Holy Trinity Sunday (B)

Feast of Most Holy Trinity (B) [Mt 28:16-20]

30.05.2021

The Command to Make Disciples

Readings: (1) Deut 4:32-34.39-40 (2) Rom 8:14-17

1.  Theme in brief

To reflect in our life the traits of Holy Trinity’s inner life

2.  Focus Statement

By giving his disciples a final command to make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Jesus reveals God’s plan to insert the human family into the intimate bond of love-relationship that exists within the the Holy Trinity.

3.  Explanation of the text

According to today’s gospel text, the disciples’ duty to preach Christ to all nations does not begin from the centre of Jewish faith, that is, Jerusalem. It begins from a mountain in Galilee to which the Risen Lord had directed them (28:16). He appeared to the women who had gone to visit his tomb: “Go and tell my brothers (disciples) to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (2010). From Galilee, the Risen Lord sends his disciples to make disciples of all nations and to teach what he has commanded them (28:19-20).

Matthew has already placed the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry not in Jerusalem or Judea but in “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Mt 4:15). This region with a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles was despised by the respectable Jews of Judea as the land of “the people who sat in darkness” and in the “shadow of death” (Mt 4:16). The very fact that Jesus began his public ministry in this region, and gave his last mission command on a mountain of the same region, it points to the universality of his mission and his preferential option for the marginalized. In the context of today’s feast of the Holy Trinity, we can very well say that the mission of the Church is a mission to the “nations,” a universal mission. It originated from the Father, was carried out by his Son and is continued by the Holy Spirit.

The gospel says that when the disciples saw the Risen Lord, some worshipped him, but some doubted (28:17). Worship (literally, prostration) before the divine majesty is a common gesture of those who believe and experience salvation or healing in Matthew’s gospel. In the context of today’s feast, we can take this statement to mean either we believe and worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, or doubt about this mystery of Unity in Diversity.

The mission command given by Jesus in today’s text mentions the words “all” four times: (1) “all authority” given to him by the Father; (2) his command to make disciples of “all nations”; (3) teaching them to observe “all that he has commanded”; and (4) his assurance to remain with them “always” or at all times (28:18-20). All authority in heaven and on earth given to him by the Father indicates his universal and cosmic authority over the whole of creation. Because of his universal authority, he can command a universal mission to "all nations." Besides the universality of his mission, the word “all” (repeated four times) also indicates the main thrust of his mission – a total transformation of God’s creation and all of human activities with his teachings. He gives the assurance of his accompaniment throughout the life of disciples and whenever they carry out his mission.

Further in the present text, Jesus follows his declaration of universal authority with a threefold commission (or missionary charge):  (1) to ‘make disciples’ of ‘all nations’ (including the Gentiles); (2) to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and (3) to teach others all that he had been communicating to them (28:19-20). The command to baptize people is not given in the name of Jesus alone, but in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This gives us a clue to God’s plan to baptize (originally to ‘immerse’) humankind into the strongest bond of love-relationship that exists among three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Here there is an indication that the mission of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is to gather all people into a community of love and fellowship which is found within their Divine Community or Family called the Holy Trinity. This is re-imposed by telling them to observe all that he has commanded them (28:20) – a clear reference to his commandment of love by which they are to build up a community of loving relationships and teach its members to love one another as he loved his disciples.

Finally, Jesus’ assurance to remain with his disciples always to the close of the age (28:20) can be understood in the context of today’s feast to mean this: Our loving Father continues to remain with us until the end of the age through the person of the Risen Lord, his Son, and the Holy Spirit, who is our constant companion. Thus, Matthew’s gospel begins with the assurance of God to remain with us by giving his Son as Emmanuel (that is, God with us, 1:23), and ends with the same assurance that he will remain with us as Emmanuel till the end of the age through his risen Son and the indwelling Spirit.

4.    Application to life                     

Though the original meaning of today’s gospel text may be different, we make an extended application of it to today’s feast of the Holy Trinity. The text makes us aware of three things: (1) the mission of the Church that has its origin in the Holy Trinity; (2) our baptismal call to build up communities based on Trinitarian model; and (3 the great assurance of the Trinitarian God to remain with us for ever.

When we apply the teaching of the whole of NT to today’s gospel text and feast, we come to know that the mission mandate given by the Risen Lord on a mountain in Galilee in fact has its origin in the Father who sends his Son to the world on a mission. The Holy Spirit too is actively involved in the continuation of this mission of the Church by his guidance and accompaniment. Today’s gospel says that the mission that is entrusted to the Church is a universal mission – a mission to the “nations”.  Secondly, it begins not from Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish faith, but from Galilee of the Gentiles. Jesus had already made an appointment with his disciples through the women who had gone to visit his tomb that he would meet them in Galilee (Mt 28:7). Galilee had a number of special features: it was cosmopolitan (with a mixture of Jewish and Gentile population), backward, marginalized and was a land of darkness. Such a place becomes the epicentre of missionary expansion of the early Church.

