Yes, it’s for everyone

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger

Most Christians are familiar with the great Gospel call of Matthew 28:19. Among other things, it is known familiarly as The Great Commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” It also adds a moral imperative: “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:20).

The meaning of this command has been the subject of much discussion and debate over the centuries. To whom exactly is the commission given and for whom is it intended? The Scriptures, literally, speak only of “the eleven” to whom it is being addressed by Jesus — on “the mountain.” Mountains have great significance throughout the course of salvation history. In Matthew, sometimes referred to as “the Jewish Gospel,” since it emanated from and is directed largely toward Jewish listeners, it clearly recalls the “Sermon on the Mount” in which Jesus earlier elucidates his moral teaching in the figure of a new Moses, the prophet who received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai.

The mountain to which Jesus summons “the eleven” is unnamed but it might be inferred to have been the same — in significance, if not geography — from which he preached the Sermon. The absence of Judas is poignantly noted. Who will take his place for throughout the Gospels “the twelve” has been a prime designation for the apostolic “disciples” of Christ? Again, more than a veiled reference to the twelve tribes of Israel who would be bearers of the light of God’s presence to the entire world. Who will assume the role of the twelfth apostle, now that he has gone his own way?

Even more to the point, what exactly does it mean, that the whole world is to be baptized? We know that, historically, this message has been used by some to impose even violently a sociopolitical rule, individually and collectively, as if a “Christendom” was to be ordered in the way that, even today, we learn of globalist, one-world movements that many fear could become a kind of tyranny. We would do well to recall, whenever imperialistic sentiments might be invoked, that Jesus responded to Pilate’s questioning about those who might call him king that, “my kingdom is not of this world” (Jn 18:36).

I will not pretend to answer some of these profound theological and even philosophical questions that scholars continue to probe and debate. It does seem consistent with the message of Jesus, however, to deduce at least two things. Jesus intended, firstly, that his own mission, his purpose for being in the world, would continue among those he had chosen. It makes sense that he begins with his closest disciples, the apostles. Indeed it is from this universal commission that the word “apostle” (meaning “one sent,” from the Greek) is addressed. Shortly after his Ascension, we learn in Acts that the eleven chose a twelfth person (Matthias) to replace Judas (Acts 1:12-26). The role of the twelve and their successors, the bishops, remains central to this — what we understand to be — ongoing mission of “gospel-ing” or evangelization. Clearly, Jesus could not have expected the apostles alone to fulfill this mission, so it makes sense that it would be continued through their successors. But only their successors? Is it only the bishops who are tasked with this evangelizing mission?

History, of course, has proven otherwise, and continues to demonstrate how every disciple in some way participates in this call. So, yes, every believer is in some way meant to be an evangelizer, one who spreads the “good news.” I sometimes like to describe the task of evangelizing, of being an evangelizer, as the way in which each of us may be able to answer the question, “am I good news or bad news?” Maybe we are not the best ones to be the judge of that personally. We should ask our neighbor, or even the people we live and work with. In some way, a disciple is to bring good news into the world. If not the whole world round, at least the world around us.

The second thing that I think we can deduce from the Great Commission — once we accept that each of us is called to follow it — is to whom specifically that message is to be carried and in what way. It has indeed been interpreted by some that it is “baptism” specifically that Jesus is calling for. Is it what we know as the Sacrament of Baptism that Jesus is calling us to confer on everyone? This very literal interpretation has led to serious conflicts and consequences in the course of history beyond the scope of this article, including persecutions. 

The whole point of baptism is to establish an intimate relationship with God. Jesus adds the moral imperative to this commission which he identifies with what he has taught. It seems reasonable to take both of these aspects of the Commission together. In other words, it is not enough only to see the call as only a sacramental one, but also a moral one. Baptism as we know is a sacrament requiring faith, an assent of the free will. Moral living also requires the exercise of the will and an intellectual assent as well. We must understand what we are called to do as a good thing and then have the will to follow it. 

In the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus told his listeners — none of whom were baptized at the time! — that they are “the light of the world” (Mt 5:14-16). It seems to me that the heart of the Great Commission is a call to be that light in the world, a light that will glow as the disciple becomes that light by living that personal relationship with God which Jesus offers us in the most profound way. It is a union which was certainly foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures: you shall be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests (cf. Ex 19:6). He even gives us a prayer (the Our Father) which invites us all into his own unique relationship as the Son with his Heavenly Father. In this way the Commission may be seen as something we are all called to be a part of as messengers of light in the world and for the whole world. And how best to do this if not by being that light and becoming an example of God in the world.