At the end of Matthew’s gospel, we find the Great Commission of Jesus: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19, NRSV). This is the program that has driven the church – and people like you – since Jesus’ own day.
As we saw a couple of months ago, the Commission begins in a participle – an ongoing, continuing-action sort of verb (poreuthéntes, in case you are interested). It is often translated as a simple imperative – “go….” Yet the force of the participle might be rendered more accurately, “as you are going…” – as in, “as you are going about, make disciples.”
And here is something else that we should notice carefully: this introductory participle is plural. It addresses us collectively – “as you (plural) are going about, together.”
Here in the west, we like our faith rugged and individualistic. Look inside your own heart. Our faith heroes, often enough, are lone rangers, riding into the sunset… alone. We have come to doubt, in fact, faith decisions or initiatives taken in a group or reached by consensus. For many modern westerners, the more rugged and individualistic we can be, the better.
But the Bible is filled with plurals.
Abram (the “noble father”) became Abraham (“the father of many nations,” Genesis 17:5). God aimed to bless the entire world through the mighty nation that followed (Genesis 12:1-3; cf. Galatians 3:26-29).
Jesus redeemed these children of Abraham. And when he called them, he made them “fishers of men” – once again in the plural (Mark 1:17).
Jesus commanded his disciples (plural) to pray for still more harvest hands (plural again). He called his disciples to pray together (Matthew 9:38). And then he sent them out – again, together (10:5; cf. Luke 10:1).
The church that followed Jesus commissioned apostolic teams – Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2), and later other configurations – Barnabas and Mark, and Paul and Silas, and so on (Acts 15:39-40). Paul describes an entire array of fellow workers – Priscilla and Aquila (Romans 16:3), Urbanus (Romans 16:9), Timothy (Romans 16:21), and many more.
The Great Commission cannot be completed by a one-off act of obedience. It is a participle: it envisions ongoing, continuous action. And the Commission cannot be completed in the singular, either. It envisions obedience in the plural – the ongoing obedience of the entire believing community of Jesus Christ.
This dynamic, plural Commission of Christ has led our own community into many creative partnerships in mission through the years. We were charter members of the United Mission to Nepal in Kathmandu, and charter members of another cooperative effort deeper in Central Asia. We were early members of the International Nepal Fellowship at work in the west of Nepal, and in Joint Christian Services in Ulaanbaatar. We have received missionaries “loaned” from the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Lutheran Bible Translators, Food for the Hungry, InterServe, and others – and loaned our own missionaries to “Serving in Mission” (SIM), Frontiers, chinaconnect, and many more. The Great Commission is plural: it cannot be accomplished in “silos.” We are commissioned to give ourselves away in free and creative cooperation, for the sake of reaching the peoples of the world together.
The Great Commission will always command us – east and west, north and south, young and old, rich and poor – the plural Commission addresses the entire plural people of God. The church in the west cannot “delegate” this responsibility to the church in the two-thirds world – as if sending its money or its affirmation were obedience enough. The church in the south cannot defer this responsibility to its richer sisters and brothers elsewhere in the world – as if the Commission required certain levels of economy before it could apply. The plural is more expansive than this. It addresses every believer and every segment of the church – even “some [who] doubted,” you may recall (Matthew 28:17). It addressed the church in ancient times. It addresses the church today.
And if you will let it – the plural Great Commission addresses you.
Other posts in this The Task Remaining series: