Tony Gittens who used to teach at CTU compared the “great commission” at the end of St. Matthew’s gospel with the inaugural sermon of Jesus in Nazareth in St. Luke. Jesus’ last words in Matthew are to go out, to make disciples, to baptize and to teach. He observed that this commission is related to the institution of the church — getting people in and formed as members. In Luke, Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah as his Mission Statement as he begins his public ministry. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. Jesus mission was directed toward those on the margins, those who didn’t belong because they were captives or blind or oppressed. Tony then raised the question, how would the Church look if instead of concentrating on building up our institution by baptizing and teaching we instead shifted our focus to imitate the earthly mission of Jesus toward those who needed to hear good news because of their suffering?
