“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1: 1-11
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them…and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28: 16-20
A detailed account of the ascension of the risen Jesus to his Father is presented to us in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The gospel-reading from the conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel is a little surprising in that it is Matthew’s first and last account of the Risen Jesus’ appearance to his chosen disciples. With a painful reminder that there were now only eleven of them, following the suicide of Judas, Matthew records that the disciples had journeyed to Galilee in accord with the instructions given for them by an angel to the two Marys on the morning of Jesus’ resurrection: The angel said to the two women: ‘There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples: “He has risen from the dead and now he is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him”. Now I have told you.’ Filled with awe and great joy, the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples (Matthew 28: 5-8)
In the view of the writer of Matthew’s Gospel, it was in Galilee that the eleven disciples first encountered the Risen Jesus. As to how long that was after the morning of Jesus’ resurrection is not indicated. However, there was probably a substantial time-lapse. In the time of Jesus, the most direct route from Jerusalem to Galilee was approximately 90 miles. Moreover, the eleven were still in shock at the execution of Jesus and the circumstances that surrounded it. Besides, fear for their own safety was probably a factor in making them hesitant when travelling was to be done.
As we reflect on the fact that Matthew’s Gospel makes no mention of Jesus’ Ascension and that its focus is on the momentous event of Jesus giving the eleven a commission to make disciples of people of all nations, it is understandable that the Gospel writer gives more attention to what Jesus entrusted to the eleven than to his actual taking leave of them. It is vital that we all give close attention to Jesus’ parting words: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.” (Matthew 28: 18-20)
Particularly worthy of note is that, in the view of the writer of Matthew’s Gospel, before the death and resurrection of Jesus, discipleship was restricted to twelve men selected by Jesus himself. With the resurrection behind him and on the verge of his leaving this world, Jesus made it totally clear to the eleven that he was commissioning them to invite all peoples, without exception and including us, into discipleship. Was there ever a more expansive commission entrusted to humankind?
That this meeting with the eleven is the only encounter between the risen Jesus and his disciples in Matthew’s Gospel, does not negate the validity of the Risen Jesus’ encounters recorded by the other evangelists. Matthew’s focus on the Commissioning of the Eleven is intended to highlight the significance of the mission entrusted to the earliest Christian community as its members turned their attention to proclaiming the Good News with which Jesus had entrusted them.
In Matthew’s Gospel, the final parable told by Jesus before his betrayal and arrest is the parable of the Last Judgement. In the course of telling that parable, Jesus explained to those in his audience that he would always be with them. That promise was a prelude to his words to the eleven in today’s gospel-reading that he would be with them to the end of time. He might have been physically farewelling them, but he was assuring them that his Spirit would never leave them. In the parable of the Last Judgement in chapter 26 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus explained how our final judgement would be based on how we treat the strangers, the hungry, thirsty, neglected and overlooked people we encounter, because in all of them we meet Jesus himself, if only we recognise him in them and respond by treating them with compassion, mercy and dignity. In serving people in those circumstances, we are serving Jesus himself. To the extent that we ignore and neglect them, we ignore and neglect Jesus. Jesus’ promise to every one of us is that he is present to us in everyone we encounter, but especially in the destitute, the neglected, the despised and overlooked.
By design, Matthew has put two bookends to his Gospel. In his first chapter he gives the account of how an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and disclosed to him that the child Mary was carrying was the long-awaited saviour foretold by the Prophets and that the child’s name was Emmanuel, “God among us”. The concluding bookend is Jesus’ assurance to the eleven that he will always be “God among us”.
In conclusion, may I offer a comment on what appears to be a rebuke to the eleven from “two men in white” (presumably angels) who told them to stop staring into space. The commissioning of them by Jesus and his hasty departure must have left them rather stunned. So, where else might they have turned their attention? And might they not have pointed out that the Risen Jesus had organised the meeting in the first place and had now hastily disappeared? To be told to stop day-dreaming and to turn their attention to the work that was to be done surely was a little blunt and hasty. It’s a wonder that the testy Peter did not make a retort. Early in his Gospel, Luke had noted Mary’s question to the Angel Gabriel and the doubt Zechariah had expressed to the angel who had given him the incredible news that his elderly wife was pregnant. I suspect that a discordant objection might have been heard had a feisty disciple like Martha been there. In an earlier era, Abram’s wife Sarai might have been more voluble.
Still, there are weightier matters for us to ponder in today’s readings, not the least of them being our role as modern-day disciples assured of the never-ending support and guidance of God’s Holy Spirit. How do we respond to an assurance such as that?