Most of us have heard of “The Great Commission,” and some may even be able to recite it by heart: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. Many believers also put this into practice. Even if they cannot personally baptize others in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they share the gospel with people in different ways and teach them what the Lord has commanded them.

  In the concluding passage of Matthew 28:19-20, the author also describes the scene in which the disciples received “The Great Commission”: “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted” (vv. 16-17).

  “Go to Galilee” was what Jesus repeatedly emphasized to His disciples on the night of His arrest and after His resurrection. Why did He designate the mountain in Galilee? (The word in the original language carries the sense of entrusting with a great responsibility.) It is because it was there that Jesus had once chosen them to become apostles (Luke 6:12-13). Three years had passed, and they returned to the very starting point of their ministry lives to receive the calling of “The Great Commission” and set out anew.

  Brothers and sisters, where is the starting point of your ministry life? Has the devotion you once made remained unchanged to this day?

  In addition to the place where the disciples received “The Great Commission,” Matthew also intentionally records their two responses – worship and doubt. Worship is easier for us to understand: after all, the disciples had witnessed Jesus healing the sick, casting out demons, and teaching with authority. Now that He had risen from the dead and appeared before them, bowing down in worship of Him was only natural. Regarding the response that some doubted, Matthew does not explain exactly what they doubted or why they doubted. Yet, when recording the miracle of Jesus walking on water, Matthew uses this same word for doubt, which appears only twice in the original language of the Bible, to describe Jesus’ question to Peter: “You of little faith…why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).

  How was Peter’s faith little? When Jesus declared that it was He walking on the water, Peter said, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you on the water” (literal translation). Was the Lord he spoke of not genuine? Why test it by asking to walk on water? Then, when he obeyed Jesus’ command and began walking on the water, he grew afraid at the sight of the strong wind, started to sink, and cried out to the Lord for help. Was he unable to trust that the Lord’s authority and power could overcome darkness and perilous circumstances?

  Indeed, we are like Peter. We too have moments of weak faith and doubt in the Lord. The Lord knows this. Yet, He does not cast us aside. Even though some doubted, Matthew continues by recording: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations’” (Matthew 28:18-19). The foundation of “The Great Commission” is the all-encompassing authority of the Lord Jesus. It is “not I but Christ.” Built on this truth, we can boldly live it out in obedience, and we will experience Immanuel (Matthew 1:23) – the reality that God is with us (Matthew 28:20).