Matthew 28

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SPECIAL STUDIES THE KIND OF MESSIAH GOD HAS IN MIND ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

From the very first page of his Gospel Matthew flashes before his readers a series of radical claims for Jesus that must be taken seriously and examined carefully. Before the reader has completed two Chapter s, Matthew has already introduced Jesus of Nazareth as:

The descendant of the principal heirs of the promises God gave to the Hebrew people, Abraham and David (Matthew 1:1-17). Yet, He descends from at least three Gentile ancestresses.

He comes from God by the activity of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-25).

Rather than liberate His people from their national enemies, He comes to save them from their sins (Matthew 1:21). He is named Jesus (Javeh saves) and Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23).

Though He is the ruler who shall pastor God’s people (Matthew 2:6), He is the object of the indifference of the clergy and the persecution of the powerful (Matthew 2:1-23).

The very inauspicious circumstances surrounding His birth, combined with the disgusting nickname, the Nazarene (Matthew 1:23), point to a suffering Messiah from the very beginning.

John the Baptist presented Jesus as the Judge who would execute the justice of God and who alone was qualified to immerse men in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:1-12)! Yet, Matthew’s Messiah appeared for the first time in public as just another common man among the sinners who presented themselves to John for baptism (Matthew 3:13-15). Despite His humanness, He is God’s beloved Son and anointed with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17).

The Messiah relived the same trials of His own people, proving Himself faithful to God as His authentic Son, responding to the temptations, not as would an angel, but, rather, with the attitude of a true human being who is a worshiper of God (Matthew 4:1-11).

The Messiah is concerned with the enlightenment of the benighted among the Gentiles (Matthew 4:12-17; Isaiah 9:1 f.).

As the new Moses Jesus is not merely a great Lawgiver who repeats what God told him, but actually rises above the Mosaic Law to say what He personally requires (Matthew 5:21; Matthew 5:27; Matthew 5:32; Matthew 5:34; Matthew 5:39; Matthew 5:44). Further, He is a Messiah who will fulfil the Law, bringing it to its proper completion (Matthew 5:17).

Jesus is a Messiah who has time for, and is powerfully competent to help, the impure nature’s most violent forces (Matthew 8:23-27), demoniacs (Matthew 8:28 to Matthew 9:1), paralyzed sinners (Matthew 9:1-8), the outcasts of society (Matthew 9:9-13), the pious but ignorant (Matthew 9:14-17), and many others (Matthew 9:18-34). Despite the multiplicity of appeals for His help, He regards people with genuine compassion (Matthew 9:36-38), as an abandoned flock over which God assumes the care. (Cf. Ezekiel 34.)

Jesus presents Himself as Teacher and Master and Lord of the House. He expects His followers to suffer for His sake, and assumes upon Himself the role of Lawyer, or Advocate, at the Judgment of God. (Cf. Matthew 10:18; Matthew 10:22; Matthew 10:32-33; Matthew 10:37-39.)

Even the mighty miracles of Jesus do not force people to believe in Him (Matthew 11:2-24). They merely push His hearers into two positions: belief or unbelief. John the Baptist himself hesitated in the presence of contradictions in his own mind, the works notwithstanding (Matthew 11:2-19). The Galileans did not understand their need to submit to Jesus by repenting (Matthew 11:20-24). The wise and understanding could not grasp the wisdom and source of His work (Matthew 11:25-27). He is the kind of Messianic King that is comprehensible only to the man who is ready to do the will of the Father (Matthew 12:50).

In contrast to the austere John the Baptist, Jesus is a Messiah whose life is full of the fulness of the human life (Matthew 11:16-19). Notwithstanding the different life-style of the two messengers of God, the results demonstrated that God had acted with wisdom in sending them precisely as He did.

Jesus reveals everything willingly to those who submit to His instruction and commit themselves to learn from Him (Matthew 11:28-30). This intention involves growth of character, not automatic righteousness. Still, He is gentle and lowly in heart, and able to move mercifully among contrasting levels of society and help people.

Jesus is the kind of Messiah who does not overwhelm His opposition with a brilliant burst of supernatural power, forcing their belief and submission. Rather, He generously meets their questions, doubts, objections and cavils with answers sufficient to convince the common, honest listener (Matthew 12:1-50). In fact, when the opposition demands the supernatural fireworks, He who could call down 10,000 angels gave a common, perfectly acceptable sign. (Cf. Matthew 16:1-4.)

Jesus is the Servant of Javeh (Matthew 12:18-21 = Isaiah 42:1-4).

Jesus recognizes no claims of blood or kinship of the flesh, only moral ties cemented by obedience to the will of God (Matthew 12:46-50).

Jesus respects the human freedom of His own townspeople at Nazareth, however severely He must have been tempted to do many mighty works there just to show -’em! (Matthew 13:54-58).

Even in His own ministry, Jesus respected His own time schedules, not only bending every lesson to prepare for the cross in His life, but avoiding unnecessary conflicts that would tend to abbreviate the time available to teach His disciples (Matthew 14:13 a; cf. Matthew 4:12; Matthew 15:21; Matthew 16:4 b).

He is realistic about the overconfidence of His followers, since He knows that they can be influenced by popular leaders and parties-’ skepticism about Him (Matthew 16:5-12). However, He has no fear to entrust the mission of the Church-Kingdom to men dedicated to Him (Matthew 16:13-20).

He does not swerve from the predetermined plan of God, notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts of earthly friends to dissuade Him from being the type of Messiah God has in mind (Matthew 16:21-28).

He will be the glorious Judge of every man, repaying each according to what he has done, thus fulfilling in full all that John the Baptist predicted of Him (Matthew 16:27).

He is the glorious Messiah foreshadowed by the Law and the prophets, to whom all must listen and obey (Matthew 17:1-8). However, He would suffer the same fate as John (Matthew 17:10-13).

Despite His real exemption from paying tribute to God’s temple, because He is God’s Son, still He meekly pays it, in order not to scandalize those who would not understand His standpoint and miss His message because of it (Matthew 17:24-27).

He is the kind of Messiah who refuses to recognize artificial claims to honor and greatness. Rather, His rule of greatness is the degree to which anyone renders service to the weakest, smallest, least important in the Kingdom (Matthew 18:1-35).

He is the kind of Messiah that refuses earthly power-structures as a means of ruling over men, choosing rather the path of service as the ransom for man (Matthew 20:20-28).

Despite His dissimilarity to everything Messianic in the popular mind, Jesus really is God’s kind of Messianic King (Matthew 21:1-17).

He is the kind of Messiah that, despite His autonomous miracle-working power and God-given authority, does not undervalue nor forget the importance of His lesser servants-’ ministry (Matthew 21:23-27).

He is really the chief corner stone God planned to use (Matthew 21:42), really God’s Son (Matthew 21:33-43).

No mental image of the Messiah is adequate that sees His Messiahship as having only earthly regality, such as that of a Son of David reigning on a material throne in Jerusalem, In fact, the true Messiah, as David himself admits, must be thought of as the Lord of David (Matthew 22:41-46).

Jesus is objective, willing to recognize truth wherever it is found and correctly taught, even if it is a Pharisee that teaches it (Matthew 23:2-3).

Jesus is Israel’s truest Patriot (Matthew 23:37-39), but true Prophet (Matthew 24:1-28) and Son of man (Matthew 24:29-44; cf. Daniel 7:13-14).

He is the glorious Messianic King before whom all nations will be tried, whose judgment affects the eternal destiny of each one, and whose judgment is based upon how each one treated the least of these my brethren (Matthew 25:31-46).

He is not a helpless victim going innocently to an unexpected, tragic death, but the Son of man fully self-possessed moving majestically and consciously toward victory. He willingly pours out His blood to establish a new covenant and provide forgiveness (Matthew 26:1-2; Matthew 26:12-13; Matthew 26:26-29).

Jesus is not the kind of Messiah that would abandon His vacillating disciples, even though He proved to them that He knew what their reaction would be to His death, despite their good intentions (Matthew 26:30-35).

Jesus is a fully human Messiah who could really suffer, flinching at the thought of death (Matthew 26:36-46).

Though under arrest and abandoned by His Apostles and betrayed by His Apostle, He remains the real Master of the situation (Matthew 26:47-56).

He is definitely innocent of any guilt, according to His betrayer-Apostle (Matthew 27:4), the wife of Pilate (Matthew 27:19) and Pilate himself (Matthew 27:18; Matthew 27:24).

He is self-controlled despite temptations to return accusations and insults (Matthew 26:62-63; Matthew 26:67-68; Matthew 27:12-14; Matthew 27:27-31; Matthew 27:40; Matthew 27:43).

Jesus is proven to be the Messiah of God even in His death, as shown by His fulfilment of the ancient prophecies (Matthew 27:32-48). His death signaled the end of an era and the beginning of another (Matthew 27:51-54).

Jesus is the victorious Christ to whom universal authority has been granted and who orders His people to participate in His personal mission to teach the entire world (Matthew 28:18-20). His presence with His people until the end of time guarantees His concrete interest in their affairs and His care for them.

WHO IS JESUS ACCORDING TO MATTHEW?

Jesus is the fulfilment of all God’s promises to ancient Israel:

He is the descendant of Abraham and David (Matthew 1:1-17; Genesis 12:2 f.; 2 Samuel 7:11 ff.).

He is the Son of the virgin (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14) God with us (Isaiah 7:14).

He is the Ruler, the Shepherd of Israel born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6; Micah 5:2).

He was God’s reason for calling Israel out of Egypt (Matthew 2:15; Hosea 11:1).

