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Introduction

After His resurrection, Jesus gave clear instructions to His disciples. This is possibly the most significant passage in the entire Bible concerning the task of the Church.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)

Background

Discipleship is a strange concept to us, but it was very familiar to the disciples, something everybody understood at that time. We often say that ‘disciple’ means ‘learner’ or ‘student’, and this is basically accurate – but it misses a large part of the cultural context. There are two very significant differences between being a student today and being a disciple back then.

Firstly, a student today chooses an institution, such as a school or university; you enrol, and the institution provides you with a range of (hopefully) competent teachers. You choose the institution, and the institution chooses your teachers; back then, you chose your teacher (‘rabbi’ in Hebrew), and your teacher had to decide whether to accept you: the teacher would not accept you unless he believed that you could be like him. You were not signing up for a classroom, but for a personal relationship – to be with your rabbi, so you could learn from him, in order to become like him.

So, according to the Babylonian Talmud, a disciple could not contradict his rabbi in public, but would carry the rabbi’s baggage, prepare his food to his liking, and provide him with money for his needs; the rabbi in return would train his disciples to emulate him, and protect his disciples from heresy.

The other main difference is that we live in an age of nearly universal education: today, almost everybody is or has been a student; back then, very few people could make this choice, and even fewer did. And your choice of teacher was a commitment that would – was intended to – shape your life.

But these two differences are only the background to what Jesus is saying here. Jesus talks about discipleship, and what He says introduces two massive changes to the usual practices of His day.

Firstly, the disciples are to make disciples. We don’t appreciate how strange that would have sounded at the time. Nobody made disciples: if you were a respected teacher, people would approach you and ask to be your disciple. People became disciples because that is what they chose to be, not because somebody made them.

A modern equivalent might be the fans of a pop group. A pop group doesn’t set out to make fans – what the group does is make music; if they are any good, then people are attracted to the music and the performances. They become fans because they enjoy the music, because it ‘speaks to them’ in some significant way.

You cannot make someone a fan of some pop group. What you can do, perhaps, is to share your enthusiasm about the group with others, to encourage them to listen to the music, to point out some brilliance or depth in the lyrics which they may have missed. Enthusiastic fans attract other fans.

As with pop music, people pay attention to Jesus, they listen to Him because they are attracted to Him – and they are attracted to Him because of the way His people live and love. When they are attracted to Him, then they listen to Him; when they listen to Him, then they are open to being persuaded by His example and message.

We are unable to make disciples – but we are called to enthuse, attract and encourage people to become disciples, trusting that the Holy Spirit will be working to do what we cannot. Or, to put it another way, we are commanded to do the impossible because, with God, all things are possible.

Secondly, He tells His disciples to teach the new disciples “to obey everything I have commanded you.” Back then, you choose a teacher who you admired and wanted to emulate: the aim of discipleship was not only to learn from your teacher, it was to become like them. Or, rather, this was the initial aim; the expectation in the longer term was that, if you were competent and worked hard, you would become a teacher yourself, and have your own disciples.

The expectation was, if you were skilled and disciplined, you would learn to teach, to pass on what you had learned. And, eventually, there would come a time when you would move on from your teacher – with, perhaps, your own insights, passing on your own perspective, creating a distinct tradition. After all, that is how progress is made.

Jesus blocks this expectation: the disciples are to remain disciples even after He is gone. He is, in effect, saying: don’t teach these new disciples to be like you – teach them to be like Me; you can become like Me, and so can they.

We are called to be disciples, but not disciples of the Apostles – those first disciples. We, like them, are called both to be and to build disciples of Jesus. We, like them, are to teach what Jesus commanded – no more, and no less. This movement must not fragment into different schools and different traditions.

Some Key Points

Here are some key points which we can take from the passage quoted above.

Disciples are not expected to be perfect. Some of the disciples doubted, but they were all given the same job. Imperfect people follow Jesus; we are all learning on the job, empowered and equipped by the Holy Spirit to keep on learning.

As we go, we make disciples: wherever we are, whatever else we do, we are to make disciples. This is not a doctrine to be believed, or an objective to be worked towards, but a continual activity. We go: we cannot wait for people to come to us.

We make disciples, whatever the people in authority want or allow: Jesus has more authority than anyone else. Nothing and nobody can be allowed to get in the way of this disciple-making task, or to distract us from it.

Making disciples is an impossible task: we do it, not because we can, but because we are commanded to do it, and we undertake it with the authority of the Triune God.

Making disciples is our only task: everything else is detail – description and reassurance, explaining what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, and how to do it.

Everybody is invited: there are no limits and no exclusions. God loves the whole world, all the people of every race, nation, tribe or tongue, so we must do the same; anyone, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, is capable of being a disciple of Jesus.

Jesus comes first: His disciples worship Him, which means that no other cause or commitment can be more important than following Jesus.

Being a disciple of Jesus is a public commitment: baptism is a public event, a public commitment that you will put Jesus first; following Jesus is not something you can hide.

A disciple of Jesus is committed to following Jesus: this involves more than just doing what you are told; it means actively pursuing His mission of bringing the Kingdom of God to this world, making it real for people. Following Jesus is primarily about what you do; what you believe is important because it affects what you do.

A disciple of Jesus is committed to obeying everything Jesus commanded: you don’t get to pick and choose the easy or convenient bits. As a minimum, you have to love your enemy, God, your neighbour, yourself, and your fellow disciples.

The task of disciple-making is never done: Jesus will be with us, sharing in this task, right to the end; a disciple follows Jesus ‘until He comes or calls me home’.