Revealing God
Readings: Psalm 8, Isaiah 40. 12-31, Matthew 28. 16-20
Our readings today are rather wonderful, they speak of the awe and majesty of God, the otherness of God, and they speak of the one who has made him known that we might make him known.
That passage we heard from Isaiah, you get the sense of the awesomeness of God. Because it starts with all of these questions. Some of the vastness of God, who can measure the waters in the hollow of his hand and the breadth of the heavens with his hand. The one who can weight mountains and hills on a scales. And then there’s the knowledge of God, questioning who could fathom him or instruct him or be consulted by him or teach him, and of course the answer is no-one. Then we’re back to scale with the nations being like a drop in a bucket or dust to him, how whole nations of wood aren’t sufficient for the fires and offerings he should be brought. He’s the one who is from the beginning, who sits beyond and above the earth, to whom people are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the sky and space. The one who can overthrow princes and rulers. The one who created the stars and calls each one out by name in the evenings and sustains them all.
And then we see the reason this description is being given. Because his people are saying that he has forgotten them, that he has abandoned them. And perhaps that description may make it seem even more likely that he would, people like grasshoppers and nations like dust. Perhaps you may find yourself echoing the words of our Psalm in response to this passage ‘what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?’ It’s the obvious question right? If this God is so utterly beyond everything, why would he think about us.
And then there’s the wonderful response at the end of the passage, it looks like another description of how utterly beyond us God is ‘Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom’. And yet immediately after we read ‘He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint’. The one who does not grow weary, he gives strength to the weary. The one whose strength is beyond our comprehension, he increases the power of the weak. This God is for us, all that otherness, all that beyond-ness, he uses it for us, to lift us up.
It’s good on a day like Trinity Sunday to spend time reflecting on the otherness of God, how he is not like us, how he is utterly beyond us. But we must also not neglect the fact that this God is for us, utterly for us, and nowhere do we see that more than in the person of Jesus.
In our Gospel we’re right at the end of Matthew, Jesus’ final words to his disciples. We’re atop a mountain, and it’s like Matthew is hinting at the Ascension, he doesn’t get there but it feels like as the curtains shuts on his gospel perhaps we’d catch a glimpse of his feet rising off the ground. And Jesus is giving his final instructions to his disciples, that they are to go and make disciples of all nations.
For three years Jesus has been with them, living and working, teaching and praying, performing miracles and comforting the lost and sinful. And in this Jesus the God of Isaiah has become visible. In the person of Jesus these men and women have been walking and talking with the God of the universe in the flesh. The one who is utterly beyond our comprehension, come to us, become human for us. And as he prepares to leave, to take his throne in heaven, he is sending this little band of disciples out, to share with the world that the God of the universe took on flesh for us, died on the cross for us, and rose again to life everlasting for us. This God of Isaiah is still utterly for us. And just as Jesus has made God known to them, so they are to make Jesus known to the world.
We often skim over Jesus’ command, many of us have been hearing it for years. Go and make disciples. But there are a few things in there that are really important. The first is in the Greek word behind go. It’s not so much a command that they’re to go and do this. Rather it’s the present continuous tense, so it could be better translated ‘as you go, make disciples.’ It’s something that we’re meant to be doing as we go about our lives, go about on our way through this world, as we go, we’re to be making disciples. And that word disciple matters too. Jesus doesn’t tell them to go and preach the Gospel, although that’s certainly part of it, as we saw last week as Peter got up to preach. It’s bigger than that, it’s not a one and done sort of deal. We don’t get to preach the Gospel, no-one responds and so we call it a day, we did the preaching. Nor are we to simply call people to repent and turn to Jesus and when they do we tick them off and move on. It’s certainly not a call to simply fill our pews with people. We’re to make disciples, people who are actively growing in their knowledge and love of God. And discipleship has two elements that Jesus goes on to describe, we’re to baptise these disciples in the name of the Trinity, and we’re to teach them. It’s about family and following.