He is what it means to be called a Nazarene (Matthew 2:23; cf. Psalms 22; Isaiah 53; Isaiah 49:6 f.).

He is the Lord for whom John the Baptist must prepare (Matthew 3:3; Malachi 3:1 ff.).

He is the greater than John, who must immerse with the Holy Spirit and with fire unquenchable (Matthew 3:11-12; Malachi 3:2; Malachi 4:1; Joe 2:28 ff.).

He is God’s Son possessed of the Spirit of God (Matthew 3:17; Isaiah 61:1-2; Isaiah 42:1).

He is willing to do anything God requires (Matthew 3:15; Matthew 4:1-11).

He is the great light to the Gentiles (Matthew 4:12-17; Isaiah 9:1-2).

k. He is the fulfilment of the Law and Prophets (Matthew 5:17-48).

He is the great Servant of Jahweh who bears our infirmities (Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:4).

He is the great Servant of Jahweh in whom Gentiles may hope (Matthew 12:15-21; Isaiah 41:1-2).

He is Zion’s true King (Matthew 21:5; Zechariah 9:9).

He is Jahweh incarnate whose praise on the lips of children silences His enemies (Matthew 21:16; Psalms 8:2).

He is the stone the builders rejected (Matthew 21:42; Matthew 21:44; Psalms 118:22-23).

He is David’s Son and David’s Lord (Matthew 22:44 f.; Psalms 110:1).

He is the Pierced One over whom Israel would bitterly wail (Matthew 24:30; Zechariah 12:10-14).

He is the great Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30 b; Daniel 7:9-14; Matthew 26:64).

He is the stricken Shepherd (Matthew 26:31; Zechariah 13:7).

He is the Servant of God sold for the price of a slave (Matthew 27:9 f.; Zechariah 11:12 f.; Jeremiah 32:6-9).

He is the despised and afflicted Servant of God (Matthew 27:46; Psalms 22:1 ff.).

To the discerning reader, well-schooled in Old Testament literature, Jesus would appear to be everything God had taught Israel to expect, even if Matthew did not explicitly cite every possible reference.

Beyond what had specifically been prophesied, Jesus is One greater than Moses, the Law and the Temple, the Sabbath.

While demanding a standard that is higher than Mosaic legislation (Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:28; Matthew 5:32; Matthew 5:34; Matthew 5:39; Matthew 5:44), He expected men to be perfect as God (Matthew 5:48). He blessed people who suffered for His sake (Matthew 5:11; Matthew 16:24-27; Matthew 10:18-39; Matthew 24:9; Matthew 24:13)

He not only expected that men accept His teachings as the rock-foundation of their lives (Matthew 7:24-27), but proclaimed Himself the divine Judge with whom all must have to do at the final Day (Matthew 7:21-23).

He possessed the right of earth to forgive sins which only God could do (Matthew 9:1-7).

He demands absolute loyalty to Himself, a loyalty evidenced by public confession and rewarded by presentation personally to the Heavenly Father (Matthew 10:32-33; Matthew 10:37-39). To receive the least disciple in Jesus-’ name is to receive God (Matthew 10:40-42)!

Moses could point men to the Law and Prophets (Deuteronomy 18:15-18), but Jesus invited men to Himself (Matthew 11:28-30), because the Father had intrusted everything to Him (Matthew 11:27).

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and must do what is good in it (Matthew 12:1-14). He introduced principles greater than the Temple (Matthew 12:6).

Jesus claimed a unique Sonship to God, unshared with any other (Matthew 7:21; Matthew 10:32 f.; Matthew 11:25-27; Matthew 12:50; Matthew 15:13; Matthew 16:27; Matthew 18:10; Matthew 18:19; Matthew 18:35; Matthew 20:23; Matthew 21:37 ff.; Matthew 22:2; Matthew 26:53; Matthew 26:39; Matthew 26:42).

Jesus is the Owner of the world (Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:37-43).

He did not correct men who confessed Him to be God’s Son (cf. Matthew 8:29), but rather praised them (Matthew 14:33; Matthew 16:16 f.). See also Matthew 27:54.

Jesus is to be heard, while Moses and Elijah must forever fade into the background (Matthew 17:3; Matthew 17:5; Matthew 17:7).

Jesus and His Apostles will judge all Israel (Matthew 19:28) not Moses and the Prophets.

Jesus is the One whose life must be given as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

Jesus is the Sender of the New Testament prophets, wise men and teachers (Matthew 23:34).

Jesus, as Son of Man in the Danielean sense, is final judge of the entire human race (Matthew 25:31-46).

Jesus-’ blood ratifies the covenant, because poured out for the forgiveness of sins of many people (Matthew 26:28).

Jesus is Someone greater than the great ones of the Old Testament.

He is greater than Jonah who brought Ninevah to its knees before God (Matthew 12:39-41).

He is greater than Solomon whose God-given wisdom brought the Queen of the South to hear him (Matthew 12:42).

Matthew’s conclusion (Matthew 28:1-20).

Jesus is risen from the dead (Matthew 28:1-10).

(1)

Vindicated by angels (Matthew 28:1-7).

(2)

Seen by women (Matthew 28:8-10).

Jesus-’ greatness denied by Jewish gold and Roman lies (Matthew 28:11-15) c. Jesus-’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).

(1)

Jesus-’ authority is universal and the basis of His final orders.

(2)

Jesus-’ final commission is to disciple every nation and edify the baptized believers by committing to them everything Jesus taught the original witnesses.

(3)

Jesus-’ promise to be with His people till the very end.

THE TITLES OF JESUS IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL

Jesus-’ personal name Jeshua or Jehoshua means Javeh is salvation or Javeh saves, a fact made specific by Matthew’s citation of the angel’s words: He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

Jesus is the son of David by virtue of His genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17), a fact underlined by the angel’s address to Joseph: Joseph, son of David. (Matthew 1:20), and stated by others elsewhere. (Cf. Matthew 9:27; Matthew 15:22; Matthew 20:30; Matthew 21:9; Matthew 21:15; Matthew 22:41-46.)

Matthew considered it essential for even Hebrew readers to see the significance of Jesus-’ fulfilment of the prophecy about the Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14), whereby the child born is evidence of God with us, Emmanuel in Hebrew (Matthew 1:23).

From the Gospel’s title forward, Matthew speaks of Jesus as Christ, God’s Anointed (Matthew 1:1; Matthew 1:16-18; Matthew 2:4; Matthew 11:2; Matthew 16:16; Matthew 16:20; Matthew 22:42; Matthew 23:10; Matthew 24:5; Matthew 24:23; Matthew 26:63; Matthew 26:68; Matthew 27:17; Matthew 27:22).

Jesus is Lord (Matthew 3:3; Matthew 7:21 f.; Matthew 21:3; Matthew 24:42; Matthew 24:48; Matthew 25:11; Matthew 25:19). There are many texts in Matthew where people address Jesus as Lord, however with the common meaning of Sir or Mister. Yet, there is also a growing importance evident in some of the uses of this title, especially when used in conjunction with other titles. (Cf. Matthew 8:25; Matthew 14:28; Matthew 14:30; Matthew 15:22; Matthew 20:31).

Jesus is the Ruler of God’s people (Matthew 2:6).

Jesus is God’s Son (Matthew 2:15; Matthew 3:17; Matthew 8:29; Matthew 14:33; Matthew 16:16; Matthew 17:5; Matthew 26:63; Matthew 27:40; Matthew 27:43; Matthew 27:54). Jesus proves Himself a genuine Son of God by His obedience to the Father’s will (Matthew 4:3; Matthew 4:6).

Although not a specific title, Jesus is, however, pictured as the Forgiver of sins on earth (Matthew 9:6).

He is the Servant of Javeh (Matthew 12:18).

He is, upon reflection, the Owner of the world. (Cf. Matthew 13:24; Matthew 13:27; Matthew 13:37-38.)

Jesus is the prophet (Matthew 21:11).

Jesus is addressed as, or described as Teacher (Matthew 8:19; Matthew 9:11; Matthew 10:24 f.; Matthew 12:38; Matthew 17:24; Matthew 19:16; Matthew 22:16; Matthew 22:24; Matthew 22:36; Matthew 23:8; Matthew 26:18). He thinks of Himself as the disciples-’ one Leader (Matthew 23:10).

Jesus pictures Himself as the King of the Kingdom of God judging the servants of God (Matthew 25:31-34; Matthew 25:40). In His meek Messianic entry into the Holy City He fulfilled the style of Kingship pictured in Zechariah 9:9 which sees Him as Israel’s King (Matthew 21:5).

Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man (Matthew 8:20; Matthew 9:6; Matthew 10:23; Matthew 11:19; Matthew 12:8; Matthew 12:32; Matthew 12:40; Matthew 13:37; Matthew 13:41; Matthew 16:13; Matthew 16:27-28; Matthew 17:9; Matthew 17:12; Matthew 17:22; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 20:18; Matthew 20:28; Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:30; Matthew 24:37; Matthew 24:39; Matthew 24:44; Matthew 25:31; Matthew 26:2; Matthew 26:24; Matthew 26:45; Matthew 26:64). Because of the evident allusion to the Danielic vision of the Son of man (Daniel 7:13-14) and the greatness of that personage who comes on the clouds of heaven, and because Matthew’s Gospel was written after Jesus-’ vindication in His resurrection, ascension and glorification, should not all of the Son of man passages be read in this light? Granted that the original hearers of this expression would not have understood this much, what would this prove? They did not understand many things about the other titles either.

