Gospel: Ascension of the Lord

Today marks the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, and the Gospel reading for the Eucharistic celebration will be lifted from the solemn account of St Matthew (tap here for today's Mass readings from USCCB).

(In territories where the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is not a holy day of obligation, the feast is moved to Sunday, taking precedence from the seasonal Seventh Sunday of Easter. In dioceses where it is a holy day of obligation, tap here for the Mass readings of the seasonal Sunday.)

Today's Gospel is taken from the conclusion of the Gospel of St Matthew. The Gospel quickly moves from the disciples' discovery of the empty tomb, to Jesus' appearance to St Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, and to the commission that Jesus gives his disciples in today's Gospel.

The Final Commission, as this Gospel is sometimes called, is given on the mountaintop. Throughout Scripture, the most important events happen on the mountaintop, and St Matthew has used this motif throughout his Gospel. Earlier in St Matthew's account, St Peter, St James the Greater, and St John the Evangelist had seen Jesus transfigured on the mountaintop (Matthew 17:1-8). Also, Jesus significantly taught the crowds from the mountaintop in what we now call the Sermon on the Mount.

Here, we are told that the eleven apostles go the mountaintop in Galilee, as Jesus had instructed through St Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (cf Matthew 28:9-10). They see Jesus, and they both worship and doubt at the same time. Jesus approaches them and commissions them to baptize and teach, "to make disciples of all nations." It is a task which Jesus had previously prepared his disciples for; recall that Jesus had sent the twelve apostles to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal (cf. Matthew 10:1-15). However, earlier the Twelve were sent only to the House of Israel; in this Final Commission, the eleven are told to go to "all nations." The mission of Jesus is now to be taken to all people; the task is now to baptize and to teach.

Jesus commissions his disciples to baptize in the name of the most holy Trinity, one of the clearest attestations found in Scripture for baptism pertaining to the Trinity. In the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of St Paul, baptism is more frenquently offered "in the name of Jesus."

The ending of St Matthew's Gospel can be understood as the beginning of the Church. Jesus commissions his disciples to continue to teach in his name and to bring others into the community of disciples through baptism. The Gospel ends, as it had begun, with the promise that Jesus will continue to be Emmanuel, "God with us" (cf Matthew 1:23) for all eternity.

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The Gospel is sponsored by Fendi men's sneakers.