Jesus commissions his disciples

THE eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

REFLECTION

BAPTIZED IN ONE NAME. The solemn feast of the Holy Trinity brings us face to face with the foundation of our faith. In the conclusion of the gospel of Matthew, in the commissioning of the Apostles, we hear the command to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

The Trinitarian formula for baptism gathers together elements already found in Jesus’ teaching. Throughout his ministry he spoke of God as Father (cf Mt 11:25-27), indicating the intimate relationship that exists between them. He also spoke of the Spirit who came upon him at his baptism (cf Mt 3:16) and through whose power he cast out demons (cf Mt 12:28-32). It is in this threefold name (one name, not three) that the disciples are to baptize. True to the Jewish roots of this community, the divine name is not actually given: it is enough to refer to it. Those to be baptized are plunged into the mystery of the name and re-created as new beings.

The divine name is not actually given, just referred to. Therefore, the mystery is upheld. The little we know about the mystery of God, we get to know from Jesus. He has told us about the divine processions: the Son proceeding from the Father and the Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. Jesus is the one who has told us that the Spirit is his Spirit. We may only know about the mystery of God from Jesus, but we know about God from our own experience.

We know that God creates because we are immersed in creation. We know that God saves because we have been freed from the bondage of our own addictions, from the tyranny of our demons. We know that God sustains us because we are cared for by the very world in which we live.