The Ascension of the Lord

Lectionary 58


All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”


In Evangelical Protestant circles much is made of this "Great Commandment: "Go and make disciples of all nations."

In her book, The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam, Eliza Griswold describes a war zone between Christianity and Islam along the tenth parallel north of the Equator in North Africa. Islam has governed north Africa for many centuries from Egypt to Morocco; in recent centuries Christian missionaries have converted huge tracts of land in sub-Saharan Africa.

The result is a "fault line" between the two religions. Both religions have active, well-financed missionaries striving to win and retain converts to their religion. Tensions build between these groups, especially as converts choose, unchoose and choose again. Much depends upon who offers the better secondary benefits. In some cases armed conflicts occur.

Despite the triumphal sounds of latter day secularism, religion is alive and well and dangerous in many parts of the world. Lifting high the cross, Christian soldiers continue to march onward into war. Catholic laity, clergy and missionaries, of course, are also found in contested regions.

The bishops gathered during the Second Vatican Council issued the document, Dignitatis Humanae. They began this important decree cautiously:

A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man (sic), and the demand is increasingly made that men should act on their own judgment, enjoying and making use of a responsible freedom, not driven by coercion but motivated by a sense of duty.

When Saint Peter responded to Jesus' question, "Who do you say I am?" with "You are the Christ, the son of the living God!" Jesus remarked, "The Father has shown you this!" He did not say, "Now you've got it!" as if he had finally won over an uncomprehending student.

Dignitatis Humanae echoed that sentiment, "First, the council professes its belief that God Himself has made known to mankind the way in which men are to serve Him, and thus be saved in Christ and come to blessedness. "
While we believe "this one true religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church," we are not sent to transform all nations into North American or European Catholics. Rather, we must announce the Good News and allow the Holy Spirit time and space to bring people wholly to Christ. They need not conform to our ways of thinking or feeling, they need not agree with our world view. Our enemies are not their enemies.

After his conversation with the Muslim sultan and his adventures in Egypt and Jerusalem, Saint Francis wrote about our missionary effort, "Whoever should, by divine inspiration, wish to go among the Saracens and other infidels must ask permission from their provincial ministers." Their mission was quite simply to be among the non-Christians. He expected the Franciscans' presence, sincerity, simplicity and holiness might arouse enough curiosity that their neighbors would ask "the reason for your hope."

Evangelization addresses the entire human being. That includes everything from the unconscious depths of repressed memories and forgotten resentments to one's attitudes and life style. It includes the individual's relationships with family, neighbors, employers, employees, friends and enemies. It is cultural as well as personal. No one is fully converted; we are all on the journey as a pilgrim people of God. 

By now we should have seen enough sin in our own Church, as well as that of all other Christian churches, to know that we are still in darkness and have yet to see the light. We dare not coerce people into our ways of thinking, feeling or acting. Jesus has a stern warning about that: 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Hell twice as much as yourselves.

Yet we are sent to share our dawning knowledge of God's goodness with others. If they do no more than glance toward the east to see the rising Son of God we can be satisfied we have done our part. The rest is up to God.