First it’s about family. Jesus commands us to baptise these new disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It’s no doubt why this passage is set for today, Jesus name drops the Trinity, one of the few occasions that are this explicit. And there’s some lovely subtle Trinitarian theology going on here, we’re to baptise in the name of, not in the names of. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one.
And if you’ve ever been to a baptism you’ll know it’s wonderfully personal affair isn’t it. At baptism you are named, it’s for you, you personally. And you are baptised into a name, into the name of the Triune God. Because to be baptised in the name of, isn’t simply about whose authority it is done in, but also about who you are entering into relationship with. We never use surnames at baptism, because it’s about you being baptised into a new family, a new identity and surname if you will. Because through Jesus’ death and resurrection we are cleansed from our sins and able to approach this God who is utterly beyond us. And in baptism we are caught up into the life of this God. We enter into his family, enter into relationship with him.
God the Father, the one who has eternally been the Father of the Son becomes our Father. Jesus, the Son who has eternally known the outpouring of love cascading down from the Father becomes our Saviour and brother, drawing us into the tide. And the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us that we might be fully caught up into the life of God. As we are buried in baptism and die to our old life, as we are lifted up out of the waters into our new life we are pulled into the life of the God who made, redeemed, sustains and who is renewing all things. Discipleship is about family, it’s about entering into relationship with the God of the universe, so that we can at last come home.
And it’s about following. Because Jesus then tells us to teach them, the new disciples, to obey everything he has commanded us. To follow Jesus isn’t simply about knowing him as Saviour, it’s about knowing him as Lord. We’re to live as he commands, and we’re to teach others to do the same. Being a disciple of Jesus, being a Christian, isn’t a thing we add to our lives as a sort of add on. Rather becoming a Christian means whole life change, living a new way, following a new Lord or master. And yet this Lord is utterly for us, and has proved it even to death, and so we can trust what he commands, because we know that he truly is for our good. He’s the one who uses his tirelessness to support the weary, and his strength to uphold the weak.
But perhaps this analogy may help. Families tend to have a resemblance to one another don’t they. Yes in terms of looks, but also in terms of how they are, their habits and quirks and their values. Families, being so close knit most of the time, tend to start to reflect each other. And as a big fan of many American shows I’ve noticed that particularly over there, they tend to use their surnames as a sort of motivating factor. Remember you’re a Patterson, go get em. Don’t stop now, you’re a Jones, don’t forget that. It’s a reminder of who they are, of their identity, and the bigger picture of to whom they belong. And so as we seek to follow Jesus, as we seek to obey his commands, what we’re actually doing is living into that new identity, that new name into which we were baptised. Remember, you’re baptised into God’s name, keep going. You’re one with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit now, live it out. Living as Jesus commands is to reveal him to the world, and in revealing Jesus we reveal the God of the universe. Being a disciple, a Christian, is about following, living out our new identity.
As Christians we worship the God of the Universe, we sang of his wonderful and almost indescribable qualities earlier in that hymn ‘Immortal invisible’, but we also worship this same God who is utterly for us, who has revealed himself uniquely to us in the person of Jesus, and it is in his name that we go to reveal this same Jesus to the world that the world may know this same God of the universe, be baptised into his name and his family, and come to reflect him in how they live and work. But we do not do this in our strength alone. Instead what we see around this command like brackets are two reminders.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. That’s the context before this command. Jesus is in charge, he is ruling over all things, people can still reject and rebel against his rule, but it does not change the fact that he is in charge, and what a comfort that is in the face of an ever more fragile looking world. And it is in this authority we are sent ‘all authority…therefore go’.
But closing this bracket around the command is another reminder ‘I am with you always, to the very end of the age’. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, is still God with us. Whilst he is now beyond our sight, nevertheless by the Holy Spirit he is still with us. And so as we go, we go in his authority and with his presence to declare to the world that the unseen God of the universe has made himself known in the face of Jesus, that all may know him for themselves, come to reflect his character, and come home.
Amen.