation! In truth, they’re just perfect for him! They’re the raw material for his mission! IMPOSSIBLE is Christ’s prerogative!

…At the beginning of his address, Jesus gives the rationale behind this GREAT Commission of his. And it’s not that the receivers are so great. No, it’s that he is! 

All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to Christ. Therefore, his disciples are to go and make disciples of all nations. The basis for mission isn’t capabilities. It’s Christ!

We have more than enough for mission. We have Christ! Christ, the one who holds the earth in its orbit and pulses the blood through your very veins, too!

It’s at the end of his GREAT Commission, though, that Christ promises something even MORE reassuring than all his authority! As Christ utters his final words recorded in the Gospel, he promises his abiding presence. Christ’s parting words are not a parting! On the contrary, they’re something like the exact opposite! “And remember,” Christ said, “I am with you always, to the end of the ages.”

“I am with you always,” Christ said. Always. Not just on good days. Always.

And he said “to the end of the ages.” The end of the ages. Not just the first century. And not just the baby boom of those post-war years, either. No, to the end of the ages. 

I hope that goes without saying, but on this side of heaven, we all live between worship and doubt. And neither are we fully complete, either. But it’s right there that Christ’s everlasting proximity is most palpable!

Now I know that goes against the conventional wisdom. After all, we like to imagine Jesus is happiest to saddle up next to us when everything goes our way. And he is perfectly happy to, too! But the truth is, when we catch every break that comes our way, we DON’T bother sitting around for Christ!

We like to tell ourselves that we’re the exception to the rule. But that’s nothing more than a happy illusion. You will not turn to the Lord until you have absolutely nowhere else to turn! And trust me, I know. I’m speaking from far too much unhappy experience here!

The Good News, though, is that Christ promises his presence always, to the end of the age! And when you’re at your wit’s end, you’ll finally be open to actually turning to that promise! And Christ, good to his word, will be right there as he promised to be!

…It’s those things that tear you up and make you doubt that teach you to actually behave as a Christian! And a Christian is someone who knows, deep in their bones, that they can’t do it themselves! A Christian is someone who, as Luther said, stops treating Christ like a liar and just puts their trust in his word and lets the chips fall where they may! 

All those places where you don’t have it together, and all those things that give you pause, are where you TRULY rely on Christ’s abiding presence through thick and thin! In fact, they’re really the greatest fodder for your most powerful witness! For it’s through that unpleasant experience of walking through that valley of the shadow of death that you can testify that the Lord was right there beside you, rod and staff in hand, to comfort you! 

Honestly, today IS a great day for the GREAT Commission! Isn’t it? Our resources are not insufficient for the charge. On the contrary, we have an embarrassment of riches! We have plenty of material for speaking of our Lord’s faithfulness in our lives!

Best of all, though, we have Christ himself! We have his authority! We have his forgiveness! And we even have his Holy Spirit, too! And it’s on account of all that, that the Lord gives US his GREAT Commission! 

Lord, You Give the Great Commission; ELW 579