Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen, Indeed! Matthew 28:16-20 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. (Jesus had earlier told them to meet Him on a particular Galilean mountain. By this time, He had revealed Himself to many of His disciples at different times and different places. But now He has appointed His disciples to meet Him for His special instructions. Today, He has also invited us to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the very place in our lives today in which He has predetermined to meet us, to the very place He Himself has directed us, and He meets us there to reveal Himself to us.) When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. (Stubbornly resistant, even standing in the very Presence of the Lord Himself, some still doubted what they were seeing and had heard. Though we, too, stand in the very Presence of the Lord Himself, though we are the very dwelling place of the Lord, stubbornly resistant as we are, we, too, often still doubt. But when we see Him, when we look on Him as He is, our only response can be to worship this Risen Christ and Son of God.) Then Jesus came to them and said, (Doubting never daunts Jesus. He is never overcome by our doubts. He comes to those who doubt, still seeking them out to reveal Himself to them, just as still today He seeks us out to erase our doubts and to prepare us to hear His next words of commission, words from Jesus Himself that give His Own divine purpose for us.) "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Declaring His sovereignty and omnipotence, Christ assures His friends that the mission upon which He is about to send them carries with it His full endorsement and empowerment, a reminder to us today that He still retains that same authority and sovereignty and omnipotence in our lives as He clarifies and endorses and equips us for the mission He has for us today.) Therefore go 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 I have commanded you. (Here is our purpose today, to go, to disciple, to baptize, and to teach. We go among those around us, we live lives that draw them to us to see Jesus more clearly, we immerse them in the newness of life that is theirs, and we teach them truths the Lord has revealed in the Good News and in His resurrection. For some people, we are the only Jesus they will see.) And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Thank You, Lord, that You never leave us, never forsake us, never leave us without Your support and presence, and that You empower us to walk out the mission You have given us!) Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen, Indeed!