REACTIONS TO JESUS ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

DISCIPLES: TRUST AND OBEDIENCE, ALTHOUGH NOT WITHOUT SOME FAILURES.

The first disciples (Matthew 4:18-22) called to participate in Jesus-’ ministry.

Amazement of the Apostles at the calming of the tempest on the sea (Matthew 8:23-27).

Willingness of Matthew to leave all and follow Him (Matthew 9:9-13).

Instances where Jesus-’ disciples are under attack for following His thinking rather than Pharisean or other popular interpretations. (Cf. Matthew 9:14; Matthew 12:2; Matthew 15:2.)

Willingness of disciples to be babes to accept Jesus-’ revelations (Matthew 11:25 ff.).

The disciples prove the reality of their discipleship by going to Jesus for explanations and answers (Matthew 13:10-17; Matthew 13:36).

The disciples are baffled about how to feed the 5000, but offer themselves ready helpers when Jesus indicates the course to follow (Matthew 14:15-18).

Peter trusted Jesus to enable him to walk on the sea, but when his faith failed, Jesus-’ rescue and general mastery of the sea and the situation caused the disciples to confess Him thus: Truly you are God’s Son (Matthew 14:28-33)!

Troubled by Jesus-’ intransigence in the face of the theological opposition to His ministry, the disciples fear offending the Pharisees (Matthew 15:12). However, Jesus-’ puzzling answer draws out the disciples-’ real discipleship to Him, when Peter asks for explanations (Matthew 15:15).

Unable to grasp Jesus-’ enigmatic warning against the influence of popular leaders and parties, they prove themselves unable to trust Jesus to create bread out of nothing, apparently not remembering the two recent miracles of multiplication of food (Matthew 16:8 ff.).

Despite many popular opinions to the contrary, the Twelve in the person of Peter confess Jesus-’ true identity. However, they (Peter) react vigorously to any mention of His future suffering (Matthew 16:13-23).

Peter’s exuberant suggestion to place Jesus, Moses and Elijah on equal terms, had to be corrected by God’S: This is my beloved Son, listen to Him (Matthew 17:1-13)! His desire to remain on the mountain only points up his lack of comprehension

concerning the way in which the Messianic mission should be realized.

The nine disciples-’ failure to heal the epileptic boy is attributed to a lack of sufficient fundamental faith (Matthew 17:14-20).

The second announcement of Jesus-’ suffering is received with great sorrow (Matthew 17:22-23).

Peter supposed Jesus to be subject to the Temple-tax, from which, as Son of the Temple’s Owner, He was really exempt (Matthew 17:24-27).

The disciples supposed that Jesus-’ Kingdom was one in which human greatness was to be measured by the power wielded over others (Matthew 18:1-35).

The disciples were astonished that marriage can be dissolved for only one reason, i.e. fornication, and conclude that celibacy is the only solution (Matthew 19:9-12).

The disciples rebuked people who desired that Jesus bless their children (Matthew 19:13-15).

The disciples were astonished that wealth should be considered a grave danger to one’s eternal salvation (Matthew 19:26). Despite Jesus-’ warning, Peter asked what (wealth, position, authority or other) they would receive as rewards for their self-denial (Matthew 19:27)!

James and John, still refusing to admit the spiritual nature of God’s Kingdom, seek power and position for themselves (Matthew 20:20-28). The others were indignant at the two brothers, jealous that James and John had asked for the coveted positions first.

It is conceivable that some of the crowds present during the triumphal entry actually welcomed Jesus as God’s Messianic King without ulterior motives, despite their own mistaken notions about God’s intentions for Him (Matthew 21:1-11).

Despite Jesus-’ sternness and vigor shown while cleansing the temple, the needy and the little children came to Him with their problems and their praise (Matthew 21:12-17).

The disciples were astonished at the withering of the fig tree (Matthew 21:18-22).

The disciples asked for explanations about the prophecy of Jerusalem’s fall (Matthew 24:3).

Mary of Bethany lovingly anointed Jesus for His burial (Matthew 26:6-13).

The Twelve were shaken that one of their number should betray Jesus and they humbly asked in self-doubt whether it were they (Matthew 26:20 ff,).

Peter rejected the idea that he should deny Christ (Matthew 26:31-35). All agreed that they would die with Christ.

In the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus refused to be defended by the sword, all forsook Jesus and fled (Matthew 26:51-56).

Peter denied the Lord (Matthew 26:69-75).

Disciples remained at the cross and saw to Jesus-’ burial (Matthew 27:55-61).

Women behold first the empty tomb and then Jesus risen, then go to inform His disciples (Matthew 28:1-10).

The Eleven behold Him in Galilee and are commissioned to evangelize the world (Matthew 28:16-20). Although most worshiped Him, some doubted!

JOHN THE BAPTIST: PERPLEXITY

At Jesus-’ baptism: I should be baptized by you, and you come to me? (Matthew 3:14).

Indirectly through his disciples: We fast, as do the Pharisees, but your disciples do not (Matthew 9:14 ff.).

In prison: Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another? (Matthew 11:2 ff.),

The apparent officiousness of Jesus-’ mother and brothers shares something of this same perplexity about Him. (Cf. Matthew 12:46-50.)

THE MULTITUDES: READINESS TO RECEIVE MATERIAL BLESSINGS, SLOWNESS TO SURRENDER ALL TO JESUS.

First summary of ministry (Matthew 4:23-25).

Astonishment at His teaching as one having authority, not as their scribes (Matthew 7:28-29).

Desire for a qualified, convenient discipleship (Matthew 9:18-22).

Glorifying God for having given authority to forgive sins to men like Jesus (Matthew 9:1-8).

Blind men, healed, disobedient to Jesus-’ requests for privacy (Matthew 9:30-31).

Marveling at Jesus-’ healing of dumb demoniac (Matthew 9:32-33).

Fickleness in not committing themselves to the wisdom represented in the respective ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus (Matthew 11:7-19).

Refusal to repent, despite the quantity of proof of Jesus-’ authority to require it (Matthew 11:20-24).

Half-surprised belief asked: Can this be the Son of David? after the liberation of a blind and dumb demoniac (Matthew 12:22-23).

Great crowds listened to the enigmatic Sermon in Parables, but apparently few bothered themselves to ask Jesus its real meaning (Matthew 13:2; Matthew 13:34; Matthew 13:36; cf. Matthew 13:10-17).

Crowds flocked together for the Messianic excitement, but not necessarily to believe anything Jesus might say, on the basis of His divine credentials (Matthew 14:13 bff.).

The rich young ruler offered to follow but the price was too high (Matthew 19:16-22).

Great crowds joined in the Triumphal Entry of the Messiah for various motives (Matthew 21:2-11).

THE ENEMIES: DEDICATED OPPOSITION

Pharisees attacked Jesus-’ acceptance of the outcasts of Hebrew society (Matthew 9:9-13). Their reaction is that of men who live in a situation of security and certainty about their own rightness and their judgment of those who disagree with them.

Pharisees raise objections to Jesus-’ flagrant disregard for their private interpretations of the Sabbath Law, views that push them to blind, inhuman mercilessness to God’s creatures for whose benefit God gave His law (Matthew 12:1-14). They begin to plot His destruction.

Finding no suitable alternative explanation for His obviously supernatural power, the Pharisees must resort to the accusation that His good deeds were done in harmony with Satan and through his power (Matthew 12:22-45). But this rejection of God’s Spirit as the source of Jesus-’ power, is forever not to comprehend God’s Kingdom as revealed by Jesus (Matthew 12:28).

The Nazarenes, while not opposing Jesus with the vehemence shown on His former major visit to Nazareth (cf. Luke 4:16-30), nevertheless totally under evaluated Him, found themselves without adequate explanation of their local Son, and so confirmed their own unbelief (Matthew 13:54-58).

Jesus definitely withdrew from Herod’s country when news arrived of the latter’s murder of John the Baptist, Jesus-’ forerunner (Matthew 14:1-13 a; cf. Luke 9:9).

Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem attack Jesus over His disrespect for the traditions of the elders (Matthew 15:1-20).

Pharisees and Sadducees challenge Him to prove His authority by providing them some sign from heaven (Matthew 16:1-4).

Pharisees tested Jesus on the divorce question (Matthew 19:3-9).

Chief priests and scribes object to the children’s praise of Jesus in highly Messianic terms (Matthew 21:15-17).

All the religious authorities, at various times and ways, attempt to trap Jesus by argument and are bested (Matthew 21:23 to Matthew 22:46).

The Sanhedrin decided the death of Jesus and finally succeeded in carrying it out (Matthew 26:1-5, Matthew 26:47 to Matthew 27:44). They accepted full responsibility for His death, freeing the political authority from this responsibility (Matthew 27:24-25).

To guarantee against fraudulent resurrection, the religious authorities sealed the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66).

To counteract resurrection testimonies, the Sanhedrin bribed false witnesses (Matthew 28:11-15).

THE KIND OF KINGDOM GOD HAS IN MIND ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

By presenting Jesus as the humble babe of Bethlehem, adored by foreigners and rejected by His own people, then rescued by fleeing into a foreign country, Matthew pictures the hard reality of a Kingdom of God whose true value can be appreciated only through the eyes of faith and by the spiritual long view of things. Those who dreamed of a triumphalistic Messianic Kingdom must see the lowliness and suffering of Him of whom Matthew must speak (Matthew 2).

Matthew alone quotes Jesus-’ justification for His own immersion by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:15). Jesus-’ Messiahship is founded on the principle that We must do everything God says to, whether we understand it perfectly or not, whether we agree that it applies to us or not, whether it is popular or not, whether our best friends think we should or not,just because God said to do it! This is a Kingdom that collides with all notions of a Messianic utopia where we all get to do what WE want to.

