Views from the Valley

for Sunday, May 31, 2026

Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20

        Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority 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 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Sermon

There is a laundry detergent on the market that probably every single person in this building knows about and has possibly used. It’s called “all®.” It was developed in 1959, which means that I was a little one when this miraculous project came into being. My mother didn’t use it that I recall, but I’ve used it from time to time. I’ve found it to be an effective and slightly less expensive purchase compared to some of the leading brands, though at this present moment I’m using laundry sheets instead, trying to do my little bit in helping save the environment by using fewer chemicals. To my delight, these laundry sheets work pretty well.

       No websites say why the detergent was given that name, though I might offer a few guesses: It’s a detergent that has been formulated to rid garments of “all” stains and dirt, including oil, catsup, pawprints, mud, ice cream, and frog slime. I can still hear the jingle sung by Leon Redbone, “the stain lifter, that’s a-l-l.“ with its cute verses and iterations that will probably be archived for generations on YouTube. Ironically, all® was known to be without some things throughout its life, so it didn’t quite contain “all”: it was the first sudsless detergent on the market, and in the 1990s it created a form of the detergent that was “free and clear” of dyes or perfumes. But that made all® even more special for those who didn’t want all those extras. If you look on the website at Henkel, the company that now owns all®, you’ll see that if you put it on your grocery list, it would be wrong to capitalize the title. It’s lower-case “a-l-l” with the registered trademark added. Not sure what that lower case “a” choice indicates – it’s probably just a stylistic typeface effect. But maybe the company is trying to be humble. It may recognize that it’s “all” (with a lowercase “a”) when it comes to cleaning clothes, but it’s not “All” (with a capital “a”) when it comes to cleaning up the world.

       And the world does need some cleaning up, so to speak. Problems, predicaments, toils and troubles (along with the soap bubbles), are abundant all around us. We need some kind of something to throw in this great laundry tub we call existence when we attempt to clean it up. So let’s take a look at what the scripture says about what I’ve entitled this sermon: “Having It All.”

       In this short passage from the gospel of Matthew, the word “all” is used three times. Twice is written the exact word, “all,” and the third time the word used is “always”, which contains the meaning of the word “all,” as in “total,” or “entire,” or “complete.” Always. All times, and in all ways. Can’t get much more all-encompassing than that.

       But before we get into the particulars of the “all” that is offered to us on this Trinity Sunday, I want to remind you about the scene in which Jesus declared his commitment to his disciples and to the world. Jesus was on the mountain with his eleven disciples, those left of the original twelve. We know that Judas was no longer with them, having dropped out of the group due to his apparent belief that the word “all” as we will see it here was not adequate enough for his satisfaction. Jesus on the mountain: always and forever a place in the scriptures that symbolizes the intersection between heaven and earth. When we see Jesus on a mountain, we know something important is going to be said.

       The first thing that happened is that the disciples worshiped him. Who would not want to acknowledge and express the wonder and amazement of what had just transpired in recent days? No doubt they were still pinching themselves to make sure they were still awake as they saw Jesus, knowing what they had seen before in his horrible suffering on the cross and his death. But even as they worshiped Jesus, they also doubted. And the sentence does not say, “some doubted.” It says, “they doubted.” Can you relate to this? There had been so many things going on around Jesus, so many signs and wonders, and then so much treachery and struggle and death. A proverbial roller coaster of events, climbing up the hill of mundane, and pleasant, and challenging, and exhilarating, and then over the top and down into terrifying and gut-wrenching, all in a series of days, weeks, months – perhaps years. Wouldn’t you be confused? Uncertain? This was not something the average person saw every day. What were the disciples – all of them, not just the eleven on the mountain – to think? To feel? To believe? To hope for?

       And so in their worship, reverence and delight, they also doubted.

       What makes this notable for its inclusion in this passage is that Jesus still comes to them. He knows of their doubt. And he does not stand before them, point his fingers in accusation at them and proclaim, “All you doubters, shame on you!” He might have good reason to, because there he was, standing right there among them. But we don’t really know that that doubt was about, do we? What did they doubt? Perhaps like us nowadays when we see something questionable on the internet or in photos, we examine it carefully and often say, “That’s fake. That’s AI.” If the entire Jesus story were to happen on earth today, because of our technology and skepticism I am pretty sure there’d be a different outcome. Nowadays, people don’t even believe the unvarnished truth when it’s staring them in the eyes. God would have to reach out to us in an entirely different way. (Who knows? Maybe God’s doing that as we speak!)

