May includes the ascension of our Lord on the 10th. As Jesus ascends into heaven He gives His disciples one last command, which we know as the great commission. He says,“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, to the end of the age.” As Christians in a culturethat was once more friendly to our faith than at the current time, we may feel an impulse to retreat into our own enclaves and to build barriers between ourselves and the world. Insupport of this we might find passages like James 4 where he writes, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” Reading this we may feel like our impulse to keep the world at arm’s length may in fact be the right one. When we read Jesus’ lastcommand to us, however, we see that separation from everything non-Christian is not the answer. How can we make disciples of all nations if we have no contact with them?
Jesus’ ascension reminds us that He is now up in heaven at God’s right hand. We know too that He will not staythere forever. He will come back. When He does, the time for making disciples will be over. At that time many people will be His disciples yet others, sadly, will not be. Jesus desires that everyone believe and be baptized. During thistime of the Church Year as we continue to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection and then the coming of the Holy Spirit atPentecost, we are reminded that as Holy Spirit filled disciples of Christ we are called to make more disciples. We arecalled to spread the Holy Spirit through God’s Word and through the waters of baptism. This is what we who await our Lord’s return do because, as He ascended into heaven, that is what He commanded.
Pastor Mehl