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is the first concrete answer Matthew includes to the question: What does it mean to fulfil all righteousness? What does it mean to submit ourselves to the Kingdom of God, i.e. to His plans and will? If this Sermon is a manifesto of the Kingdom, and if Jesus Himself is the realization of all that God intended in the Old Testament Law (Matthew 5:17-20), and if His Word is that which God now substitutes for that Law (Matthew 5:21-48), then THE KINGDOM IS JESUS HIMSELF present among men. He is the new Law. Consequently, the Church is none other than the totality of those who follow HIM toward that fulfilment of God’s plan that Jesus has reached. The promise of obtaining the Kingdom is directed to those aware of their spiritual poverty (Matthew 5:3), the persecuted for doing God’s will (Matthew 5:10), and those whose obedience to God’s will exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20).

The continued presence of threatened judgment upon the believer stands out in stark contrast with pre-Christian Jewish views of the Messianic Kingdom, according to which, in the days of the Messiah, the people of God would be miraculously and instantly purified. (Cf. Matthew 5:19 a, Matthew 5:20; Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:26; Matthew 5:29-30; Matthew 6:1; Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 7:2; Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 7:19; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 7:26-27).

If the Kingdom of God and His righteousness is to be sought first, above and beyond all human necessities (Matthew 6:33), then it is not a Kingdom that eliminates the struggles involved in our human existence, but rather becomes the goal of our efforts despite the continued existence of these normal necessities (Matthew 6:24-34). The Kingdom must be understood as a present reality, present IN the humdrum of our existential world, not merely an eschatological release from that reality. The purpose of this insertion of the Kingdom INTO the sinful world is to be light to illuminate its darkness, salt to save it from its corruption (Matthew 5:13-16).

The non-nationalistic, non-racial character of the Kingdom is underlined in the account of the healing of the centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13). The specifically racial and nationalistic claims of the Jews received a serious blow dealt by Jesus-’ comments on the exceptional faith of the Roman.

The Kingdom’s standard of judgment is not based upon precise performance of rituals, but upon the real sincerity of one’s motives for all that he does (Matthew 5:8; Matthew 5:11; Matthew 5:19-20; Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:28; Matthew 5:32; Matthew 5:37; Matthew 5:44-47; Matthew 6:1 ff., Matthew 6:24; Matthew 7:12; Matthew 7:18-20; Matthew 7:23).

God’s Kingdom is His mastery over human uncleanness and disease (Matthew 8:1-4; Matthew 8:14-17). It means His personal entrance into our human misery and bearing it Himself (Matthew 8:17 = Isaiah 53:4).

God’s rule must be considered as absolute, more demanding than the highest human need or responsibilities (Matthew 8:18-22).

God’s Kingdom includes His control over the elements of the natural world (Matthew 8:23-27).

God’s Kingdom is manifest in His total mastery over Satan’s kingdom (Matthew 8:28 to Matthew 9:1).

God’s Kingdom is evident in His right to forgive man’s sin (Matthew 9:2-8).

The Kingdom of God is not a sect of purists (the pure, the true Church), but a movement that is genuinely open to all without distinction. If Matthew the publican can belong to it, ANYONE can (Matthew 9:9-13)!

The Kingdom is not triumphalistic, does not force men to believe or be righteous, but it proceeds because of its missionary spirit. Its missionaries, because they labor where frictions among men are the bitterest, where selfishness explodes in all its forms, must expect persecutions and death (Matthew 10:16 ff.). Even though God is present and judging His people, He may not intervene to halt those who kill them (Matthew 10:28). Jesus-’ disciples are to be identified with Him in suffering and service (Matthew 10:16-40).

The unification of all men in the Kingdom of God can only come about by the elimination of all false unities, even those founded upon blood relationships (Matthew 10:34-39).

The Kingdom of God, in its earthly manifestation, can suffer opposition and violent attempts to force it to be something other than what it was designed to be (Matthew 11:12). This is in perfect harmony with the absolute freedom of the human will to accept its teachings or not (Matthew 11:14).

God’s government of heaven and earth includes His gracious will to hide significant truth from those who pride themselves as being the wise and understanding, while revealing the truth to humble, sincere disciples, the babes (Matthew 11:25-30).

The rule of God over His people lifts them over the highest institutions of the Mosaic Law, the Sabbath and the Temple (Matthew 12:1-14). The Son of man is lord of the sabbath.

The operational power of the Spirit of God working in Jesus of Nazareth is positive proof that the Kingdom of God has come and that Satan is really defeated and plundered (Matthew 12:22-29)!

Something greater than the wisdom of Solomon and the testimony of Jonah is involved in Jesus-’ representation of God’s Kingdom (Matthew 12:38-43).

The Kingdom of God is not founded upon fleshly ties, not even to the Messiah Himself, much less to Abraham, but upon doing what the Father in heaven wills (Matthew 12:46-50).

Jesus presented the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven to everyone listening, but in parabolic form so as to distinguish between listeners. Those who trusted Jesus enough to come to Him for explanations, received more information about the nature, progress and destiny of the Kingdom of God, because they gained the explanations of the unforgettable parables they already possessed. Those who did not care enough for truth, or did not trust Jesus to know what He was about, not only did not gain this vital information, but also lost the value of the parables they had heard (Matthew 13:10-17; Matthew 13:34-35). Thus, the Church is made up of those who desire to trust and learn from Jesus even those truths of the Kingdom that are unclear, unpalatable, or seem wrong.

The kind of Kingdom God has in mind has the following characteristics:

The effectiveness of God’s rule in individual lives depends directly upon each one’s personal openness to truth and his willingness to let God rule (Matthew 13:1-9; Matthew 13:18-23). If so, the Kingdom is not a materialistic regime that conquers by force of arms, but by the painfully slow process of planting truth in men’s hearts, which are of widely varied character.

The temporary presence of evil in the Kingdom of God is not His fault, because He is not the source of evil. Rather, He has inaugurated a process whereby final judgment will reveal the truly righteous and segregate the wicked. The righteous, the congregation of the Messiah, really are the citizens of His Kingdom (Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:36-43). The continued presence of evil in the world is clear proof of man’s moral freedom to decide his own fate (Matthew 13:47-50). The Kingdom is the work of a God who knows the time of its maturing and of the final day.

Despite its microscopic beginnings, the Kingdom of God will grow and become a mighty empire, because of its internal life and extensive expansion (Matthew 13:31-32).

The Kingdom will grow quietly in the world, without great noise and commotion, but its progress will not be hindered until its intensive, transforming power influences all it touches (Matthew 13:33).

Whether discovered accidentally or sought deliberately, the Kingdom of God, when discovered and appreciated at its true value, is worth all it costs (Matthew 13:44-46).

The theologian who is a disciple of the Kingdom is a wealthy man who can bless his guests with treasured truth, the best of the old and the finest of the new (Matthew 13:52).

It is not a kingdom in which external purity and ceremony has any real importance, but where the real purity of one’s heart, as this is manifested in his spirit of obedience to whatever God requires, is everything (Matthew 15:1-20).

It is a Kingdom whose King, the Son of David, has time to bless even CANAANITES, despite the limitations of His personal mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:21-28)!

It is a Kingdom where half-Jewish, half-Gentile populations can sit down to the Messianic banquet together, not because of personal worthiness, but because of the Messiah’s bounty and graciousness (Matthew 15:29-39).

It is a Kingdom, rather, that one enters by death to self, and by acknowledgment of the true identity and consequent rights of the King (Matthew 16:13-28). The community of the Messiah (The Church of Christ), then, is but the subjective manifestation of the Messiah’s objective rule. The Church is, in short, the people of the Kingdom, the necessary result of the proclamation of God’s sovereignty, a proclamation which calls into being a real assembly or communitary reality: the Church. It was to begin in the lifetime of Jesus-’ earthly disciples (Matthew 16:28).

The Kingdom’s power, while at the disposition of the disciples, is not automatic nor divisible from faith (Matthew 17:14-21).

The sons of the Kingdom are free citizens, above even the obligatory Temple-tax (Matthew 17:24-27).

Death to self, absolutely essential to entrance in the Kingdom, manifests itself in a refusal to recognize any standard of greatness other than the amount of service one renders to the weakest, smallest, least important in the Kingdom (Matthew 18:1-35). No pride in achievement can justify unmercifulness or harsh treatment of any member of the Kingdom, however seemingly insignificant.

The Kingdom God has in mind is a community of the Messiah, yet it admits its internal problem and deals with them in an orderly manner (Matthew 18:15-35). The problem of continued sinning and consequent need for forgiveness is to remain a live one, even after the beginning of the Kingdom. It is a Kingdom whose common life is characterized by its concern for the little ones, its reconciliation of brethren, its forgiveness of offenses, its purity of intentions, its harmony of life and its common prayer.

The Kingdom God has in mind is concerned with a right understanding of male-female relationships (Matthew 19:3-12). Celibacy, even for sake of the Kingdom, is not possible for everyone.

The Kingdom of God belongs to the children and such as they, not those whose adulthood makes them too proud to come to Jesus (Matthew 19:13-15).

The Kingdom God has in mind does not belong exclusively to the wealthy, whom most people would automatically judge most qualified for it, being the most blessed by God who furnishes the power to become wealthy (Matthew 19:13-30).

In God’s Kingdom earth’s value-systems and power structures have no importance, except in a negative way in the sense that they are condemned among believers (Matthew 19:23-26).

