READ Matthew 28:16–20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; 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.”
MEDITATE
We’re nearly done. How better to approach the end of our forty days than with the Great Commission, at the tail end of Matthew’s gospel, when the resurrected Jesus returns to Galilee to meet his disciples?
This is a powerful scene, and you could certainly be forgiven for having high expectations of the Holy Spirit right about now. Why? Matthew’s gospel includes the Holy Spirit alongside Father and Son in this, the Great Commission. Mark’s gospel, at least in its longer form, ends with a dramatic promise of signs, of poison swallowed without worry, of snakes trampled without harm, of speech in new tongues (Mark 16:9–20). Luke’s gospel ends with the promise of power from on high (Luke 24:46)—a promise soon fulfilled with an exclamation point in the book of Acts, when the Spirit, along with tongues as of fire, descends on Jesus’s followers at Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4). In the Gospel of John, Jesus claims surprisingly that it is better for the disciples if he leaves (John 16:7) because the Holy Spirit, which acts in Jesus’s stead, “will teach you everything” (14:26) and “guide you into all the truth” (16:13).
So you could be forgiven for harboring great expectations—but you’d be disappointed. Jesus, newly resurrected and nearly enthroned, invested with all of the heavenly and earthly authority there is to be had, promises his presence to the world’s end. Yet what does he expect the eleven to do? Perform inspired signs, such as trampling snakes and drinking poison, as in the longer ending of Mark’s gospel? No. Gather hordes of hearers together to experience power from on high through spellbinding sermons, as in the book of Acts? No. Do even greater works than Jesus himself, as in the Gospel of John (14:12)? Again, no.
Instead, Jesus tells his disciples to teach newly baptized disciples “to obey everything that I have commanded you.” His commands are simple, straightforward, and perilously inescapable. The eleven must go. They must create learners—disciples. They must baptize them. Then they must teach them to follow every last detail of Jesus’s commands, not with inventiveness, not with astonishing oratorical flourish, not with awesome miracles.
The task Jesus puts before his disciples is simpler and more demanding. The eleven have to teach their own disciples to obey everything Jesus commanded. Everything. This is the highest and hardest form of teaching there is, and it does not rest on charismatic endowments. It rests on knowledge—knowledge of everything Jesus commanded, like turning the left cheek toward someone who slaps the right. This is a daunting task, which demands impeccable integrity and unswerving allegiance to each of Jesus’s orders, every letter of his directives.
Yes, this is a daunting task, but a wonderful one as well. With the full force of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we blossom as we teach, we flourish as we make disciples.
BREATHE 
PRAY
Holy Spirit
You are capable of the spectacular, I know
Inspiring mesmerizing sermons
Empowering breathtaking miracles
But today, Holy Spirit, I pray for none of that
Today I pray that you, with the father and the son,
will embrace a shared purpose
To fire in me a passion to obey everything Jesus commanded
To stir in me a passion to teach others
To obey everything Jesus commanded
To forgive me when I don’t obey
To forgive them when they don’t
Today, Holy Spirit, I pray for only that
Amen