Listen

S. Trinity Sunday.26 Matt. 28:16-20

‘…having been gone therefore you make disciples of all the nations by baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, by teaching them to observe all, just as I have commanded you; and see: I am with you always to the end of the age.’

Turning this free and freeing Gospel of Jesus Christ into a “Great Commission” is the great disaster of the modern age. It turns a marvelous free gift of God’s grace making us children of God by Jesus’ gifts without any works of our own—simply by the non-rejection of Jesus—into a massive works project we have to do in order to be saved…

English bibles all screw up the Gospel by mistranslating the Greek: πορευθεντες, an aorist passive participle: ‘having been gone’ mistakenly gets Englished as an imperative verb “Go!” Maybe you think they did that because “having been gone’ sounds weird, that no one talks like that.” No? How about this? “since you’ve been gone/ I can breathe for the first time/ I’m so movin’ on”… since you been gone.

See! You get aorist passive participles and how it feels, breaking up with American Evangelicalism. 2 birds. 1 stone 😉

So how come all English bibles turn πορευθεντες into an imperative verb—“Go!”? Because “GO!” is something we do while having been gone’s something God does to us. Most all English-speaking Christendom sees Christianity as something we do, not something God does to us (against our natural inclinations) because we like seeing ourselves as Main Characters doing shtuff; not as kites caught in a high wind blowing through Jerusalem on Pentecost 😉

It’s not stupidity, but IDEOLOGY that changes the Gospel from a free gift GOD gives sinners gratis, into a work order for the saints…

All the apostles and their followers like Luther warn that becoming “works saints” won’t free you, but only’s getting you more enslaved to sin, death, and the devil. Like Chinese handcuffs, the harder you try to get free, the more tightly you’re bound!

At the root of this legalistic IDEOLOGY is pride—our need to drive not be driven. We don’t want to be charity cases—dumb, lost sheep who need a Good Shepherd to rescue us! NO! We can admit to having been gone (there’s our old friend the aorist passive participle again!) down the rat-hole of addiction to sin and self that perhaps needs rehabbing, but then, all cleaned up by our own fearless moral inventories and diligent efforts, we prove ourselves by doing God’s work for him.

And while that sounds empowering, it’s really just DEPRESSING!—as Paul and Luther well point out. Because, by works of the law, no flesh will be saved! Jesus doesn’t say “come to me all you who are strong and straight in heart and mind because I’ve got a really big job for you to do! Jesus actually says: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden. And I will give you REST… 😉

Jesus never calls the strong and the brave to work hard for his Kingdom—not here at the end of Matthew nor anywhere else in the canonical scriptures. He doesn’t tell us to go out and convert as many gentiles as possible—like whoever gets the most wins a better spot in heaven!

NO! This passage is not a work order for the saints but the free and freeing Gospel of salvation for all sinners—a DIVINE PROMISE that by means of the apostolic pastoral ministry of Word and Sacraments, through faith alone (the non-rejection of Jesus) you get turned from a poor miserable sinner into a little Image of Jesus, a godlike child of his to live the Life of the Triune God as your very own!

The real “Great Commission” of the Apostles is back in Matthew 10:5ff where, after calling 12 of the hundreds that followed him to be Apostles—literally “sent ones”—Jesus says: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans but go”—πορευεσθε an actual imperative verb!—“to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” that is, to the church, the synagogues and congregations of Israel…

In the Acts of the Apostles, we see the apostles making a beeline to the synagogues of Israel, preaching to those who are always already the Body of Christ, lost sinners made saints through the divine means of grace—the old liturgy of Moses, that promised a SAVIOR! All the apostles “do” is proclaim the good news that the long-awaited Savior Jesus has come and made us sons and daughters of the King… 😉

How beautiful it is to do nothing and afterwards to rest!

Israel never did any good works! She passively non-rejected the gifts of God—marked by circumcision, eating the flesh of the Passover Lamb, being delivered from sin, death, and the devil, having been brought through the Red Sea on dry ground. Oh, Israel tried to turn the Sabbath Rest of Moses into works she did—from gifts of God into human sacrifices we make to God as if he needed something from us!

But here’s how the promised REST of Jesus comes to us: All authority is given to Jesus—in heaven and on earth, so he sends (apostles!) pastors, in his Name to proclaim that having been gone from Egypt, yearning for our Undiscovered Country, the promise is now fulfilled, for you!, by having been baptized into the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, by having heard the Gospel of Jesus.

Good news for me, too: that, as a shepherd of Christ, an apostle myself, this baptizing and teaching isn’t work I have to “do”. No! I’m just a tool (in every sense of the word 😉 in God’s hands. God does all this forgiving, healing, and saving gratis—by his power, moving my hands, mouth and feet his Way. I’m a taker not a maker, too, just like you!

The Trinity is not some idea that we get points for getting right in our creeds and confessions. No, the Triune God is a MYSTERY that we never do get our heads around (if you get that, you’ve got IT!) a Mystery that we are baptized into! The Greek εις is “into”, not in! It’s not something said in another’s Person’s Name. Better! IT is the Name put on you, it is adoption as God’s own child (we gladly say it 😉 IT’s theosis, making you a Secret Sharer of the Life of the Triune God!

And all the apostolic teaching coming through me is simply reminding you who you always already are: by Jesus’ death and resurrection, your sins were engulfed, buried forever in his tomb so that you’re living the Life of the Triune God, right now! You are a son of God, like Jesus, so you may rest and reign with him; and the Peace, surpassing all understanding, guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.

🙂