Loyalty to Jesus Christ, as this is manifest in the sacrifices made for His sake, will be richly rewarded in that expression of God’s Kingdom in the world to come (Matthew 19:27-30).

In fact, God’s Kingdom attributes no priority to anyone on the basis of supposed merits or personal achievements, because the basis of blessing is the free choice and mercy of the King (Matthew 20:1-16).

The usual, earthly power-structures have no relation to anything Jesus has in mind for His Kingdom. Rather, the measure of greatness and power is service and usefulness to others, not self-seeking and self-aggrandisement (Matthew 20:20-28).

God intends that His Kingdom shall belong to people who will produce the results God desires. Therefore, it cannot long remain the private possession of those who do not (Matthew 21:23-43).

The Kingdom of Heaven is a question of free choice that may be accepted or rejected, but not, however, without serious consequences. Many are invited into it, but few prove finally acceptable (Matthew 22:1-14).

Surprisingly, God’s Kingdom does not conflict with normal, constituted human authority nor vice versa, and may be considered consistent with it when properly exercised (Matthew 22:15-21).

While the present phase of the Kingdom of God is played out on earth’s stage, the resurrection of the dead ushers men into a different state of life with the God of the living (Matthew 22:23-33).

The religion and ethics of God’s Kingdom may be summed up as love for God and unselfish service to one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:34-40).

The son of David, long-awaited Messianic King, must also be the Lord of David (Matthew 22:41-46).

In God’s Kingdom, there are not to be many chiefs, just one Father, one Teacher, one Leader. Everyone else is one of the brothers (Matthew 23:7-10).

Nor is God’s Kingdom to be exclusive and sectarian on the basis of human traditions and proselytization. Rather, its concerns will be with the things that count: justice, mercy and faith, inward purity, consciousness of God, moral understanding, hatred of sin (Matthew 23:13-36).

The Kingdom God has in mind and of which Jesus is the Messianic King, will not be without its prophets, wise men and theologians, sent as Christian missionaries to save Israel (Matthew 23:34). Not only is their preparation emphasized here, but also their mission of mercy to an unworthy people.

The way in which God’s Kingdom would be carried on will create a situation in which constant vigilance and constant preparation are absolutely essential to please the King (Matthew 24:36 to Matthew 25:13). There remains the live possibility of losing everything, despite one’s privileged position as servant of the King. The King’s arrival will be delayed (Matthew 24:45; Matthew 25:5). But the daily life of the citizen must be one marked by faith, sobriety, alertness and dedicated service.

The Kingdom involves a trust of the King’s goods left in custody of His servants, to be utilized for His benefit (Matthew 25:14-30). The King’s return will be delayed (Matthew 25:19). This only emphasizes the greatness of the opportunity to make good use of His goods for His glory.

The Kingdom involves a proper, personal care for the world’s needy to whom service is to be rendered as if to the King Himself (Matthew 25:31-46).

The Kingdom God has in mind is based on covenant sealed in Jesus-’ blood, furnishing the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28). The fruit of the vine which symbolized the blood of the covenant would be shared with Jesus-’ disciples in the Father’s Kingdom (Matthew 26:29).

Since Jesus was tried and crucified by the Romans and Jews as the King of the Jews, and since God vindicated Jesus-’ right to this title by raising Him from the dead, it should be clear to Matthew’s readers that God’s Kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel as God envisioned it, was not to be of the type usually dreamed of in current Jewish speculation, but precisely the Kingdom Jesus continuously and consistently represented to them. It is almost as if Matthew were saying: The exclusively Jewish -King of the Jews-’ is dead, never to rise again, not crucified by His own people, but by the King Himself. In His place there arose the true King of the new Israel, the King of the universe with authority in heaven and on earth. (Cf. Matthew 28:18.)

While our King is one in the daily expectation of whose return from a long trip we are to live (cf. Matthew 24:45-48; Matthew 25:5; Matthew 25:19), He is always near us, by our side, and His faithfulness will not fail (Matthew 28:20).

Whereas in Mark we read of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God, the object of the announcement being the person of Jesus Himself, in Matthew the characteristic expression is the gospel of the Kingdom, almost as if it is meant that the object of the Gospel, the purpose of the Christian message is the actual proclamation of the Kingdom. (Cf. Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 24:14 in contrast to Mark 1:1; Mark 1:14).

Because the Kingdom of God expresses the will of God, His Kingdom is evident in His choice to reveal His plans, not to the intelligentsia, but to little children (Matthew 11:25-26).

God does not will that any of these little ones should be lost through neglect or stumbling blocks of other disciples (Matthew 18:14).

WHATEVER God wills is the essence of the Kingdom of God in one’s life, regardless of how deeply that cuts across our choices or preferences (Matthew 26:39).

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Despite the variety of events in the history of the Jewish people, as these are noted in the record of Jesus-’ genealogy, God was silently working to bring His Messiah into the world (Matthew 1:1-17).

Despite the real perplexities of Joseph about his beloved Mary, God was taking care of Jesus by providing Him a legal father and protection for His mother, Despite human experience of a virgin birth, God chose this method to come into the world, so that in the human Jesus, we learn what it means to have God with us (Matthew 1:18-25).

Despite the clever planning of a murderous king, God rescued Jesus from harm and furnished sufficient funds for an extended sojourn in Egypt by gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-21).

God will severely judge an unrepentant Israel, notwithstanding her claims to physical descent from Abraham, unless she embraces the Lord for whom John prepared the way (Matthew 3:1-12).

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus underscored again and again the Fatherhood of God and His Fatherly care. (Cf. Matthew 5:16; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 5:48; Matthew 6:1; Matthew 6:4; Matthew 6:6; Matthew 6:8; Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 6:18; Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:32; Matthew 7:11.) Despite the terror of the persecutions which would tempt Christians to close themselves up in monastic seclusion, their purpose must be to glorify their Father who watches over their most secret thought and cares for their most fundamental needs.

The Mission of the Twelve is born in prayer to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest (Matthew 9:38). It is His field for which He is responsible and into whose service we pray He will raise up laborers. Despite the temptations to deny everything because of the terrors of the persecutions, God watches over His creation and will bless with victory all who proclaim His Word, although He may not intervene to halt those who would kill the body (Matthew 10:26-31). He will not forget even the smallest help given His people (Matthew 10:40-42).

Notwithstanding the incomprehension encountered by Jesus among His own people, God’s sovereign decision to reveal Himself and His will in precisely the way Jesus had followed was gratefully accepted by Jesus (Matthew 11:25-27). God’s design actually worked and was being realized by Jesus-’ works. The sovereign Lord of heaven and earth is not forced to bow before those who believe themselves lords of the world (the wise and understanding) (Matthew 11:25).

It is God who can guarantee that all the sacrifices of Christ and His people will only result in life lived at its best (Matthew 16:24-28). Life belongs to God, and only He can transform it. All that Jesus demands becomes comprehensible, if seen as obedience to God who by resurrection defeats our death, even as He did it for Jesus (Matthew 16:21).

It is God who speaks from heaven, confirming Jesus-’ ministry, notwithstanding what all human judgment must pronounce a failure in His mission and procedure and results (Matthew 17:5). Success, in God’s view, must be obtained at the cross, both by Jesus and by each single disciple.

With God all things are possible, even the damnation of men despite their wealth and the saving of those who sacrifice all they possess for Jesus-’ sake, and who would be considered poor in human judgment (Matthew 19:23-30).

The absolute Lordship of God is manifest in His free gift of grace to those whom He wishes to bless, regardless of the apparent unworthiness of these latter (Matthew 20:1-16). Rather than measure the recompense on the basis of one’s achievements, Jesus reaffirms that everything depends upon the free choice and mercy of God.

The sovereignty of God is underlined in the Parables of the Vineyard and the Marriage Feast, in that the owner of the vineyard can (and should) put the former share-farmers to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants, and in that the king can rightfully send his troops to destroy the murderers of his messengers, burn their city, and replace them with just anyone who would come. But, even so, all must conform to his terms for remaining in his grace (Matthew 21:33 to Matthew 22:14).

Jesus-’ quotation of Zec 13:7 points to God as the Ruler of history and who does everything according to His plan for man’s salvation, even if this is not the kind of Messianism that man would design (Matthew 26:31-32).

Even in the attitude of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46) we see the theme of human weakness in the presence of the will of God that must be carried out to the utmost. Temptation to give in is something that continually hangs over man, and only God can furnish him the strength to endure it.

The Garden arrest must take place according to the Scriptures, because God, who ordered these events and is back of the Scriptures, is the final, real Actor in every event (Matthew 26:56).

After Jesus-’ victory and receiving universal authority, He promises His people that, while they carry out His mission on earth, He will be with them until the end of the age. This means that His people are those disciples who are determined to follow the same path He did, confiding only in the blessing of God (Christ), sure that they will never be alone, since He, the sovereign God in Christ, is always guarding them (Matthew 28:16-20).

The sovereignty of God is seen in the picture of Jesus as the Man over whom God had been watching even before His birth and had foreseen and prepared for every part of His life. This is especially emphasized in His fulfilment of prophecies. Among Matthew’s at least forty formal quotations of the Old Testament, the following are expressly cited as being particularly indicative of God’s preparation for and care of Jesus even before His appearance on earth:

**MATTHEW

OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGE**

Hosea 11:1 (cf. Exodus 4:22)

Matthew 2:23

prophets Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12; Psalms 22; Isaiah 11:1?

