Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

¹⁷ And after seeing him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in the sky and on the land has been given to me.

¹⁹ So, after you go, make disciples of all nations, by baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

²⁰ and by teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

full circle

Jesus met his disciples in Galilee – where they came from – where they had committed their lives to him when they began following him. It was there that he commissioned them to MAKE DISCIPLES. They were to reproduce the process that brought them to where they were. Even though there were some who still had doubts, they were all commissioned, because truth is the power behind disciple-making, not confidence.

They would begin in Jerusalem, not Galilee, so Jesus commands them to start “after you go” there. The Holy Spirit’s empowerment at Pentecost will be key to the process. He makes the difference between scattered sheep and emboldened witnesses.

The process of discipling involves two stages. Bringing people to the point of commitment to the name of Father Son & Holy Spirit is what Jesus refers to here as baptism. That is the first step. We usually call that evangelism today. The next step involves a lifetime of teaching the committed ones to obey the commands of Christ. If they are going to represent the kingdom from the sky, they will have to learn to go by that kingdom’s rules.

The disciple, Matthew, has brought us full circle. He has shown us how a person goes from disciple to discipler. Now his readers will have to decide whether they will respond to Jesus the way he did.

LORD, we accept the power of Pentecost to enable us to be disciplers for you.