Solemnity Of The Most Holy Trinity
This gospel reading was chosen for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity because it contains the Trinitarian baptismal formula used in Matthew’s Christian Community in the last part of the first Christian century. According to Acts of Apostles, baptism among some Christians was given only in the name of Jesus. See Acts 2:38. However, baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is now the only legitimate formula and has been for most of the history of Christianity. Attempts by dissenters in our own times to change this formula by adapting it to a theology of feminism or any other “ism” invalidate the baptism. See for example a document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Feb. 29, 2008, declaring invalid baptisms “In the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier.”
Now to the text of this gospel reading. Recalling the demise of the apostle Judas, Matthew writes, “The Eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had commanded them.” The disciples were still in Jerusalem when the tomb of Jesus was found empty by several of Jesus’ faithful women disciples. As the frightened women fled from the tomb, Jesus met them and commissioned them, “Go tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” In Matthew’s gospel, most of Jesus’ public ministry took place in Galilee. There the Galilean fishermen and women disciples first met Jesus. It was appropriate that his final appearance to his disciples would be in Galilee. Of Jesus’ connection with Galilee, Matthew wrote at the beginning of Jesus public ministry in Galilee, “Galilee of the Gentiles – the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. For those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death light has dawned.”
That Jesus appeared to the disciples on the mountain and that they worshipped him on the mountain recalls the mountain of his transfiguration. There the voice from the sky proclaimed him Son of God, “This is my beloved Son.” At the disciples reunion with Jesus, Matthew writes, “When they saw him, they worshipped him.” The Greek verb Matthew uses for the disciples worshipping Jesus can mean a profound bow or prostrating oneself before another. This homage, however, seems intended by Matthew as a recognition of Jesus as God. Matthew likes inclusions, enclosing material within literary parentheses. In chapter one he wrote of Jesus, “His name shall be called Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us.’” Now at the end of Jesus’ earthly life, the disciples recognize him as “God with us.”
The whole tone of this episode breathes divinity. This is especially so because in the com-position of this story Matthew is clearly influenced by a vision in Daniel 7:13-14. In that vision “One like a son of man (a human being) comes to the Ancient of Days (God), and is presented before him, and to him was given power and glory, and kingdom, and all nations of the earth according to clans…worship him.” The Old Testament Greek version of Daniel translated here uses the same noun Matthew uses for the power or authority of Jesus.” For “worshipping him” the Old Testament uses a Greek verbal form from which is derived the technical term for worship given only to God. Thus Matthew, thru the lens of the Book of Daniel, depicts the risen Jesus as God. Jesus’ human nature, united to his divine nature, therefore says, “All authority (power) in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
There is a negative note in Matthew’s story of this reunion in Galilee, “but some doubted.” The doubts of Jesus’ disciples even after the resurrection and after their post-resurrection association with him is standard in the gospels. In John’s gospel we see doubting Thomas. In Luke’s gospel Jesus has to eat a piece of broiled fish in their presence to convince them he is real. That even Jesus’ disciples were subject to doubt gives hope to all of us. In Matthew’s theology, Jesus’ authority and power and kingship have been established. It is time for his disciples to extend his authority, power, and kingdom. Therefore, the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciple of all nations.” Recall that in Daniel 7, noted above, all nations were to serve him.
How would they disciple all nations? By initiation and instruction. Therefore, “baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Synonyms for “baptizing” would be dunking, dipping, washing, bathing. Long before John the Baptizer came along, there were religions that used baptizing as a form of initiation. The initiates were to learn the teachings of the society which they entered through a baptism. Thus Jesus adds, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” One thinks especially of the five great sermons Matthew composed in Jesus’ name – the Sermon on the Mountain, the Missionary Instructions, the Parable Chapter, the Community Guidelines, and the Last Things. Jesus’ disciples will not be left without his assistance. “And behold, I am with you all days, until the end of the age.” A perfectly legitimate and perhaps more meaningful translation of Matthew’s Greek phrase, would be, “until eternity.” As the Divine Presence, the Shekinah, was promised to God’s people in the Old Testament, so It is promised again in the New Testament. “Where two or three or gathered in my Name, there am I in the midst of them,” Matthew 18:20. Thus the promise, “I will be with you, etc.” is a final claim by Matthew that Jesus is God.
