David Orendorff · Matthew 28:16-20

The passage is most often referred to as the Great Commission and has been the cornerstone passage for the Christian understanding of evangelism. So I will spend a good deal of the sermon simply trying to understand Jesus’ final words in the Gospel according to Matthew.

Evangelism has a bad reputation among Christians as well as non-Christians. I think that is a bum rap. I think evangelism is a great and wonderful part of our faith. I think the Bible supports me in this, particularly today’s passage. I believe evangelism is the offering of peace to an anxious and fearful world. I believe evangelism is sharing the good news of Jesus’ love in actions of mercy, compassion and justice. I believe that evangelism is being the good news of Jesus’ servant love to those most in need of being loved. And most of all I believe today’s scripture proves me right (or as near right as I ever get).

Today’s scripture is another one of those scriptures like John’s “no one comes to the Father but by me” that gets used to impose Christianity upon others for their own good. And as we have seen in the passages of John the Greek just won’t support such an interpretation.

I am going to do some detailed grammar again so try to stay awake. Understanding verse 19 is the key to understanding the whole passage. Most translations have Jesus say, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” The common understanding is that we are being commanded to go into the non-Christian world and make everyone be Christian like us.

But that’s not what it says in the Greek at all. To begin with in English “go” is an imperative, a command. But in the Greek it is a present participle “going.” That is, it is a description of a current, ongoing action. The disciples are not being told “to go.” Jesus is saying to them that “while they are going about their lives…” sort of “on the way.”

Secondly, in English “make disciples” is also an imperative, a command “make” with a direct object “disciples.” But in Greek it is a single verb in the future tense. More closely translated it would read “you will disciple.” A clearer translation might be “you will teach, instruct or mentor.”

In the usual English translations “make” is linked with “go” as a double imperative it reads as a doubly strong command. This double imperative “go make disciples” has been used coercively and with violence to force Christianity upon the non-Christian world as if what Jesus really wants is for us to go and make people the way we think they should be made. I think a more accurate translation would be “while you are going you will teach.”

I know that I have skipped “therefore” but we need to do some more work before we can get to it. The mystery and power of evangelism turn upon the adverb “therefore” so be patient.
Still in verse 19 Jesus is very clear who the disciples will teach and what they will teach. The will teach “all the nations.” That, of course, means everyone; rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, slave, free, man, woman or child, even non-Christian. All here simply means all.

And what they will teach is Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and (in verse 20) the keeping of Jesus’ commandments. Baptism is the ritual act by which we proclaim the loving forgiveness and the power to be servant love in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. What the followers of Jesus teach while they are going is forgiveness and empowerment for those discipled.

And what does Jesus command? A few chapters earlier, Matthew 22:36-38, Jesus is asked this question directly by a lawyer, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus said to him (quoting Deuteronomy), “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it (quoting Leviticus), “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Now I come back to “therefore” which links together “going” and “you will teach all the nations.” “Therefore” refers us back to Jesus’ initial statement, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Somehow, and to me it is a mystery, our way of life (our going) and our teaching naturally emerge from Jesus’ God given authority.

Okay, don’t go brain dead yet because we have a little more work to do. What is Jesus’ authority that makes it natural for us to teach as we live? Again we go to the Greek. The word we translate “authority” could as easily be translated “power.” The word εξουσια has both meanings. So while the disciples are going about their lives the power/authority of Jesus is in them. And as a result of this (therefore) they will baptize (forgive and empower); and they will teach servant love of God, neighbor and self to all the nations. It is not something they will have to think about or make happen, but by the power and authority of Jesus it will simply happen as they live the life of a follower of Jesus.

I need to underline what I think is dramatic shift from how this passage is usually read. With the double imperative “go make” this passage is most often seen as a command for us to go and do something. But as I read it, it is not about what we are supposed to do; it is about what we will do. Because of Jesus’ God-given authority/power in us we will live our lives in such a way that we teach all the nations the forgiving and healing love of God.

So putting all this together I end up translating Matthew 28:16-20 this way (it is printed in your bulletin).

16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority/power has been given to me in heaven and upon earth. 19Going, therefore, you will teach all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to keep all which I commanded you and look, I am with you every day until the completion of all the days.”

Now what does this then mean to how we share the good news, go about evangelism? The translation I am proposing suggests something different that the imposing kind of evangelism with which we are familiar and which something in our heart resists. A model of that something different can be found in the Celtic Christianity. From roughly 500-800 CE there existed in Ireland, Scotland and northern England the Celtic Christian church. Its roots were not in Rome but in the desert monastic movement of Egypt. While the Roman church, which is our parent church, actively “went and made disciples” the Celtic Christians took a different approach.

The Celtic would enter an area, ask (rather than tell) what was needed and then help (rather than command) get the need met. Let me say that again, the Celtic way of evangelism was to move into an area, live among the people and get to know their joys and their woes. And when the Celtic saint knew the people well, he or she would work in servant love to meet the true needs of the neighbor.

This way of sharing the good news has been rediscovered over the last generation. I first encountered it as “relational evangelism” in the late seventies. In recent years it has been rediscovered and renamed “missional evangelism” or “need oriented evangelism.” I suppose it is a part of our human hubris that we have to think that we are the ones that discovered or invented the latest idea. But this way of being good news to others is as old as the Bible and at the very heart of Matthew’s Gospel from beginning to end.

Whatever we call it and whoever most recently invented it, it is an evangelism which attempts to be Jesus to all the nations. At Bear Creek we are calling it Need Oriented Evangelism and we are attempting to live our communal life in the power and under the authority of Jesus.

This has led us to do several things “to disciple our community.” You remember for us to be a disciple is to worship regularly, study in private and with others, and to be about serving our church, community and world.

We believe that God centered worship filled with praise, song and prayer disciples best. And so on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings we gather to be disciples and our lives are empowered to disciple.

We have worked hard on the study aspect of our discipleship. We study not only in the usual sense of Sunday School but in covenant and reunion groups, traveling dinners and weekend retreats. And again by our study the authority and power God gave to Jesus comes alive in us and we are ready to serve.

And serve we do. We listened to our neighbors needs for help with parenting and offer the “Love and Logic” class. We heard our neighbors struggle with finances and we offer “Financial Peace University.” Hearing how our neighbors struggle with aging parents, we just yesterday offered a terrific workshop with Liz Taylor on “Reducing the Wear and Tear of Eldercare.” The list goes on with Babysitting Certification for youth, significant support of Samaritan Counseling, and various emergency preparedness events and training.

Our neighbors also include the homeless, the poor, the hungry and those in prison. The Mission Committee leads the way in opportunities to be Jesus to them. We are Jesus to the homeless in joining to build with Habitat for Humanity (have you signed up for your Saturday?). We are Jesus to the hungry when we bring food for Hopelink or give assistance from the Helping Hand fund. We are Jesus to the naked when we knit sweaters for tots. We are Jesus on the White Swan reservation, in Kenya and in a year, the Honduras. We are Jesus to those in prison when we work Kairos or make Mother’s Day Baskets for the women of Matthew House. We are the good news (evangelist) when are living as good news for others.

Evangelism is very little telling (unless asked) and a great deal of being. As evangelists we strive to be Jesus to all the nations by the servant love Jesus creates and sustains in us.
the power and authority of Jesus our lives will teach by being the desperately needed love of God. In our going we will baptize all the nations with forgiveness and the power to do the good thing. In our living we will teach Jesus’ commandment to love with a servant love. And when we are afraid that we have failed, we can take heart for Jesus remains with us always, to the very close of the age.

Shalom and Amen.