Trinity, May 30, 2021

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The Triune God is always with us. We have been commissioned by Jesus to evangelize.

Matthew 28:16–20

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go 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 I have commanded you.

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Your name, O God, is the name of love. You exist in a Trinity of love. When we make the sign of the cross, we place your badge of love on our bodies. Helps us to accept that we are loved and lovable, and help us to embody that love in all that we do.

[Take a moment to think of and pray for any particular people who may especially need to experience God’s love and be comforted and sustained by it.]

Companions for the Journey

Commentary on Matthew 28:16–20

Stanley Saunders, Associate Professor of New Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary, Atlanta

Each of the Gospels ends in a distinctive way.

Mark focuses on the empty tomb and the fear of the first witnesses; Luke on the appearances of the risen Jesus to the disciples, his ascension, and their preparation as witnesses; and John on a series of appearances of the resurrected Christ, especially to Peter. Matthew depicts the resurrected Jesus’ commissioning the disciples for mission. In what ways is this a fitting end—not only the right stopping point, but the goal—of Matthew’s Gospel? What does this ending tell us about that mission?

This episode draws together many of the most important themes and motifs of the Gospel, thereby suggesting that this ending is designed for this very story. As so often before in Matthew, the setting is an unnamed mountain (28:16, cf. 4:8, 5:1, 14:23, 15:29, 17:1), which Matthew associates especially with the revelation of divine presence and authority. Matthew also refers prominently here to “heaven and earth” (28:18), terminology that recalls the story of creation in Genesis 1, thereby linking this episode to a long tradition of stories about the fracturing of earth from heaven and the hope of their repair.

Jesus also provides the warrant for the disciples’ commission by affirming that he has been given “all authority in heaven and on earth.” Authority—its nature, source, and effects—is yet another persistent Matthean interest (7:29; 8:9; 9:6, 8; 10:1; 21:23, 24, 27). Matthew also returns in this scene to the Christological identification of Jesus as “God with us” (28:20, cf. 1:23), thereby framing the entire Gospel with this claim.

Even as this ending emphasizes key themes and claims of the whole Gospel, it also marks a fresh beginning point, signaled in part by the return to Galilee (28:16), where Jesus’ own ministry began. While they are called to be people on the move in mission, the disciples must also be rooted in the story and the land where their own journeys began. They will conduct their mission between two worlds: with Jesus on the mountain—itself apparently a thin place between the human and divine realms—they stand at the edge of a new world and a new time.

The time of empire, of debt and slavery, of the reign of death, is passing away. It will continue to exercise sway only where the death and resurrection of God’s son is not proclaimed. But the truth about Rome’s empire has been unveiled for all the world to see. It has wielded its most powerful tool—death on a cross—against God’s son as he proclaimed and inaugurated God’s empire, but now even Rome’s control of the apparatus of death has been shown to be hollow. The empire of the heavens has not just begun; it has already won the crucial victory.

Living between two worlds is not easy, however, even for those closest to Jesus. Matthew introduces elements into the story that challenge the apparently triumphal character of this scene. There are not twelve disciples with Jesus, but eleven, a reminder not only of the absence of Judas but, implicitly, of the betrayals in which the eleven also participated. Matthew also notes that their initial response to the presence of the risen Jesus is a mixture of worship and doubt. Most English translations of 28:17 leave the impression that the disciples included some worshippers and some doubters (e.g., “doubting Thomas” in John 20:24–29), but the Greek may also be translated, perhaps more naturally, to suggest that the whole group of disciples both worship and doubt.

In either case, Matthew acknowledges that both responses are to be found in the community of disciples. The word translated “doubt” is found in the New Testament only here and in the account of Peter joining Jesus in his walk on the sea in 14:31, yet another story of divine presence and power, marked by both doubt and worship (13:31, 33). The Greek word distazo carries a sense of standing in two places at the same time or being of two minds. Jesus commissions not perfect disciples, but people who both worship and doubt as they stand at the edge of the world that is passing away and the one that is coming to them.

What does this new world look like? Apparently, the key differences include both the presence of the resurrected Jesus, promising to remain with the disciples to the end of the age, and a reconciled earth and heaven. Jesus’ claim to have been given “all authority” in both realms signals the culmination of a biblical drama first announced in the earliest chapters of Genesis, where we find accounts both of the creation of “heaven and earth” and the disruption of the unity of that creation through the story of the fall and subsequent human rebellion and violence.

Matthew takes very seriously this story of the ruin of the relationship between earth and heaven. The terms “heaven and earth” constitute a “merism,” a figure of speech in which an entity is identified by means of its constituent or defining parts. In Genesis 1, heaven and earth comprise a single entity—God’s whole creation. By Genesis 4, their unity has been fractured. The prayer we pray nearly every Sunday in most churches, which is largely based on Matthew 6:9–13, recognizes this divide and asks for its resolution (“thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”).

