When the Great Commission is poorly exegeted, it is used to justify the Great Coercion
Chris Thyberg
Here’s what Jesus said …
“All authority is given to Me.”
Now go read everything Paul and Peter and James and John and Junia (thought by some to be the author of the letter to the Hebrews) taught about the nature of that authority and how Jesus came to have full claim to it … kenosis, not conquest; a cross, not a crown; a lamb on the throne, not a ruler lording it over their subjects.
“So, as you are going” … not “Go!” Less an imperative and more an integral way of moving through the world as an apprentice on The Way, our first designation before we got tagged as Christians
“make” - more like create. as in make a piece of art, rather than force, as in don’t make me make you!
“disciples” - fellow apprentices to Rebbe Yeshua, not members of any party or adherents of any ideology
“of” - from among
“all peoples” - the ethnoi. Languages, tribes, and tongues (See Rev 7) NOT nation states. This distinction is absolutely critical. Get this wrong and it all goes to shite.
“baptizing them in the triune Name” - sacramental inclusion into the divine nature, not forced membership or hell.
“and teaching them” - formation, not indoctrination
“to Do everything I have commanded you”
… and there we have the whole game!
So? What did Jesus command?
>>> LOVE!
Love God first with every dimension of your humanity, for you made in Love’s own image.
And then love everyone else, for all are our neighbors, even those who hate me [Jesus] and hate you because of me.
>>> and how do we obey the new law of Love?
As Jesus did:
“I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Abide in me as I abide in my Father. Be one with each other as the Father and I are one. Everything I do and say and the way I do and say everything is exactly what the Father shows me, who is perfect Love and casts out all fear.
“I lay down my life for all; lay down your lives for each other.”
“Be light to the world for I am the True Light which has come into the world, that enlightens every human, and which the darkness cannot overcome”
“Do unto others as you would have them do to you, bless all and curse none, for God shows mercy to the just and unjust alike. In so doing you will be complete and whole (not the moralistic reading of ‘perfect’).”
“The beatitudes and my new commands - ‘you have heard it said, but I say …’ - those aren’t just pious suggestions! Of course they are not ‘realistic’! What did you expect? I am making all things new!”
“Take up your cross and lose the prerogatives your ego demands. Not asserting your ego and putting other people on a cross. Even metaphorically. “
>>> for how long?
“For as long as it takes; it’s not up to you to force God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done. That’s above your pay grade! Pray for the kingdom without ceasing, but chill the heck out!”
“For I am with you to the end of this present age” and throughout the age to come.”
~~~ As I sit with all of this - and tag the Great Commission and the Great Commandments with the Great Requirements - love justice, show mercy, and walk humbly - well …
Christian nationalism, Seven Mountains dominionism, New Apostolic Reformationism, and Catholic Integralism are just flat out, rank
Heresy!
Jesus’s parting assignment has been co-opted for millennia to prop up conquest and empire. How crafty of The Satan - the accuser - to turn the kingdom of God on its head with the very same lie he offered to Jesus
“Just worship me and I will give you all the kingdoms of this world” I’ve seen it and I can’t unsee it.
Christian nationalism is perverse!
Just Say No!
Chris Thyberg
Executive Coach
The Serving Way
TheServingWay.com
Calendly.com/the_serving_way
