NOW GO, MAKE, IMMERSE, TEACH & REMEMBER
Matthew 28:9-10, 16-20
9-10 Suddenly Yeshua met them and said, “Shalom!” They came up and took hold of his feet as they fell down in front of him. Then Yeshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go and tell my brothers to go to the Galil, and they will see me there.”
16-20 So the eleven talmidim went to the hill in the Galil where Yeshua had told them to go.When they saw him, they prostrated themselves before him; but some hesitated. Yeshua came and talked with them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make people from all nations into talmidim, immersing them into the reality of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh,and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age.”
By this time, having gone through Matthew’s record of Jesus’ Reality written to a very self-obsessed, stiff-necked people [sound vaguely familiar?], your personal affinities may not be as strong a liability as they were before you began. So, hopefully, you will be less likely to react negatively to the Hebrew words and may actually be compelled to look up their actual definitions. You may be excited to hear and say the pivotal names as they are spoken in the language Jesus and His talmidim [disciples] actually spoke. To know our roots as Yeshua’s Body Part adds meaning and passion to our participation with the One who has been given “All authority in Heaven and on earth.” His authority is the Cornerstone and Foundation from which He discloses His disciples’ full-time, all-consuming occupation. “Therefore,” we will unpack each element with an eye on Mark’s account of this directive so we can know exactly what Jesus is telling US to do.
“Therefore,”
In logic, entailment is a relation between a set of sentences (e.g.,[1] meaningfully declarative sentences or truthbearers) and other sentences. Wikipedia
Jesus sets down the declarative and then, based on that, issues a directive to those who recognized the foundational truth of that declarative and would therefore be determined to carry it out.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” All authority is a lot. That would mean that whatever His wishes and commands, they would definitely be followed. It stands to reason that those who had witnessed His death and resurrection, the miracles that He performed, as well as His passion for the Father’s will and zeal to complete the Work He was sent to do, would be eager to hear and follow Jesus’ orders.
“Go…”
There’s a “Go into…” [Mark 16:15] but the “Go” of the Great Commission is first “out,” then “through.” So the action being called for is better understood by “Go throughout,” [Complete Jewish Bible]
When in conversation on our risen Lord’s powerful closing directive, one of my astute Brothers, a student of Torah, immediately pointed to Hebrews 13:11-13:
For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. [NKJ]
For the cohen hagadol brings the blood of animals into the Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the camp. So too Yeshua suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through his own blood. Therefore, let us go out to him who is outside the camp and share his disgrace. [CHB]
“Go outside the camp,” outside the city walls, outside yourself, your dogma, your interpretation of what a Christian or a pastor is or what you are. The Fire that is what Jesus will immerse me in, is outside the camp, burning now. He is always calling us out of what we think we know, out into fresh vistas of His reality – “Come to me” – to extend our grasp and application of what He is making us.
In Heaven’s perspective, you have already gone. You are physically where His design has prescribed. Only after going outside your mental-emotional camp to Him will you understand what His personal “go” means, because you now can see His heart and learn that He puts you where He wants to be, He does what He wants to do and He is what He wants to be in you.
Many call this the “Great Commission” and indeed, that is exactly what it is. But let me urge you to get your definitions and perspective from Jesus, the full scope of His life and message, rather than from sound-byte interpretations. That is my strong recommendation in regard to any subject. Get to know Him, He’s alive and more capable of communicating His Truth than anyone else. He’s also right there with you. All you have to do is turn from browsing the world’s knowledge and just read His Word, listen and talk to Him.
NEXT: “MAKE”