The Trinitarian God is radically egalitarian; that is, he represents equality of all people and embraces the whole of human race on equal terms. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves whether we as individual Christians as well as our Christian community are caught up in a ‘ghetto mentality’ and remain confined to our own walls, or are open to welcome, serve, shelter and cooperate with all people of good will. We need to examine whether our mission is universal, or exclusive; and whether our services are open to all people, or narrowed down to only our own Christian community/ kinship ties/ ethnic group/ friendship circles, etc. Again, the question we (as disciples of Christ) should ask is whether we go out of ourselves in rendering service to the marginalized and the downtrodden, so that the vision of Jesus (which has its origin in the Holy Trinity) becomes a reality. There is no dearth of ‘Galilees’ and ‘Galileans’ on the face of the earth – the former representing the underdeveloped regions of the world as well as the regions with cosmopolitan or mixed population in our globalized world; and the latter representing the poor, the despised and the marginalized people in our world. Jesus made a preferential option for this type of people because he was sent by the Father and propelled by the Spirit to make this option. What about us?

Today’s feast makes us aware of the fact that we, nay the whole of creation, are under the total authority or dominion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are not under the rule of a task-master but of a dear ‘Abba’ or dear daddy (the Father), an intimate Friend or Brother (the Son) and a Defender of our cause (the Holy Spirit). What a great consolation! But how do we use this authority? We are called to use it to transform the whole of God’s creation and all of human activities with the spirit of the gospel. Today we need to ask ourselves whether we are sufficiently motivated by this vision and mission of the Holy Trinity.

Today’s feast further poses a question to us: in whose name are we baptized and what is our baptismal call and mission? In obedience to Christ’s command, the Church does not baptize us only in Christ’s name but in the name of the Holy Trinity – of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. To baptize people in the name of all the three Persons of the Holy Trinity implies that Christ’s disciples must take a plunge into the inner life of this Divine Community or Family.  From the scriptural teaching we come to know that as far as the interior life of God is concerned, he is essentially relational. The love-relationships within God – among the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are dynamic. Since we are inserted into the inner life of the dynamic and intimate love-relationship that exists in the Trinitarian Family, we are called by baptism to reflect this bond of love in our human relationships.

Our baptism immerses us into that stream of love and life flowing from the Holy Trinity. According to the Father’s plan, the vision of Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are baptized to love as Jesus loved us, to build up communities of understanding and communion (fellowship), to share our life with others and to live in constant communication among ourselves. When we reflect these traits that are characteristic of the Divine Family, others will surely recognize in whose name we are baptized. Today’s feast makes us question whether our families and communities are a reflection of these traits or not. What does our baptism mean to us? Is it only a social event which happens because our parents want to do it for us? The mission of Jesus that originates from the Father and is activated by the Spirit is a mission to go out and make disciples of all people and teach them what Jesus has commanded. All parents and leaders also need to ask themselves whether they are faithful to the command of Christ to teach and transmit their faith to their children and those who are under their care. Our baptism implies that we are called to be faithful to his command.

How is the dynamic relationship within the Divine Community generated and maintained? Of course, by the transparency, understanding, communication and communion that exists among the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus has explained the characteristic of transparency found within the Holy Trinity in another place also (Jn 15:14-15). He says that God keeps no secrets; he has nothing to hide. He shares everything with his Son and his Son shares everything he knows about the Father with his disciples on an equal footing and in total transparency. Jesus visualizes that all members within his community are to be treated as friends who are transparent to one another, and share everything they have, after the model of the Divine Family. In our families and communities, if there is proper and deeper communication, sharing of experiences and opinions, confidence-building structures, we will be able to understand and accept one another better. If we do not have a lot of things and matters to hide from one another; if we share our joys, sorrows, feelings, experiences and even weaknesses; and if there is transparency in our dealings, speech, financial matters, people will get a glimpse of the inner life of the Trinity and will come to know in whose name we are baptized – in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Finally, today’s text says, the God who chose to be with us as Emmanuel by sending his Son to share our human condition, continues to remain with us in the person of the Risen Lord and the action of the Holy Spirit in the world. There is no day, no hour of the day, in which God is not present with us through our communion with Jesus and the indwelling of his Spirit. What a comfort for us to know that the Trinitarian God will never abandon or forsake us no matter what the situation. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit for this great assurance of their abiding presence as well as accompaniment in our life’s mission.

5.  Response to God's Word

In our families and communities, is there proper communication, sharing of experiences and opinions, trust-building structures by which we are able to understand and accept one another? Do we have a lot of things and matters to hide from one another? Do we share our joys, sorrows, feelings, experiences and even weaknesses? What does our baptism mean to us? Do we realize that our families and communities should reflect some of the traits of Holy Trinity’s inner life since we are inserted into it by baptism? If we do not reflect, what could be the reason for it? Is there transparency in our dealings, speech, financial matters, etc.? What are the root-causes of a breakdown of communication among us? Do we use our authority only to transform our fortune or transform also God’s creation? Do we become aware of the great assurance and the presence of the Trinitarian God to remain with us for ever when we face trials and tribulations?

6.  A prayer

Most Holy Trinity, we adore you as a community of three Divine Persons. We regret for the time we narrowed down our services only to our own Christian community, kinship ties, ethnic group and friendship circles. We are sorry for neglecting to be compassionate towards the poor and the marginalized, the despised and the downtrodden. Give us the grace to reflect your inner life by living a life of generous sharing, understanding, transparency and depth-level communication in our families and communities. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.