The 7 Next Words of Christ: Go Into the World!

The 7 Next Words of Christ: Finding Hope in the Resurrection Sayings

“Go Into The World”

Matthew 28:16-20 (New Revised Standard Version)

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore 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 that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The lives the disciples had lived before Jesus, and even how their lives changed with Jesus, was completely different from the lives they were being commissioned to live now.

The problem was they knew it and they dwelled on the difference.

The scene unfolds against a backdrop of a group of fragile human beings who struggle to live out extraordinary teachings amidst very ordinary lives.

The disciples are less concerned about the world they would transform, and more intent on how their own worlds might change.

How often are we afraid to “go” when called by God because we are more concerned with how different our lives will be?

The only cure for the natural fears that arise from being sent is the going itself.

The best medicine for the ailment of “going” is the realization that your journey means something.

Out of this commission and what started out as a red light in the lives of the disciples came the most significant religious movement in history, Christianity.

They realized that in going to share with others, they were in essence validating the imprint of God within themselves.

They were continuing the circle of the wonderful cycle of grace, forgiveness, and salvation.

They, like many of us, discovered that much of the path had been laid out for them, that the directions were clearer than they suspected, and that the final destination was more wonderful and complete than they could ever have imagined.

We have all the same uncertainties, fears, and concerns as our brothers and sisters before us, but like them, we go because we are sent.