The Great Sending, Chapter 22

Baseball players, faced with the unenviable prospect of professional goals which, if achieved to Hall of Fame levels, fail to be met two-thirds of the time, invariably talk about the process of honing their skills. For them, the results will be less than perfect, but the journey of learning and growing in their skills continues throughout their careers. Jesus’s final words to the disciples are often parsed as product and achievement, focusing on the command, “Go!”, rather than on the process of being sent to make disciples.

But for the disciples in Matthew 28, Jesus’s command to “Go” was all about the Divine Process of eternal destiny we know as the Mission of God. The same should be true of us today. Initiated by God, the starting point of mission is a rendezvous with the Crucified and Risen Lord. “Meet Me in Galilee,” Christ tells the disciples, repeating for emphasis the instruction of the angel mitigated through the women to the eleven at the empty tomb (see Matthew 28:7). And there on an undisclosed mountain the sending process is unveiled for all disciples.

“Go” is not an imperative in Jesus’s sending. A better translation is, “as you go” around the world to all nations. Jesus is effectively saying, “Eleven at the Rendezvous, as you head out on your journey, do this: Disciple.”

As any Christian knows, the process of discipleship is lifelong. Teaching and learning are not structured as rote indoctrination. Why else would Jesus invite the disciples to teach others to observe all things He had commanded them? Observance calls for ongoing interaction, for embodying the life of Christ on a daily basis over time.

How do we know this? First, this is exactly the way the disciples themselves had been taught – on the road with Jesus, interacting, listening, watching, observing, doing what the Master did and saying what the Master said. Second, these are exactly the stories of the apostles who were sent from that mountain rendezvous to an upper room ten days later and then out into the world. Each and all of the eleven become twelve. Twelve becomes 120, and 120 becomes 3000 – within two weeks! This process of making disciples tackled the tasks baptizing, teaching, and observing from Jerusalem to Samaria to Asia Minor and all other ports of call.

How we enjoy reading those stories of God’s mission in action! How we enjoy hearing of baptisms and followers moving throughout the ancient world!

Rendezvous with Jesus, then, your crucified and risen Lord. Rendezvous in your home, in your sanctuaries both virtual and in-person. And rendezvous on actual roads and on the current version, the internet highway. Make lifelong observant followers of Christ’s commands through God’s grace as you follow Jesus. This is the process of the mission of God as we live out our discipling destiny.

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