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Gospel: Matthew 28: 16-20
The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power 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,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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We’ve entered the season of graduations, weddings, and ordinations. It’s a beautiful time of year.
Some parents are watching their children graduate from kindergarten (my niece graduated this week!). Others are preparing to send their children off to college or down the aisle. I myself am celebrating eight years of priestly ordination on May 23!
These milestones – graduation, marriage, ordination – are transitions: endings and beginnings.
And with every transition, there is grace.
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Today’s Feast of the Ascension was a major transition for the Church – a type of graduation; an ending and a beginning.
Jesus has done what was his to do. Now that he’s been raised from the dead and appeared to his disciples for forty days, the time has come for him to return to his Father. He’s entrusting the life of the Church and his ministry the Apostles.
What’s their reaction to this transition?
“They worshiped but they doubted,” the Gospel says.
The Apostles received their divine mission – to make disciples of all nations – then they see Jesus ascend into heaven, and, “they worshiped, but they doubted.”
They’re so overwhelmed by what has happened that God sends them two angels to awaken them from their shock. “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” the angels say in our first reading. “This Jesus has been taken up into heaven.”
Meaning, “Go, do something! Share the good news!”
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Although worship and doubt can seem incompatible, it may be an accurate description of where many Christians are at. “Doubt” does not mean being skeptical about who Jesus is; the disciples know who Jesus is.
We know who Jesus is.
What they “doubted” was whether or not they could offer themselves wholeheartedly to this divine mission. Could they teach with the same clarity, pray with the same vigor, heal with the same love as Jesus?
I’m sure we’ve all felt that sense of unworthiness. We’re Christ’s representatives on earth, but can we really teach the faith to others – to our family, our spouse, our friends? Can we love others the way Jesus did?
Something tells me the disciples also had an inkling of what their mission might entail: rejection, imprisonment, even death. Things that Jesus experienced.
“They worshiped, but they doubted.”
Still, it was to thiscommunity of imperfect believers whom the Lord entrusts his mission, a mission that has been given to every one of us.
Go, make disciples in your family, in your social circles, in your workplace, in every nation on earth.
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The word, “disciple,” comes from the Latin, discipulus, meaning, “learner, student, follower.” A true “student” never stops learning. They’re constantly seeking the truth.
Christ’s command is to make students, learners of the Christian faith who live it and share it with others daily.
Do I consider myself a disciple of Jesus? Do I know people whom God is asking me to help “make” a disciple?
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So many of you can say, resoundingly, “Yes.” You come here week after week; you listen attentively; you pray sincerely; you invite others to, “Come and see.” I witness it all the time.
We are grateful for the tremendous good God has brought to our community, while also recognizing there’s still work to be done.
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This is a season of transitions: endings and beginnings – the most important transition being the handing on of our faith.
How might we continue laboring together, to make disciples of all nations, even here at St. Pius X?
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Image credits: (1) Family Radio 316 (2) Eugene Christian International Church (3) Grace Lutheran church, Denison, TX