Meditation on Matthew 28:16–20
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown
Reverend Dr. Karen Crawford
Trinity Sunday
May 31, 2026
Any basketball fans here? Jim and I were watching the San Antonio Spurs play Oklahoma City Thunder last Sunday night. It was game 4 in the Western Conference Finals. He wanted the Spurs to win, but he would have been OK if Oklahoma City won, because they are both young, excellent teams with fabulous players.
I was rooting for the Spurs. Turns out, I wasn’t the only religious woman rooting for them. The cameras zoomed in on four Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco with Spurs jerseys pulled over their habits. They chanted from their seats, “Go, Spurs, go! Go Spurs, go!” Then we saw a video clip of the four sisters from the San Antonio convent courtside before the game, blessing Luke Kornet, who plays center for the Spurs.
He towered over the nuns, even as he leaned down so that they could touch his head and shoulder for the prayer. The video of Kornet’s blessing went viral. The sisters have earned the affectionate nickname of “The Spurs Nuns.”
Sister Celine Lomeli said, in an interview with Good Morning America this week, “It’s nice to know that we can pray for them and they can appreciate us. And that in itself is a blessing to us.” Sister Bernadette Mota added, “I wouldn’t say we’re a lucky charm, but we were happy to bring a lot of joy and faith to the game that night.”
The Spurs beat Thunder on Sunday night 103-82 to even the series at 2-2.
A CBS Evening News journalist (Tony Dokoupil) told Sister Bernadette and Sister Sydney Moss, “People think that living a religious life is a boring life, but it seems like you are disproving that.”
“Religious life is meant to be, especially for us, a life of joy and happiness,” Bernadette says.
“The support that we have for each other, the prayers,” adds Sydney, makes for a “beautiful life.”
Bernadette says they follow sports because it helps them in their mission to the next generation. “When we talk sports with kids,” says Sister Bernadette, “it opens up doors so that we can do a lot more with them… We need to know what they like. Then we can converse with them and introduce them to who we like: Jesus.”
The nuns have captured the attention of more than just their community in San Antonio’s West Side. In addition to Good Morning America, they have been interviewed by Texas Public Radio, EWTN News Nightly, and Sojourners magazine. Sports Illustrated even featured a story about them!
Their love affair with the Spurs “started about 20 years ago,” Sister Bernadette tells Sojourners’ journalist Jenna Burnett on May 15. “We had a couple elder sisters at our provincial house, our retirement house for our sisters who need assisted living. Some of them were born and raised in San Antonio, and anytime there was a game on they would watch it. And they would get very irritated when the game had to be turned off because it was bedtime. These were die-hard Spurs fans, and some of them formed a connection with (former Spurs coach) Gregg Popovich and his wife, who came and visited the convent a couple of times to show their appreciation.” Although the old die-hards have passed away, a new generation of nuns have picked up the baton.
The sisters hadn’t gone to any of San Antonio’s games this year before Sunday night because they couldn’t afford the tickets. Bernadette told Jenna that if they were given tickets, they would go and pray for the team.
“Playing sports is a way of glorifying God with the gifts that he has given you,” she says. “But as we’re playing, just know that everything you do is a gift from him. And he wants you to find pleasure in the good things that are given to us … When we pray for the Spurs, we’re praying for them to play to the best of their ability, that nobody gets injured, that they have good sportsmanship. We pray for the other team too, but we really want our team to win. [Laughs] We’re not praying for the other team to do bad, just that we do better.”
After the Sojourners’ interview, the Spurs gave the sisters four tickets to Sunday night’s game. I can still see the jersey-clad sisters chanting, “Go, Spurs, go! Go Spurs, go!”
Today, as we baptize Antonella Ruth, it is fitting to study the passage in Matthew called “The Great Commission.” The Great Commission teaches us that baptism is a calling to ministry. But it is good for us to remember that our commission, like the first disciples’, depends on Jesus’ authority and not our own. (Mark Allan Powell, p. 320)
Did you notice that, on the mountain before the commissioning, some of them believed, while others doubted? Jesus commissioned all of them, anyway! The disciples are still people of “little faith” as they were in 6:30, when he told them not to worry; as they were in 8:26, when he calmed the storm; as they were in 14:31, when Peter tried and failed to walk on the water; as they were in 16:8, even after Jesus fed the multitude with a little bread and a couple of fish; and in 17:20, when he told them all they needed was a mustard-seed size of faith to move a mountain. Like us, “they are (and will continue to be) a community in which worship and doubt coexist.”