       And so they doubted, too, just as they worshiped. Mixed emotions. An unprecedented moment, unlike any other moment the disciples could ever have dreamed or imagined.

       In this moment, Jesus then began to proclaim the totality of his personhood, his relationship with God, his authority as one who had come from and dwelled in and with God, by saying, “ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” All authority! In heaven and on earth! Everywhere! Not just some authority to perform a few nice miracles and say a few profound words, but ALL authority. That’s quite a statement. It’s not said with a lowercase “a”, like the detergent – something that does some pretty amazing things in one area of life in the laundry room. It’s said with an uppercase “A”. All. Stronger than mere dirt, or anything else. Something that relates to this whole world, this whole universe, this entire creation.

       The disciples lived, walked, talked, ate and breathed with the man who had this authority. And by virtue of our trust in him, we do the same. Don’t forget that. We walk with this same authoritative giver of life.

       Then because he had all this authority, he said something that, in essence, passed that authority along. He didn’t say it in this passage, but he said it in so many words elsewhere: “God gives me this authority, and so I give it to you.” This proclamation comes from the Gospel of John, in which Jesus promises that his presence will be with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. He said that what he did, we would do also. Can you wrap your mind around that? I’m not sure I can. I may fit into the doubter category some of the time, but it is something to think about and really hang on to as a believer in the One with Authority.

       As such, he told the disciples, then (in spite of the fact that they doubted), to “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 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

       The disciples could stand there and doubt all they wanted, but now they were given what is called “the Great Commission.” Make disciples. Baptize. Teach. To do such things indeed takes a lot of authority. A lot of confidence. A lot of experience, and a lot of knowledge. The disciples had it, and were going to get a lot more of it in the months and years to come. It was their job to step out and DO it. But I want to point out the word “all” here. He didn’t go out and make disciples of Jews only. Or Greek people only. Or Romans, or Phoenicians, or Egyptians, or Arabians. He said, “ALL nations.” Not just the people who looked like them, spoke like them, had the same habits, beliefs, moral codes, work ethic, or customs as them. All nations. All people.

       Another thing he didn’t say is, “Go out and convert as many people as you possibly can and make them believers so that we can fulfill a quota and make God happy. Convert them and let them go. You will have fulfilled your duty, proclaiming the gospel in every corner of the earth, and God will be satisfied.” As some say, in evangelistic circles, “’Til all have heard.” That is very nice. You can throw flyers out of airplanes the world over in every language and hope people read them. They’ve heard! That’s it! Good for them! All is well. ALL is well.

       Well, all IS well, because I believe that with God we do not live in the tyranny of the urgent, holding on our own shoulders the responsibility for saving every human on this earth. Why? Because I believe God is bigger than that. After all, didn’t Jesus say he had all authority on heaven and on earth? We don’t know how Jesus chooses to reach all people – that is far beyond my scope, though I believe he reaches people in far more amazing ways than we’ll ever imagine.

       But he DID tell us to make disciples, and baptize, and teach them to obey. Those that we bring into the fold, who want to know, to understand, to be baptized, to follow, and to grow, are the ones Jesus calls us to tend to. We’re not here to complete a checklist, we’re here to be shepherds – not just for SOME people who might seem acceptable to us, more like us, think like us, talk like us, live in relationships and have personalities and identities that fit our social mores…but we are to be shepherds to all people. Jesus said so. Well, I guess we’d better get busy.

       And finally, there is the word “always.” “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” I’ll be honest, when I hear the words “to the end of the age” I think…is that always? What does that mean? But what it means to me is that right here, now, this afternoon, tomorrow, next week and beyond, Jesus IS WITH (not just will be with) us. Continually. Totally. Completely. In every way, not just only in some ways, not just part-way, but all the way. How reassuring this is!

       And isn’t this a message we want to talk about to others? Teach them? Baptize them into, make disciples of, and include in our midst? We ourselves, who are available to be Jesus in today’s world, are now commissioned to baptize in the name of God our Creator/Father/Mother; Jesus our Savior/Teacher/Healer; the Holy Spirit our Counselor/Advocate/Wisdom. All aspects of God, all of the power and authority of God, all of the wisdom and resources of God. There really is nothing left out. We often wander around and act like we don’t know what to do or how to do it when it comes to our faith. But God gave us the Holy Spirit, who dwells IN us, and God loves us, and believes we have so much to offer, and wants us to share God’s love in whatever ways we can. Trust this! Embrace this! The best news is this, and don’t you forget it: In Jesus, we really do have it all. Amen.