Matthew repeatedly tells stories that recount the ways Jesus, and sometimes his disciples, cross and blur the boundaries between heaven and earth. But it is only with Jesus’ defeat of death that the breach between heaven and earth is mended. Jesus sends the disciples into the world not only to announce the salvation of humans, but to bear witness to the end of a broken creation. Jesus’ words at the Great Commission are thus not merely the fitting end of Matthew’s story of Jesus, but a vision of the end of a broken world and the beginning of new creation.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

I am with you always.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • When I think of “God” what image comes to mind? (Father, Son or Spirit? … Something else?)
    When I pray, to whom do I pray?
  • What does each “face” (persona) tell me about the nature of God?
    What gifts and support does each element of the Blessed Trinity bring to my life?
  • What has the natural world around me taught me about God?
    How have I responded to the God I discover in nature? Is it praise, awe, thanksgiving, or something else?
  • Why do you think the term “Trinity” does not show up in scriptures? Fr Jude Siciliano, O.P., thinks it is because when we in the institutional Church think of Trinity, we often think of theology and doctrine; the people who lived and wrote the scriptures were instead thinking of a people’s experience of God…what God has done for them.
    What has been my experience of God?
    What has God done for me?
    What is God doing for me right now?
    When I think about the Trinity, do I think of theology and doctrine, or do I think of my experience?
  • How does the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit) reflect the relational nature of love in our salvation history? In my own personal history?
  • Do I believe that I am a reflection of the loving relationship that exists in the Holy Trinity?
    If so, how do I let others know that they, too are such a reflection?
    If not, what can I do to foster this confidence in myself as the very reflection of a loving Godhead?
  • Consider this quote from Fr. Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
    Individual Christians and the church as a community, are expected to be a beatitude people: always hungering for growth in love; merciful to enemies; single-minded in our commitment to our Lord, and ready to accept persecution in Jesus’ name. Jesus taught that our response is to be total, not only in observable religious practices, but also in our unseen thoughts and attitudes. His disciples are to teach the world to act as Jesus acted, giving to the poor, and vigilant in prayer and fasting. The essence of Jesus’ commands was that we are to act in love and he told us that we will be judged according to how we loved.
    How does this challenge me personally?
    The gospel says that the disciples worshipped, but they doubted. Is it possible to worship and doubt at the same time?
    What are my doubts?
  • What does this gospel tell me about my status as a child of God?
  • What frequent behavior of mine diminishes me as a child of God?
  • How do I experience the dignity I have as a child of God?
  • What do I do to make the love of God available to all those whom I meet?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Meditation:

Adapted from Love a Guide for Prayer (a five volume guide to the Ignatian Exercises) by J.S. Bergan and Sister M Schwan:

Read the following psalm slowly, several times. As you read, breathe in the kind, tender and understanding love of God. Imagine the strength of this love flowing through you, permeating your entire being. Pause and remember a time when you felt the strength of God’s love in you. Allow yourself to delight in the energizing refreshments the awareness of this love brings.

Close with: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Amen.”

Psalm 103

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and never forget all his benefits.
It is the Lord who forgives all your sins, who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
who fills your life with good things, renewing your youth like an eagle’s.
The LORD does just deeds, full justice to all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, and his deeds to the children of Israel.
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
He will not always find fault; nor persist in his anger forever.
He does not treat us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our faults.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so strong his mercy for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far from us does he remove our transgressions.
As a father has compassion on his children, the LORD’s compassion is on those who fear him.
For he knows of what we are made; he remembers that we are dust.
Man, his days are like grass; he flowers like the flower of the field.
The wind blows, and it is no more, and its place never sees it again.
But the mercy of the LORD is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear, upon children’s children his justice,
for those who keep his covenant, and remember to fulfill his commands.
The LORD has fixed his throne in heaven, and his kingdom is ruling over all.
Bless the LORD, all you his angels, mighty in power, fulfilling his word, who heed the voice of his word.
Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his servants, who do his will.
Bless the LORD, all his works, in every place where he rules. Bless the LORD, O my soul!

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Adapted from “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province, 2021:

From today’s Gospel reading:

Jesus said to his disciples: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given me. Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

Reflection:

Jesus chose to give power and send out as witnesses, the least likely of his day. Doesn’t that speak to us “ordinary folk” who may not feel particularly gifted in matters of religion? Still, we are the ones upon whom Jesus pours his Spirit and appoints to “make disciples of all nations.”
So we ask ourselves:
How do we give daily witness to our faith in Christ?

There is a tale repeated in “Sacred Space” that a man went out on a starry night and shook his fist at the heavens yelling: “God what a lousy, rotten world you have made. I could have done much better.” Then a voice boomed from the clouds saying: “that’s why I put you there. Get busy!”

St. Francis of Assisi said: “All friars should preach by their deeds.” It is not enough to be telling people that they ought to follow Jesus; we need to demonstrate the love and care for others in an active way, as Jesus did. Many of us do not exert ourselves, beyond writing a check, to be active in helping the poor, the ill or the otherwise marginalized. We cannot preach the love of Jesus effectively if we ourselves are not the embodiment of that love in the way we treat those most desperate. Do some research. Find out where you can get your hands dirty in the service of Jesus.

Poetic Reflection:

How does this poem (from To Keep From Singing) by Ed Ingebretsen, S.J. illustrate that Jesus' mission was also His Father's mission?

“From Narrow Places”

From narrow places
the strength of our voice
rises:

our every breath
is prayer,
the great poem of need,
a constant scattering
of praise.

Early
we reach to God
in the claim of our hearts,
while he,
our father,
mothers us
in his

Closing Prayer

Lord, you terrify me with this command: “Go and teach all nations”. Help me to be rooted in you so that what I teach is actually your message and not mine pretending to be yours. Help me to have confidence in my ability to do as you ask—this in the face of my own lack of experience and theological knowledge. Help me to have the courage to keep going in the face of derision or lack of attention to your words, and finally, Lord, help me to believe that you—Creator, Word and Sustainer—are with me always.