Matthew 28:1-20--The Resurrection and the Great Commission

​Matthew 28 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Resurrection
28:1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

The Report of the Guard
11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

The Great Commission
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

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We wrap up the gospel of Matthew with the Resurrection of Jesus.  How fitting as I am writing this blog during Holy Week 2020, and it is nearly time for us to once again celebrate the resurrection of our risen Lord.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is finished, as is the Sabbath day that follows, and Matthew is very clear that we are talking about Sunday morning--the first day of the week.  Some women, specifically mentioned here are Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary."  We see from putting all the gospels together that there were several women in this group, but not everyone gets mentioned in every story.

And there was a great earthquake when an unnamed angel of the Lord rolled back the stone and sat on it so that the tomb was open for them and he could greet the women when they got to the tomb.  His presence also took care of the Roman guard that had been posted as they were afraid and "fell like dead men" (maybe they fainted) because of their fear when they were in the presence of God's messenger.  Ultimately though the message this angel had was not for the Roman guard--it was for the women who were visiting the tomb that morning--“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

Notice that the soldiers did have need to fear, but for those for whom the message was intended, the first words that were given were "Do no be afraid."  For those of us who are in Christ, the resurrection is not something to fear, but something that brings great job, but for the enemies of God who thought they had defeated the King of Kings--for them to see and hear that Jesus had risen and to see but one heavenly warrior guarding the tomb struck great fear in their hearts.

The women left the tomb with great joy, but still did not truly understand, and Jesus personally appeared to the women to show them He was alive and to deliver the message personally that they need not be afraid and that He would be waiting for the disciples in Galilee (a long way away from Jerusalem where this story was happening).

We return to the guards and see that while they were a Roman cohort, they realized that they were keeping the tomb secure at the request of the chief priests--so we see them going to report the events to them.  The chief priests again turned to money, probably out of the temple treasury again, to bribe the guards to tell a lie that would normally mean not just the end of a Roman soldier's career, but the end of his life, so it must have been a very good bribe.  They instructed the soldiers to tell the people that they had fallen asleep during their watch and that during the night, the disciples had come and stolen the body to fake the resurrection.  The bribe also came with a promise of political protection as the Sanhedrin promised to protect them from Pilate and any other Roman governor that might try to come after the guard for such utter dereliction of duty.  Matthew ends this part to say that this lie is still circulated and believed by many of the Jews at the time that he wrote his gospel, and it is still one of the theories circulated today.

Last, but not least, we see Matthew tell us the final words that Jesus gave to His disciples and the Church before ascending into heaven.  “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Matthew doesn't even tell us what happens to Jesus at that point as that wasn't the story that he was telling.  This is the gospel of Matthew that was written mostly to the Jewish people to explain that he knew these things were real.  He had seen the risen Christ, and the disciples were out making disciples of all the nations because that is what the risen Christ had commanded them to do, and it is what He has also commanded all of us to do.  Our mission is The Great Commission.
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