Matthew 28:16-20
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Remember, I am with you
For the second time, the disciples are faced with a reality that they do not wish to experience. The first was at the Gethsemane Garden where they all fled into the darkness of the night, where they did not remain with Him. This time, fifty days after His Resurrection and just before His Ascension to where He came from, He reassures them that He will remain with them (V. 20).
In today’s Gospel, Matthew invites us to go back to Galilee, his native district, where Jesus started His ministry and where Matthew wants Him to achieve it.
A profound and careful reading shows that some of the apostles had doubts about the awaited Messiah, whom they had asked, “Lord, has the time come for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus instead ordered them to remain in Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-6). Was it because of that that some of them did not believe (V. 17)?
Just before His Ascension, Jesus Christ entrusts His disciples with the mission of preaching the Gospel to the whole world, beginning with Jerusalem, where He was tortured, crucified and triumphed over death, and throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 1:8). Even though Judea and Samaria were neighbors, they had sharp ethnic, religious and political divides. Jesus said this so that they might be reconciled through Him, the giver of life, the fountain of love, and the bond of peace.
He sent them to the ends of the earth so that all nations might enjoy God's blessings of love, brotherhood, justice and peace. The same Lord Jesus Christ entrusts us today with the same mission, to go and proclaim the Gospel wherever you are through a real and lived witness.
We certainly believe that He was incarnated, crucified, buried, risen, appeared to the disciples and ascended into heaven. Are we like the disciples, looking up into heaven with a need to be reminded by the angels to pray, to live according to His model, and to know deeply what He says to us, “Remember, I am with you till the end of time?!"