Service Commissioning for the Mission Trip Hymn of Commissioning *Lord, You Give the Great Commission* Witness of Scripture: Matthew 28: 16-20 Anthem *On Eagle's Wings* M. Joncas & D. Wagner. FCC Chancel Choir Sermon *Go Therefore* David Spain
Recorded on June 4, 2023
To say the least, it has been an excruciatingly agonizing week in the life of this church, and in each of our lives, for the shock, fear, anger, grief, and every other emotion imaginable are likely no less powerful today than one week ago. As promised in last week’s sermon, the framework for moving in these days has been established and is being followed, and it will continue to be so. At the conclusion of last Sunday’s sermon, the last paragraph offered these words: “Going forward, we will be striving to find our balance. That this has shaken our foundations is obvious. So, we must operate in two lanes all at the same time. On the one hand, we must deal fully and completely with all our concerns and questions as has already been affirmed. On the other hand, we must never lose sight of the ministry God is still calling us to embody on Christ’s behalf. There are still the hungry to be fed; there are still the homeless to be housed; there are still the thirsty who need a drink of water; there are still those in tattered clothes who need a decent pair of shoes; there are still those who are strangers and feel alone who need the hospitality of Christ’s Table; there are still those who are imprisoned either in a building or in their own souls, or know someone who is, who need compassionate care. That we are currently dealing with this terrible news in this church—and deal with it we will—does not mean we are any less responsible for caring for those whom Jesus said he resides in—the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the unclothed, the sick, the imprisoned. Jesus said this is our ministry, and that has not changed. Jesus calls us to this good work of redemption and healing. On Pentecost Sunday, particularly on this Pentecost Sunday (which was last Sunday), we commit ourselves to this redemptive, restoring, reconciling work in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.”
With those words in mind, this past week has been spent almost exclusively in that lane which has been responsive to our crisis and its many questions, and that is as it should be. However, this has left less time for Sunday’s preparation of a sermon; but perhaps that makes room for the real sermon that is on display in front of us this morning.The real sermon is in these 38 people who are giving of their lives to serve on mission next week in Puerto Rico—there is our sermon. Look at the words we are proclaiming in the commissioning—“to be present with one another and with those who host us; to make a change for good in our own lives and in the lives of others; to experience God in new and powerful ways; to come back from mission empowered to work for a just world for all”—there is our sermon. Look at the time, the energy, the financial resources given by these who are going on mission and all of us who are supporting them in this work with similar gifts of time, energy, and finances—there is our sermon. The best sermon the church can ever proclaim is the church embodying love and care for the world God so loves. It is not that words spoken are unimportant. Our words are profoundly important because as was revealed in the first chapters of Genesis, so it is still true today—words have both life-giving and life-denying power. But, as the author of the letter James has written, “faith by itself without works, is dead,” which is to say that the life of faith is fully alive when words match works. The old saying that it is better to see a sermon than hear a sermon is particularly poignant today.