Psalms 8:2 (LXX Matthew 8:3)

Psalms 118:26; Jeremiah 22:5

Matthew 24:29-31

Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7; Joe 2:10; Joe 2:31; Joe 3:15;

Isaiah 34:4 b; Haggai 2:6; Haggai 2:21; Zechariah 12:10; Zechariah 12:12;

Daniel 7:13-14; Isaiah 27:13; Deuteronomy 30:4; Zech.

Psalms 110:1; Daniel 7:13-14

Matthew 27:9-10

Zechariah 11:12-13; Jeremiah 32:6-15

Matthew 27:46

Psalms 22:1

THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

What kind of information did Jesus reveal about God’s Fatherhood? While clearly picturing Him as the Lord your God (Matthew 4:10; Matthew 22:37), as the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28), as the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth (Matthew 11:25) and as king of the kingdom of God (Matthew 18:23; Matthew 18:35), etc., our Lord laid heavy emphasis on God’s fatherly character. Does Jesus picture Him as a celestial Santa Claus or as an unquestioning, all-accepting divine Grandfather or otherwise? Consider these revelations:

All our good deeds must be done so that others-’ praise will go to our Father (Matthew 5:16).

Loving kindness to enemies makes us true sons of our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:44). His perfection is our standard (Matthew 5:48).

Our acts of righteousness must be done with a view to being rewarded by our heavenly Father alone (Matthew 6:1-18).

In contrast to dead, pagan deities whose devotees must hopelessly, endlessly cry to them, our heavenly Father knows that we need daily necessities (Matthew 6:32), and He gives only good gifts to those who ask Him (Matthew 7:11).

Entrance into heaven’s Kingdom depends on doing the will of Jesus-’ Father (Matthew 7:21).

Early disciples, on trial for their Christian testimony, may depend with full confidence on the Spirit of our Father speaking through them (Matthew 10:20).

Nothing sinister can happen to a faithful disciple, apart from what our Father permits (Matthew 10:29),

However, it is before Jesus-’ Father in heaven that the disciple will be acknowledged or disowned, according to his attitude and faithfulness on earth (Matthew 10:32 f.).

Jesus sustained a unique, unshared relationship to this Father, whom He could call my Father in a way distinct from the relationship to this Father known by every disciple, because the Father had committed all things to Him (Matthew 11:25-27).

The kinship to Jesus that really counts is not physical, based on a coincidental or miraculous fleshly relationship, but rather spirit, based on doing the will of His heavenly Father (Matthew 12:50).

Although temporarily obscured in this life, after the judgment the righteous will be perfectly obvious in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43).

Any doctrine not finding its origin in the will of Jesus-’ heavenly Father will be eradicated, and those who follow blind leaders who hold such doctrines will suffer the consequences along with them (Matthew 15:13).

Jesus-’ Father in heaven revealed to Peter the true identity of Jesus (Matthew 16:17).

Our Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost, so their angels are granted instant access to His presence (Matthew 18:14; Matthew 18:10).

Jesus-’ return to earth will be surrounded with His Father’s glory (Matthew 16:27).

All of the might of Jesus-’ Father in heaven is at the disposition of two humble disciples who agree to ask Him for something in prayer (Matthew 18:19).

However, Jesus-’ Heavenly Father will not tolerate any unwillingness to forgive in His subjects (Matthew 18:35).

It is Jesus-’ heavenly Father whose will determines places of honor in His Kingdom (Matthew 20:23).

God is the only one who rightly deserves to be called Father in the high, ethical sense of Provider of spiritual life and guidance (Matthew 23:9).

The Father alone knows the day of Christ’s return (Matthew 24:36).

The righteous will finally be blessed by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:34), and not unlikely, He is the author of the curse upon the wicked (Matthew 25:41).

Jesus viewed the glorious Messianic Kingdom as belonging to His Father (Matthew 26:29).

Jesus pleaded with His Father to remove the cup of suffering (Matthew 26:29; Matthew 26:42), and remained stedfastly confident that His Father could at once put more than twelve legions of angels at His disposal (Matthew 26:53).

THE KIND OF JUDGMENT GOD WILL EXERCISE ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

John preached repentance and deeds as all-important for spiritual preparation for the Messiah’s coming, not pretended fleshly ties to Abraham. The judgment, while involving all of Israel, will examine each one individually (Matthew 3:1-12). The Messiah Himself would be personally responsible to execute summary judgment.

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, underlined the inner purity of heart, the kind of motivated person that seeks God’s will and man’s good above personal interest. Only this kind of person will have God’s approval. (Cf. Matthew 5:3-10, Matthew 5:21 ff., Matthew 5:27 ff., Matthew 5:44-48.) The rigor by which men deal with others will be the measure of severity or clemency by which they themselves are to be judged (Matthew 5:7; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:14 f.; Matthew 7:1-5). Men will be judged on the basis of what they do with JESUS-’ words (Matthew 7:21-27). All are judged by their deeds and attitudes (Matthew 7:15-23). Jesus Himself will decide the fate of all (Matthew 7:22). God will not judge men merely by the standards of the most pious theologians of the day, the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:21), but against the standard of perfection itself (Matthew 5:48)!

In the dialogue with the Gadarene demons, they demand to know if Jesus is come to punish them before the time of the final judgment (Matthew 8:29). This suggests without stating it that Jesus Himself is the final Judge by whom these dark spirits must be judged and sentenced. How much more would mankind be judged by Him? Before the time, however, means that the demons, and evil in general, are yet free to do their worst, even if drastically curbed for awhile and in limited ways. (The demons are cast out of the poor sufferers.)

God desires to exercise a judgment tempered with mercy, not merely the rigid, heartless censorship practiced by the Pharisees (Matthew 9:9-13, especially Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7).

God will save the man who endures to the end (Matthew 10:22).

God will not destroy in hell those who, however frightened by persecutors and death, give their testimony boldly and confess Jesus before men (Matthew 10:26-33).

God will judge sinners on the basis of their attitude toward His Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31 f.), on the basis of the character of their heart as this is seen in their words, (Matthew 12:33-37), and on their opportunities to know the truth (Matthew 12:38-42), and on the basis of the practical emptiness of their sterile lives (Matthew 12:43-45).

For the emphases on judgment in the Sermon in Parables (Matthew 13), see Note at the end.

God judges men’s ideas on the basis of their origin, not upon their acceptability to current scholarship (Matthew 15:13). If their ideas did not originate in the truth of God, they will be eradicated in judgment.

God cannot tolerate any rivals to Jesus His Son, not even the greatest Law-givers and Prophets of Old Testament religion (Matthew 17:5; Matthew 17:5). Men must see Jesus only (Matthew 17:8).

Greatness in the Kingdom of God is measured by God’s concern for the least, the last and the lost (Matthew 18:10-14). Anything that causes these to be lost must be eliminated on the penalty of eternal destruction (Matthew 18:8-9). God will use the same rigor of judgment with which men treat one another (Matthew 18:23-35).

The lesson of the barren fig tree cursed (Matthew 21:18-22) is that God eliminates useless, unfruitful creatures, with a suddenness and severity that may surprise the observer, but with undoubted justice, because of the richness of opportunities to produce what, by their nature, they should be expected to produce.

The severe condemnations of Pharisaism and Jerusalem (Matthew 23:1-39) teach that God’s judgment condemns making religion a burden (Matthew 23:1-4), proud humility (Matthew 23:5-12), partisan zeal (Matthew 23:13-15), the art of evasion (Matthew 23:16-22), loss of the sense of moral proportions (Matthew 23:23-24), external purity in contrast to inner pollution (Matthew 23:25-28), abuse of God’s messengers (Matthew 23:29-36), rejection of Love’s appeals (Matthew 23:37-39). They are without excuse, because they know God’s will and do not do it (Cf. v. 3).

The great Eschatological Discourse deals with judgment upon Israel, then upon the world (Chapter s 24, 25). The bases of judgment mentioned are readiness, faithfulness, usefulness, faithfulness to Jesus.

NOTE that all the major discourses recorded by Matthew proceed to a climax in judgment:

The Sermon on the Mount ends on the parable of judgment against the house built on the sand foundation (Matthew 7:24-27).

The Sermon on the Apostolic Mission rises to a climax from fear of human persecutors to concern for not being acknowledged by Jesus in the presence of God the Father (Matthew 10:26-33). The result of God’s judgment will be determined by the positions taken during this life (Matthew 10:34-39).

The Sermon on John the Baptist, Shall We Look For Another Christ? emphasizes the theme of judgment upon the most favored cities where Jesus had bestowed His richest favors of blessing, healing and teaching. Judgment, says Jesus, will be in proportion to the light against which we have sinned (Matthew 11:20-24). The very choice to hide certain truth from the wise and understanding while revealing them to babes, is itself a judgment in which Jesus fully concurs (Matthew 11:25 ff.).

The Sermon on the Kingdom of Heaven, told in truth-hiding parables, is itself a masterpiece of judgment executed upon those who had no desire for truth (Matthew 13:10-17). The parable of the Sower emphasizes the grounds of the difference in reactions to truth and consequent judgment upon individuals (Matthew 13:1-9; Matthew 13:18-23). The parable of the Weeds underscores the certainty of judgment, despite what appears to be unnecessary delay in its coming. It explains also the impossibility to pronounce premature judgments on our part (Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:36-43). The parables of the Yeast and the Mustard Seed pronounce God’s judgment upon the progress of the Kingdom, despite man’s opinions to the contrary (Matthew 13:31-33). The parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Precious Pearl express God’s judgment of the value of the Kingdom: it is worth all it costs the individual who acquires it (Matthew 13:44-46). The story of the Dragnet repeats the message of the final, inexorable division of the world’s people (Matthew 13:47-50).

