Jesus commands the remnant of his community to make disciples everywhere, baptizing in the name of the triune God those whom they invite to join God’s mission of love and justice. It is hard to imagine a more ambitious command or a grander scope for the community’s work after Jesus completed his ministry on earth. And Jesus gives this commandment both to those who worship him when he appears to them on the mountain and to those who doubt. The Great Commission is not just for the high performers, those whose faithfulness he counts on, those who have demonstrated that they fully understand the mission to which he calls them and the One who calls them to that mission; Jesus gives the Great Commission to all members of the community.
Though the travels of the disciples are documented in the Acts of the Apostles and by early Christian writers, there is no de nitive proof of the distances their ministries took them after Jesus’ death. Regardless of the number of miles they journeyed, we know that they offered healing and preached the good news of the coming of God’s reign of justice and mercy.
We may be called to travel no farther than the town in which we grew up, but even there people with hurting hearts long for the af rmation that they are beloved sons and daugh- ters of God. They need the good news that we celebrate: We are loved into life to follow and serve the risen Christ. They need the rite of baptism that initiates us into Jesus’ community on earth and seals us as Christ’s own forever. They need the invita- tion to join God’s community of doubters and believers who are sustained by the Spirit and who are supported by brothers and sisters who walk the road of discipleship together.