I am with you always, even to the end of the age

 

 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Amen.

 

- Matthew 28:16–20 

 

The lectionary has been taking us through St. Matthew's Gospel, and recently into the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  But this week, it has been preparing us for the Feast of the Ascension, which is today in the Western Churches (and the Armenian Apostolic Church), while the Eastern Orthodox will celebrate a week from today.  Yesterday we read that, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.  In tomorrow's lectionary reading, we will resume readings in chapter 7, the final verses of the Sermon on the Mount.  

 

  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."  Here Christ declares that the authority that was His by nature in His divinity is now also possessed by His glorified human nature, my study Bible comments.  It says that this human nature has now trampled the final enemy -- death (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).  

 

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, . . . "  This is known as the Great Commission.  It is Christ's final commandment given on earth.  My study Bible comments that it is to be lived out in the Church until Christ returns again.  To make disciples is not possible in the strength of human beings, but only in the power of God.  

 

 ". . . teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Amen.  My study Bible notes that Christ Himself is present in each believer and in the Church always, both personally and in the Holy Spirit, for neither can be separated from the other.  To the end of the age doesn't imply that we'll be separated from Christ at the end of the world.  He is with us now, and forever, and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.

 

What does it mean that He will be with us to the end of the age?   The first thing we must remember is that we are in the age that Christ's Incarnation has initiation.   And this age -- the entire Christian era on these terms -- is the age of the "end times."  This is not a short period before time and the world as we know it ends, except perhaps in consideration of an eternal universe, but not on earthly terms.  The end times are the entire age that Christ has brought into the world, and will last until His return.  Thus He speaks of the end of the age which has a particular meaning in the context of the Church.  It is most important that He is with us, for without Him, what can we do?  What are we capable of without Him?  It is Christ who has initiated this age, He who is our Shepherd (our good shepherd; see John 10:1-16, especially verse 11).   Again, without Him, what can we do?  He makes it possible to be His disciples, He sends us His Holy Spirit, He prays to (or asks) the Father on our behalf, requesting such good help to be given to us (John 14:15-18).  He preaches also that where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is also in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20).  So He shepherds us through this time in which we, as His people and His sheep, await His return, which will be the end of the age.  Therefore this Great Commission is what we do, and how we are to keep ourselves occupied and living His commandments until His return.  We note that a significant part of this commission is the responsibility of "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you."  But how does one teach anything except by living it ourselves?  So this commission is not simply about finding disciples, but about we ourselves being the very objects others may observe and turn to by living His love and His commandments for us ourselves, as He teaches in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5:13-16, especially verse 16).  As we've observed in recent readings and commentary, Jesus warns us most scathingly against hypocrisy in the example He makes of the Pharisees (Matthew 23), so we know that teaching His commandments means living them, doing them, truly living our faith.  For this, too, He is with us always, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  For we are not alone in Christ.