TRINITY SUNDAY
Year B : 3rd June 2012
Today’s gospel comes at the very end and is
the climax of St Matthew’s gospel. It details
the great commission of the disciples given
by Jesus at his departure. There are only eleven
of them: St Matthew says nothing about the choosing
of a successor to Judas. They have returned
to Galilee as Jesus had asked them to [Matthew
26,32 and 28,7]. The mountain is not named.
There is uncertainty in their greeting. Is
it the new experience? Is it appropriate to
worship Jesus of Nazareth as Lord? Some may
have had doubts even at this stage. Usually
in St Matthew’s gospel other people approach
Jesus. Here he approaches them. All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me
recalls ‘one like a Son of Man’ in the book
of Daniel [7,14] “To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations
and languages should serve him.”
They are told to make disciples and baptise.
Matthew has not mentioned Baptism like this
before. It is to be done with a formula of words
invoking the Blessed Trinity. Teaching was the
task of Jesus on earth. Now the disciples are
to carry it further, out among the nations,
a call to teach the Gentiles. The authority
of Jesus is stressed: teach all I have commanded
you, and teach them to observe all that I have
commanded you. The gospel is to be opened to
those who were not Jews.
Finally, when Jesus says: “I am with you always”
at the end of St Matthew’s gospel it reminds
us of the beginning [Matt 1,23]: “Behold the
virgin will be with child and bear a son, and
they will call his name ‘Emmanuel’ (which means
‘God is with us’”, and of Matt 18,20: “where
two or three gather in my name, there am I in
the midst of them”. Matthew leaves us with the
thought that Jesus is the presence and support
of the Church, just as St John associates presence
and support with the Holy Spirit (who is sent
of course by Jesus).
This passage is a sort of summary of the whole
of St Matthew’s gospel: the Father has given
Jesus authority, and the spirit of the risen
Jesus will guide and protect the Church until
the fulfilment of the Kingdom at the end of
time.
• They fell down before him, though some hesitated.
Isn’t it good to recognise our faith in the
faith of the Eleven? Do I fall down easily in
prayer at times and sometimes hesitate? Yet
those who fell down and those who hesitated
were all commissioned to baptise and teach ‘all
the commands’ given.
• In the name of . . . When the name of someone
we know is mentioned we picture the person and
not just his name. Our name has become part
of our personality, as it were, and we take
a dim view of anyone misusing it. So with God:
the Jews did not repeat the name of God but
referred to the ‘Lord’, believing that God was
present when his name was invoked. When the
apostles Peter and John heal the lame man at
the Beautiful Gate of the Temple [Acts 3) the
authorities demand “In whose name have you done
this?” Do I bring God and His name without reverence
into trivial matters?
• I baptise you In the name of Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. One name reminds us that there
is only one God. The word ‘baptise’ means ‘to
immerse’, ‘ to plunge’, so our baptism literally
immerses us, plunges us, into the life of the
Blessed Trinity. Is it any wonder that Jesus
considers the mission urgent: “Go! Tell people!”
Maybe I should think about what my baptism brought
about, my sharing in the life of that loving
and blessed relationship.
• It is told that a few days after his election
as pope a friend said to Blessed John XXIII:
“The burden must be very heavy.” The pope answered:
“True. At night when I go to bed I think ‘Angelo
you are the pope’. And I find it very hard to
get to sleep. Then after a few minutes I say
to myself, ‘Angelo, you are silly. The one responsible
for the Church is not you, it is the Holy Spirit’,
and I turn over and go to sleep.” We are called
to make disciples of the nations by him to whom
‘all authority in heaven and on earth’ has been
given. So if the work of telling others about
Christ seems too big for me or needs more courage
than I think I have, I must remind myself to
call on him, and accept that no one else can
quite do that little bit that I can do.