Other spiritual lessons may be learned from the Great Commission. First, becoming a disciple means being trained in obedience to fulfill the will of the Father and live according to the teachings of Christ. Where do we find these teachings in Matthew? Start with the Sermon on the Mount, beginning in chapter 5. Disciples will be “pure in heart,” “merciful,” and “peacemakers.” “They will be conspicuous in the good works, bringing flavor and light to a world that for some is dull and dark (5:13-16). They will be slow to anger (5:21-25) and reluctant to judge (7:1-5). They will aspire to be faithful in marriage. They will forgive their friends and love their enemies. They will be active in prayer and generous in giving. They will not be anxious (or they will try not to be anxious) (6:25-34) or greedy (6:19-24) but will be people who actively seek the good of others, striving always to treat others as they wish to be treated (7:12). All this (and so much more) is implied by the Great Commission.” (Mark Allan Powell, p. 322)
Second, living as a disciple is an active, intentional life, seeking to go and make Christ’s disciples, being led by the Spirit. There’s nothing passive about it. The first word of the Great Commission is “Go!” For Matthew, making disciples means going out, leaving the place of comfort where they live and were nurtured in faith and obedience to God’s Word. The Great Commission means taking the good news and teachings of Christ to the people, right where they are.
And third, the Great Commission carries with it a promise that is a principal theme of Matthew’s Gospel: the enduring and abiding presence of God in the world. We are not alone! God has been present with the people through the person of Jesus according to the prophesy of 1:23, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, ‘God is with us.’” Jesus remains present in the world through the life and mission of his followers—people who baptize, teach, and make disciples. And Jesus will be with US always—even to the end of the age.
After the four Spurs Nuns went to Sunday night’s game and the blessing went viral, the team gave the Silesian Sisters double the number of tickets for Thursday night’s game. Eight tickets still wouldn’t be enough for all who wanted to go, Bernadette said. She told Good Morning America, “We do not arm wrestle, but we might have to put some names in a little bucket and pull out the names of those who get to go to the game.”
They did get to the game in San Antonio Thursday night, but they didn’t end up going to Game 7 last night—the game that would decide who would advance to face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. The game was in Oklahoma, and it wasn’t just the expense that held them back. For they were given tickets and an airline had offered to fly them there for free. They didn’t go because it wasn’t part of their ministry calling. Instead, they hosted a community watch party for the game for San Antonio’s West Side.
When I heard that they wouldn’t be going, I marveled at how the young Sister Bernadette, accustomed to the quiet, simple life of the convent, was brave enough to testify to her faith with the media in order to bring more souls to love and follow Christ. She was ready to “GO” and make disciples, as Christ has commissioned her to do.
I ask you, my friends, what the Great Commission means for you and your life? Since your baptism, where have you been led by the Spirit to GO and make disciples? When have you responded in faith? When have your fears and doubts gotten in the way? What will you do differently today and this week?
Last night, I stayed up late to watch the game with Jim. And I found myself looking for the nuns, even though I knew they wouldn’t be there. They would be busy with God’s work, fulfilling the Great Commission by hosting a watch party in their community—so more hearts and lives may be touched by Jesus.
I looked for them in their team jerseys pulled over their habits, chanting from their seats,
“Go, Spurs, Go! Go, Spurs, Go!”
Let us pray.
Almighty God, thank you for sending your Son, who would model a righteous life and teach us what we need to know, before commissioning us to “Go” and make disciples. Thank you for those who have been faithful to that commission, willing to live intentionally, even sacrificially, to serve Christ, leaving a comfortable existence to reveal your loving, gracious presence to humanity. Thank you for the sisters who have a burden for the next generation in the West Side of San Antonio, a burden that have led them to become Spurs fans and host neighborhood watch parties. Help us to heed your Son’s Great Commission, whatever that means for each of our lives and for our church, and be obedient to Christ’s teachings. Remind us often of the promise of your abiding presence—that you are with us always, even to the end of the age. In the name of our Triune God we pray. Amen.
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