- Matthew 28:16-20
As Jesus ascends to heaven, he leaves his disciples with a specific task: Go and make disciples of all nations. This is the mission that will define the rest of their lives. Each disciple will fulfill it in his own way, but it will become the center and focus of everything that they do. Even when they encounter resistance and persecution, they continue, undeterred, sharing the message of God’s love for all and Jesus’s sacrifice for our sins. Ultimately, most of them will give their lives for this mission rather than turn their backs on God.
We too are called to carry out this mission. By virtue of our baptism, we have become disciples of Jesus Christ and, therefore, share in the mission given to those disciples to make disciples of all nations. But what does that mean? Do we abandon everything as the Apostles did to preach the Gospel? Does God want us to travel to remote lands sharing the Good News of Jesus? How do we carry out this mission?
We carry it out by living holy lives trying to be the people God intended us to be. When we live out the Good News in our everyday lives, we become a living example of the Gospel. We do this by treating everyone we meet with respect. We do this by caring for our neighbors. We do this by going out of our way to love all those around us. When you encounter someone who truly exemplifies the Good News of the Gospel, you are drawn to that person. You want to become more like that person. You want to follow the path they are following. You want to become a disciple of Christ.