The Sermon on Personal Relations in the Kingdom thunders judgment without mercy against the unmerciful, by means of the parable of the Two Debtors (Matthew 18:23-35).

The Sermon on the Sins of the Religious (Matthew 23), while itself almost entirely a thundering denunciation of a multitude of sins, rises to its dramatic climax in the words: You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth.. Truly, I say to you, all this will come upon this generation (Matthew 23:33-36).

The Sermon on the End of the World (24, 25) underlines again and again not only the fall of everything not in God’s plans, but also the necessity for immediate, personal preparation.

BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM THE IMPORTANCE OF BEARING FRUIT AND DOING WHAT JESUS DEMANDS ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

John the Baptist defined repentance by demanding that those who pretend to repent should prove their sincerity by producing fruits worthy of repentance, i.e. the characteristic deeds of a changed life. Unless these deeds were forthcoming, punitive judgment would overtake the unfruitful, despite all pretenses and claims to the contrary (Matthew 3:1-12).

The Messiah Himself insists upon being baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness, i.e. to do what God defines as right for any man (Matthew 3:14-15). The plan of God can be brought to fulfilment only in this way, not by fleeing one’s responsibility, but by accepting it completely.

The Sermon on the Mount is packed with blessings, admonitions and teaching to underscore the importance of deeds:

The active peacemakers are the sons of God (Matthew 5:9). Only those who ardently desire to do the will of God will truly be satisfied in the Kingdom (Matthew 5:6).

The true salt and light are useful to God (Matthew 5:13-16).

Doing and teaching is God’s standard of greatness in the Kingdom (Matthew 5:19).

Worshiping (Matthew 5:24), almsgiving (Matthew 6:2-4), praying (Matthew 6:7 ff.) and fasting (Matthew 6:16 ff.) are assumed to be part of the normal activity of the godly disciple, but are not more important a part of personal piety than active reconciliation (Matthew 5:21-26), personal self-denial (Matthew 5:27-32), absolute honesty (Matthew 5:33-37), merciful generosity (Matthew 5:38-42), and actively blessing one’s enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).

The same judgment threatened against imposters is the standard for unfruitful disciples (Matthew 7:19).

Real union with Christ is to be enjoyed, not by family relationship to Him by blood or by accidents of birth in the right family or people, but by obedience to the will of the Father (Matthew 12:46-50).

The Sermon in Parables (chapter 13) links the disciples-’ fruit-bearing to his understanding the word of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:19; Matthew 13:23) as well as to his moral character (Matthew 13:21-22). Interest is shown, further, in the differing quantities of fruit borne even among the fruitful disciples. The Kingdom demands total commitment (Matthew 13:44-46).

Only total commitment to the will of God, even in the prospect of suffering and death, will be rewarded with life in its highest and best sense (Matthew 16:24-28). Every man will be repaid for what he has done.

Instead of commanding the rich young ruler to trust Him, Jesus told him something to do (Matthew 19:21). Although this implicitly involved total trust in Jesus to know what must be done to inherit eternal life, the deed is in the foreground. (Contrast John 6:29.) Life is to be had in doing what God wills (Matthew 19:17).

Men will be rewarded on the basis of what they have given up for Jesus-’ sake (Matthew 19:29).

The cursing of the fig tree because it had no fruit, just leaves, becomes an enacted lesson on the destiny of the fruitless, pretentious Israel that refused to believe Jesus (Matthew 21:18-22), It is also a warning to every believer concerning the damnation of useless-ness and the punishment of proud promises without performance. It applies to Jesus as well, because He too has made tremendous promises which could only be kept by going to the cross.

The Parable of the Two Sons emphasizes actually doing the will of the Father, as opposed to merely professing obedience without really doing it (Matthew 21:28-32).

The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Matthew 21:33-46) explains that the Kingdom of God will not remain the private possession of those who do not produce the results God intends. Rather, it will rightly pass over to those who will (Matthew 21:41; Matthew 21:43).

In all the lessons on vigilance during the eschatological wait for the Lord’s return, the emphasis is laid upon usefulness in the Lord’s service, doing the job He assigns, making the preparation that is needed for His return, utilizing the goods He entrusts to our custody, and caring for the people made in His image (Matthew 24:45 to Matthew 25:46).

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) includes the order to teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. The teaching has as its goal the production of the results Jesus desired.

THE KIND OF RIGHTEOUSNESS GOD HAS IN MIND ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15) is not merely Jesus-’ reason for being baptized by John the Baptist, but His reason for living as He did and His model for us.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Law of Moses is not despised, but fulfilled; not denied, but surpassed. Since Christ has come to fulfil God’s promises and standards, He Himself takes over the function of the Law, and becomes the Law. The Law is already the realization of the Kingdom of God among men in the person of Jesus Himself, a law that cannot be codified, but must be totally accepted. It is no longer sufficient to perform certain actions. What counts is the spiritual attitude with which they are performed and the intentions that motivated them. In fact, much of Jesus-’ teaching can be found in the Old Testament in one form or another. What is radically new about His view of righteousness is its new motivation: for my sake (cf. Matthew 7:21-27), i.e. because the demands made are authoritative and final because of Jesus-’ authority. Everything depends upon accepting Jesus as the Christ, and having His power to live the kind of life described herein. Otherwise, everything falls back into a legalistic, hence, impossible, concept of righteousness. The standard is no longer a codified one, but God’s own character, the goal for which He furnishes the Spirit to help us surpass the evil that dominates us (Matthew 5:48). Only this kind of righteousness will surpass that of the sterile religionists and bring glory to God (Matthew 5:10; Matthew 5:20). But it is a way to travel, an attitude to pursue, rather than a virtue intrinsic to discipleship. It is a search (Matthew 6:33). Man is blessed in the measure he desires it (Matthew 5:6).

The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-10) asks that God manifest His holiness, rule and will on earth, all in perfect harmony with the expectations created by the Old Testament doctrine of the Messianic age. The kind of righteousness Jesus has in mind, then, is that attitude which sanctifies God, seeks first His Kingdom and His righteousness and does His will (Matthew 6:33).

There is no necessary separation between the concerns of the Kingdom of God and those of life lived on this earth, no false dichotomy between spirit and matter. While much Jewish apocalyptic had pictured a materialistic Kingdom, Jesus pictures it as something to be spiritually understood and appreciated. While other Jews prepared for a purely spiritual Kingdom with no earthly reality, Jesus recognized the human situation that is to continue until the end of the world, a situation in which God’s people will need food, clothing and shelter, just like all men anywhere (Matthew 6:24-34). The difference, however, is in what each chooses as his personal preoccupation: desire to please the Heavenly Father, or worry about personal needs.

The patterns of piety under the Old Testament system are definitely old, out-moded, worn, however useful in their time, but definitely to be substituted with new forms, new content (Matthew 9:14-17). The wedding-joy of the Messianic Kingdom must not be marred by the severe piety that rightly characterized pre-messianic times. Jesus is not merely reforming Judaism with its legal system, but making a qualitative leap into a new relationship with God.

Righteousness, i.e. right thinking and doing, then, according to Jesus, means coming to Him, believing in Him, studying in His school, receiving peace of soul from Him alone (Matthew 11:28-30). The life-style pictured for the disciple cannot be divorced from the Christology of Matthew, because the invitations to enter into the Kingdom of God are intimately associated with invitations to embrace the person of Jesus Christ the King.

This submission to God’s will as it is revealed in Jesus means denying oneself for His sake and willingly accepting any suffering encountered in the line of duty for which all must answer to Jesus (Matthew 16:24-28).

Righteousness, in Jesus-’ eyes, does not seek control over others nor promotes self-importance (Matthew 18:1-35). Rather, real righteousness is humble, concerned about others-’ weaknesses and welfare and problems, dedicated to restoring harmony among men, and aware of its own need of God’s mercy. (Cf. also Matthew 19:13-15.)

Righteousness, as Jesus defines it, does not seek easy escape from marital responsibility (Matthew 19:3-9).

Righteousness not only does not hinder those weaker than oneself, but seeks to become like them in humility (Matthew 19:13-15).

Perfection is a question of removing everything that would hinder perfect service to God and others (Matthew 19:16-30). Strikingly, this answer is given to answer the request: What good deed must I do to have eternal life?

Righteousness does not depend upon one’s own merits or efforts, but upon the free choice and generosity of God (Matthew 20:1-16).

Righteousness does not express itself in self-seeking preeminence and priority over others, but in self-giving service for others (Matthew 20:20-28).

Real righteousness does not consist in professing allegiance to God yet without producing the results that this allegiance should produce (Matthew 21:18-22, Matthew 21:28 to Matthew 22:14).

All of religion and ethics may be expressed in the two great commandments (Matthew 22:34-40).

True religion consists in doing and teaching what God has ordered, regardless of the hypocrisy obvious in the life of those who occupy the teaching position (Matthew 23:2-3).

Righteousness consists in humble recognition of our equality under Christ our only superior (Matthew 23:8-12). True greatness is measured by service.

The weightier matters of the law (are) justice, mercy and faith, although the positive ordinances are not to be neglected either (Matthew 23:23).

The kind of righteousness Jesus has in mind is not a settled question, in the sense that any disciple can think himself to possess it perfectly. Rather, it is a life to be lived every day in the shadow of the real possibility of losing it (Matthew 24:12-13). It is a life lived under the daily tension of constant preparedness for whatever events signal the end for each one (Matthew 24:42 to Matthew 25:13). It involved a proper utilization of the Lord’s goods left in our custody (Matthew 25:14-30). Every earthly decision involves our taking a position in the presence of God and Christ the Judge (Matthew 25:31-46). The Christian ethic is not simply contemplative, but is highly practical, and by which all will be judged: did your trust of the Messiah make you generously helpful with your fellowman?

