The Great Commission

This Sunday’s lectionary gospel reading is Jesus’ “Great Commission” to the apostles. (Mat. 28:16-20) One thing that stands out is the intimate relationship between baptism and obedience. Jesus sends the apostles to “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.”

Baptism and obedience are the two sides of the Christian discipleship coin, and we can’t have one without the other. It’s worth considering each of these two aspects and how they’re related. First baptism…Often overlooked is the name into which we’re baptized. To be baptized into “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is to be baptized into the triune life of God. Man was created in order to participate in the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), and the divine nature is – in itself – love. Baptism into the triune name immerses us into that life of divine love.

St. Augustine described the triune life of God as the life of Lover (the Father), Beloved (the Son), and Love (the Spirit). This is most evident in Jesus’ baptism, where Jesus the Son comes up from the water, the Holy Spirit descends on him, and God the Father says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well-pleased.” (Mat. 3:17) To be baptized into this triune life is to be united to Jesus the Son, thereby making us “the Beloved”. In baptism, God’s words about Jesus are spoken about the one being baptized: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well-pleased.” That’s pretty good stuff.

Of course baptism is no magic trick. When it’s severed from the other aspect of discipleship – obedience – then it remains unfruitful. It’s fully possible to reject one’s baptism, never letting the seed of God’s Word to take root and flower in the form of good works (i.e. love). To do this is to walk away from the divine life and, like Esau, sell one’s birthright for a mess of pottage. (Gen. 25:29-34)

In contrast, true Christian discipleship entails both baptism and obedience. Baptism immerses us into the triune life and saves us from sin without us doing a darn thing, but God’s will is that we be personal participants in this salvation. (Consider the Parable of the Sower.) Obedience to Jesus’ commands, then, is the way in which our baptism takes root and produces the fruit of the Spirit. It might look quite ordinary, but Christian obedience immerses one deeper and deeper into the triune life of love. Such obedience is not a way to progress beyond baptism, but rather it’s the way to enter into baptism more deeply and personally.

So that’s the Christian life: baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and entering into that triune life of divine love through the obedience of faith, hope, and love. That’s the Christian life, and there’s a pretty great promise that Jesus attaches to it: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” His Word, his Meal, and his Body (the Church) are with us always – He himself is with us always – guiding and sustaining the life of discipleship toward its final goal: full participation in the life and love of God.