The sermon this church proclaims today in our commissioning of these 38 disciples is not one we made up. We are copying from a sermon Jesus preached almost 2,000 years ago. Matthew’s gospel records that sermon, and we recognize that where that sermon was preached is important, to whom it was said is important, and what was said still matters today. We realize that his sermon was not preached from a grand temple nor an ornate cathedral. Yes, it was on a mountain according to Matthew which makes sense to most everyone who has ever stood at any height where thoughts of wonder, beauty, transcendence, mystery come unbidden. We know logically we are no closer to God on a mountaintop than at sea level, but something about that perspective seems to open to the Sacred. Yet we note this particular high place is located in Galilee, which is to say a rather ordinary place in the geographic and political world of Jesus’ day. Jesus meets 11 disciples there because Judas is no longer alive. Matthew’s gospel does not give us much about Jesus’ resurrected life. We have the story on the day of resurrection when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to the tomb only to find it empty, the earth quaking and the soldiers all but unconscious. In that moment, the two Marys are instructed to go to the disciples and tell them what has happened. “Go, therefore” is the commissioning word. As these women are on the road back to Galilee thanks to the angel’s sending, Jesus meets them and they worship him. That sequence is important, because mission follows worship. We never go for ourselves, we never go on our behalf. We only go in the context of worship and the grace of Christ’s sending. Jesus gives to Mary and Mary what might be his second most frequently spoken phrase—“do not be afraid,” and then he commissions them. “Go, therefore” Jesus tells Mary and Mary, the first preachers of resurrection according to Matthew, and they do. We are here today because Mary Magdalene and the other Mary spoke up.Matthew reminds us that with every great commission there are innumerable smaller commissions where people have embraced Christ’s command to ‘go therefore…”
Matthew tells us that Jesus meets 11 disciples on this unnamed mountain and, as with the two Marys, the first act is worship. We notice both numbers and the gathered congregation on that mountain. There were 11, and today we have commissioned 38.It is testimony that the work of those first 2 women commissioned then led to 11 more being commissioned and today our commissioned disciples number more than 3 times the original. The good news of Christ’s commissioning, even in a world that seems less interested in anything Christ-like, is that his good purpose calls exponentially more and more people. We are living witness to that good sermon today. And we notice that those 11 gathered on that mountain are not of the same mind among themselves or within themselves. Matthew writes—“they worshipped him, but some doubted,” is how it reads in our Bible but its original translation is better rendered “they worshipped him and they doubted.” It is a most remarkable statement, because what he is saying is that Christ does not need us to have all our questions of faith figured out, does not need us to have our dogma determined and our credo correct. Christ commissions people to be his hands and feet, his heart and mind with our imperfect faith and our unanswered questions.It calls to mind how Madeline L’Engle once responded when asked if she believed in God without any doubt, to which she answered, “I believe in God with all my doubts.” They worshipped and they doubted, and Christ sends them anyway because he does not need our faith to be worked out, he needs our faith to be love out working. Go, therefore…
And what is said is important. Matthew tells us that Jesus said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him” which is a stunning kind of claim to make when Caesar sits on the throne. But what the disciples then knew and what disciples know now is that the kind of authority with which Jesus rules is “not with swords loud clashing nor roll of stirring drum, but with deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes,” as Ernest Shurtleff wrote in his 1887 hymn (Lead On, O King Eternal). Jesus tells the 11 then and the 38 today to go and make disciples and how we hear that word ‘make’ is what makes all the difference. Fred Craddock has written, “some people misread that word ‘make’ as though Jesus is commanding his followers to coerce people into becoming disciples. That’s not what it means; it means simply ‘disciple everybody.’ It’s a verb—disciple people. How do you disciple people? The same way Jesus did. He loved them, he blessed them, he helped them, and some of them did not care, but you don’t get huffy and mad…Jesus gives people room to say no, because if you don’t have room to say no, yes doesn’t mean a thing…making disciples is done without any kind of pushing and pressuring; it is done by giving people room. Jesus said, ‘I want you to be this way with everybody in the world.’” (Cherry Log Sermons, pp. 43, 44) Just as Jesus commissioned those 11 that day on that mountain in Galilee, so we commission you 38 this day on the plains in Norman. Go therefore and disciple people…love them, bless them, help them because that is what Jesus said to do, by the authority with which he rules—power that does not coerce, dominate, and threaten but power that heals, empowers, and liberates.
It is not lost on any of us that the word ‘commission’ literally means to ‘mission with,’ which is to say we work with each other and more importantly we work with Christ. We are Christ’s co-missionaries because to be commissioned is to be entrusted with Christ’s loving and redemptive work. And it is not lost on any of us that the pattern of commissioning, as told in Matthew’s gospel, is also the pattern we follow each Sunday in worship. We are gathered into this place as those gathered to that mountain 2,000 years ago where we worship with prayer and proclamation, by sharing in communion, then and only then are we sent into the world.And so as sign and expression of our faith, we commission these 38 today. However, we miss the fullness of Matthew’s gospel story if we think it is only these 38 who are commissioned today. The good news proclaimed this Sunday and every Sunday is that everyone of us has been met by Jesus, everyone of us stands before Jesus, and everyone of us is sent into the world to disciple people. Today we remember, as Jesus said long ago to those disciples then, so he says again to we who are disciples now, “Go therefore…”