This Sunday, we will be looking at Matthew 28:16-20, and we have come to the end of our study in Matthew.

This Gospel ends with not just a command, but a commissioning.

I think that distinction is essential.

When someone commands you to do something, it is all on you. You must either obey or disobey, succeed or fail, but no matter how it turns out, it’s on you. Even the consideration of whether you can do it doesn’t necessarily factor into the equation of commands. You have been commanded, and now you must obey or not obey.

Commissioning, however, functions differently. When you are commissioned, you are not merely commanded but also equipped, empowered, and given the necessary authority to accomplish your duty.

Police officers and leaders in the military, for instance, are given many commands throughout their careers. Still, before those commands come, they are commissioned – that is, invested with the necessary authority and support to accomplish their mission.

That word – mission – is at the heart of the matter.

 “Mission” comes from the Latin word meaning “being sent with a purpose.”  Add the prefix "com" (meaning with), and you have "com-missioned," which is more like being “sent along with” someone else’s authority and trust. To be commissioned, then, is to be entrusted.

This Sunday, we will see how Jesus entrusted the disciples with the mission to go into all the world and share the good news of what God has done – and is still doing!

Not only that but to invite those who hear and receive the good news to become followers – disciples – along with them. 

But there’s one more significant point that Jesus makes. They won’t have to go it alone, Jesus promises his presence. He will be with them, accompany them, strengthen and console them as needed, from this day forward until the end of time.

And that promise and commissioning is for us as well.

So, Matthew’s story comes to an end, but the story of the Church – and our story in the Church – just gets started.

For you have been called, commissioned, sent, and promised Christ’s presence unto the end of time.

This Sunday, we will dig deeper into what that means for us today.