The Scope of "Us"--November 4, 2019
"Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw hi, they worshiped hi; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." [Matthew 28:16-20]
So... in the end... where is Jesus?
Well, in his own words, the risen Jesus says, "with you." And of course, he adds the vitally important adverb, "always." That is to say, he doesn't just pop in for a minute, make his appearance for the photo op, and then beam up to heaven. But presumably, with Jesus at least, always is always. And that means Jesus has made the promise to all of these disciples to be with them all... always.
Now, before we even get to the billion or so followers of Jesus who span the globe today, let's just start with those eleven up on the mountain. Where is Jesus promising to be? Who is he riding along with? Which one of them is Jesus going to be with first as they head down the mountain... and then where does he go after that?
I bet you can see where this is going: the disciples are headed in different directions from here, right? I mean, sure we know the Pentecost story from Acts that they all hung around in Jerusalem for a while until the Spirit was given to them (although, interestingly, Matthew doesn't tell us that story). But basically, it wasn't going to be long before each of those disciples was headed exactly where Jesus had sent them: "to all nations." Some stayed in Judea, and others went out to Samaria, or further across other boundaries. Tradition says that Thomas eventually headed east to India, and eventually, other traditions put Simon Peter in the heart of the Empire in Rome itself. In other words, even when it was just a relatively small group of eleven, Jesus had just promised to be present in places on opposite sides of the map... at the same time... always.
And yes, that really is the promise Jesus intends to make. It is one of the upshots of the resurrection that Jesus is no longer bound to being in one place at one time. Me, I've got to decide how to divide my time like you do. I can be in Place A or in Place B at once, but not both at the same time. I can give my attention to Situation X or Y, but if I try to give myself to both at the same time, I'll be giving everybody short shrift. I can only be in one place at on time, and I can only spend my time one way, but Jesus can be present here and there, all at the same time. He really means it. He really can be with us, even going to "all nations," at the same time. Always, in fact.
That is both a source of encouragement, and also a challenge we are going to have to wrestle with. On the one hand, I hope the encouragement is clear. We aren't in this alone. We never have been, and we never will be. We are sent out into whatever corner of the world we are in with the living and risen Christ at all times. And that means, further, that there is no spot in creation that is so disreputable, so messy, so dirty, so broken, or so unexpected that Jesus isn't already there with us. You can't go anywhere that Jesus will be afraid to enter. And that also means we don't get to have the excuse, "But Jesus wouldn't want me to talk to those people..." or "But Jesus doesn't want to be associated with the likes of them..." Jesus, it turns out, made a habit of hanging out with all sorts of people the Respectable Religious Crowd didn't like, and that never stopped him before.
So, we're not in this alone, and we never will be. Whatever is on your agenda today, you go with the living Jesus who makes "always" kind of promises, and who can back up those promises with the actual ability to be with you where you are, with me where I am, and with countless other people in countless other places. That is good news everyday of the week.
But here's the additional challenge we can't escape. If Jesus is with each of those followers, both the eleven from Matthew 28 and the billion or so today, then none of us gets to turn Jesus into our private possession or corporate mascot. I don't get to say that Jesus is only with me, or only with my town, or my county, or my state or country. He's not. He's with all of us... always. He said so. Jesus deliberately made appoint of saying he's not just "mine" or "ours" here where I am, however I draw the lines. Jesus insists that he is with Simon Peter in Rome while he's with James in Jerusalem and with the eunuch down in Ethiopia and with Paul in Athens... and he's with you as well as disciples half a world away. He is with "us all"--it's just we don't often consider just how wide the scope of "us" really is.
If we take that seriously, that will mean we don't get to assume that Jesus is cheering for my land or my territory or my little world just because it is mine--Jesus is with me, but he isn't only with me. And I don't get to assume that Jesus is only rooting for my immediate interests--even if I pray hard, even if I wish upon a star, even if I really, really want something. Jesus doesn't just root for my home team--it turns out there are people on the other team who are asking for his help, too. Jesus doesn't only want my town to get the new factory, either--it's not that Jesus rewards the towns that pray the hardest with the new job openings, or that Jesus only cares about the place where I live. From the beginning, Jesus has insisted that he is with me, sure, and yet also that he is with all of his people, scattered all over God's green earth, into, as Jesus himself puts it, "all nations."
And that means then end of trying to baptize the tired old "Me and My Group First!" thinking we often try to wrap up with Jesus. It is awfully tempting to say, "My side/my group/my team/my country should be put first, because we have Jesus on our side!" as though Jesus had not also promised to be with those on other sides/groups/teams/countries, too. It is diabolically easy to try and prop up "My Group First!" by assuming Jesus is our exclusive possession--as though the risen Jesus is here with me, but NOT with you over there.
That's just the thing: we keep drawing new dividing lines and assuming Jesus is exclusively within "my" side of them. (And of course, we assume Jesus would never step a toe over the line, right?) You hear it as "My country first..." because we assume, I guess, that Jesus isn't as fully "with" people from some other nation. Or when that seems too wide, we make it my state first, my county first, my town first, my skin color first, my immediate family first, and on and on, unless it's just me on an iceberg alone, convinced that Jesus is mine and mine alone.
But that was never the promise. When Jesus promises, "I will be with you always," it is spoken not just to me, or just to the folks around me, or just to the people who look like me, or just the people in the same tax bracket or demographic group. Jesus is with me, while at the same time, Jesus insists on being with "us all" even in to "all nations." That was always the promise, and that was always how Jesus envisioned it.
So today, go into the world, wherever Jesus has placed you, knowing that his promise still holds and Christ himself is indeed still with you. But at the same time, we go knowing that Jesus is not any of our exclusive possession, and that he insists on being with us all at the same time... always. For Jesus and the people who follow him, there is no more "Me and My Group First"--there is only the promise, "I will be with you--all of you--always, to the ends of the earth."
Lord Jesus, be with us, and let us see today just how wide that "us" really is.
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