THE PARTICIPATION OF THE GENTILES IN THE MESSIANIC KINGDOM ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

The Gentiles are a special class to themselves, whose reaction to Jesus deserves special note. In fact, although Matthew mentions none among Jesus-’ regular disciples or enemies, because His mission was principally to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he does purposely include numerous mentions of them all in a favorable sense. The only significant negative Gentile personages are Pontius Pilate and his wife who figure in Jesus-’ trials, and while not pictured as particularly believers, both underline Jesus-’ innocence in different ways (Matthew 27:18-19; Matthew 27:24). Pilate’s final decision to protect himself rather than an innocent man, needs no comment. The soldiers of the battalion that mocked Jesus (Matthew 27:27-31) are negative, minor figures as are also the soldiers at the tomb who became involuntary witnesses to the reality of Jesus-’ resurrection (Matthew 27:62-66; Matthew 28:11-15).

Consider, however, the following positive, deliberately apologetic instances Matthew included to show that the Messianic Kingdom, rightly understood, is open to everyone, regardless of birth, race, language or national background:

At least three of the four women mentioned in Jesus-’ genealogy are Gentiles: Rahab the Canaanite (Joshua 2:11; Hebrews 11:31); Ruth the Moabitess (Rth 1:16 f; Rth 2:12); Bathsheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11; 1 Kings 15:5). The Messiah cannot be a pureblood Hebrew: He is part pagan by unquestionable genealogy,

The adoration by the Magi, standing in stark contrast to the indifference of Jerusalem and the clergy and the suspicions of a murderous king, points to a Messiah whose mission concerns not only Israel, but all peoples (Matthew 2:1-12).

John the Baptist preached: God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham and insisted that repentance and righteousness are the essential qualities for participation in the Messianic Kingdom (Matthew 3:1-10). If fleshly descent from Abraham is clearly subordinate to spiritual kinship to Abraham through faith and obedience to God, then, the logical conclusion may well be that even non-Hebrews will be permitted to share in the Messianic Kingdom on this same basis.

The universality of the Messiah’s ministry is underlined by Matthew’s quotation of Isa 9:1-2 linking Jesus-’ ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles with the already well-attested prophecy that had already sung of God’s concern for the benighted pagans (Matthew 4:12-17).

Remarkable for its absence in all of Jesus-’ teaching is any blessing of Israel above all other nations, any special honor given to uniquely Jewish practices, rites or customs, circumcision.

Unhesitatingly, Jesus blessed and praised the Gentile centurion of Capernaum and unblushingly stated Gentile participation in the Kingdom banquet to the exclusion of privileged Jews (Matthew 8:5-13).

The account of the Syro-phoenician womanherself a CANAANITEunderlines most vigorously the high quality of the faith of Gentiles when once brought into living contact with Christ and His message.

The participation of a half-Jewish, half-pagan population of Decapolis at the second miraculous multiplication of food, subtly underlines their common participation at the Messianic banquet (Matthew 15:29-39; cf. Mark 7:31; Mark 8:1-10).

In the parable of the wicked husbandmen, Jesus affirms: The Kingdom of God will be taken away from you (Jewish leaders especially) and given to a nation producing the fruits of it (Matthew 21:43). The new nation would not be merely Gentile, but a new people of Gentile-Jewish extraction who love and serve Jesus.

In the parable of the marriage feast, the King, angered by those who were invited and had rejected His invitation, destroyed those murderers and burned their city, because they were unworthy, and ordered His servants to bring in just anyone they could find (Matthew 22:1-14). The evident allusion is to the destruction of Jerusalem and the privileged Jews who should have been most ready to accept God’s invitation. Nevertheless, the non-Jews are offered the. same privileges, but must not presume upon God’s grace. (Cf. Romans 11:22.)

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations (Matthew 24:14)!

The Judgment of Christ, at which all nations will be gathered, separated and judged, will be settled, not on the basis of one’s Jewishness, but on the basis of each one’s usefulness in helping the least of Christ’s brethren (Matthew 25:31-46).

The kindness of Mary of Bethany in anointing Jesus for His burial will be told in memory of her, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world (Matthew 26:13).

Pilate’s wife was the only voice urgently raised to protest Jesus-’ innocence at His trial before the Gentile court.

A Gentile centurion at the crucifixion is the only non-disciple quoted by Matthew as having made a statement favorable to Jesus: Truly this was God’s son (Matthew 27:54)!

In virtue of Jesus-’ universal authority, all nations are to be evangelized and discipled (Matthew 28:18-20).

Matthew 28:1-10

**SECTION 76 JESUS AROSE!

(Parallels: Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18)**

TEXT: 28:1-10

1 Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. 3 His appearance was as lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 and for fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, who hath been crucified. 6 He is not here; for he is arisen, even as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples, He is risen from the dead; and lo, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. 8 And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 9 And behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail, and they came and took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not: go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

Why do you suppose Matthew bothered to begin this new section with the expression, After the Sabbath? Why not begin simply, Now as the first day of the week was dawning? Is there something important in mentioning the Sabbath here?

Why do you suppose that the two Marys wanted to see the tomb? Had they not already done so before the Sabbath started, when they watched Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus prepare the body for burial?

Do you think they went to the tomb on Saturday evening, i.e. when Sunday was beginning, or on Sunday morning? Defend your answer.

The women were eager to care for the body of Jesus, whereas the men disciples only went to the tomb when called, and then, only two of them went. Why do you think the men acted this way? Does not this show a serious failure of love for Jesus?

What was the purpose of the angel’s coming? To let Jesus out of the tomb?

If the guards were frightened so greatly by what they saw, is it not possible to suspect their later testimony, precisely because of the irrationality chargeable to their fear?

Is there any evidence in the text that the soldiers fled from the tomb when the angel appeared? If so, what is the proof? If not, what does the soldiers-’ continued presence at the tomb suggest about their later testimony?

Other Gospel writers document the presence of TWO angels present, whereas Matthew only mentions one. How do you harmonize this discrepancy?

The guards are scared out of their wits but the women calmly listen to the angel’s message. Should it not have been the other way around?

The angel ordered the women to tell the disciples that the risen Christ was going before them to Galilee where they would see Him. Were the disciples expected to rush to Galilee right then, or what? After all, as things turned out Jesus appeared to them that very evening (John 20:19). What do you think the angel expected the disciples to do?

Despite so many predictions of Jesus-’ resurrection, why did not the disciples remember them until after it occurred? Why must the angel remind them here?

The women departed from the tomb with fear and great joy. How do you explain this peculiar psychological combination of emotions? Admitting that some women could have experienced one emotion and others another, on what basis can the same person truly experience both at the same time?

If Jesus planned to show Himself alive to the women, why did the angel tell them to communicate to His disciples that seemingly superfluous message that He would appear to them in Galilee? Did not the angel know what Jesus planned, or did Jesus get the arrangements mixed up, or what?

Jesus forbade Mary Magdalene to take hold of Him, yet the other women are permitted to approach Him and take hold of His feet and worship Him. How do you explain this contradictory conduct on Jesus-’ part? Or is there a difference in the attitude of the women? If so, what is it?

If Jesus planned to show Himself alive to the disciples that very evening, why did He too tell the women to inform the disciples that He would appear to them in Galilee?

Why do you think Jesus appeared first to the women? Could not Jesus have foreseen that the testimony of women would tend to be discounted in that male-dominated society, even by His own male disciples?

The women ran to His disciples to bring them the glad news of Jesus-’ resurrection. (a) What would be the effect today, if every disciple were to show the same happy zeal to bring these glad tidings to a world that is perishing? (b) Why do you think we fail to do this?

What does the resurrection of Jesus Christ mean to you?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

When the Sabbath was over at sunset on Saturday, Mary of Magdala and Mary, James-’ mother, and Salome purchased aromatic oils, so they could go to embalm Jesus-’ body. Then, late Saturday night, as it was beginning to get light on Sunday morning, the women, Mary from Magdala and the other Mary, went to see about the tomb very early, while it was still dark. Suddenly, a violent earthquake occurred, because an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, approached the tomb and rolled the stone aside and sat on it. His appearance had the dazzling brightness of lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The sentries were so terrified by him that they trembled and became rigid with fear. Carrying the aromatic spices which they had prepared for the embalming, the women arrived at the tomb shortly after sunrise. They were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb for us? But when they looked up, they discovered that the stonehuge as it washad already been rolled away from the tomb. So Mary of Magdala went running to Simon Peter and Jesus-’ dearest disciple, John, and informed them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put Him! Meanwhile, the other women went on inside the tomb, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they stood there not knowing what to think, suddenly, two men appeared to them in clothes that gleamed like lightning. In their fright the women instinctively bowed down with their faces to the ground, One of the angels appeared as a young man sitting on their right, dressed in a white robe. This latter angel addressed the women. There is no need for alarm, he said, I know that you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was nailed to the cross. Why search among the dead for Someone who is alive? He is not here, because He came back to life again, just as He said He would! Come see the place where they laid Him! Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, -The Son of man must be delivered over into the power of wicked men, be nailed to a cross and come back to life on the third day.-’ The women remembered that He had said that. Now you must go quickly and tell His disciples and Peter, continued the angel, He has risen from the dead and that He is going back to Galilee ahead of you. You will see Him there, just as He told you. This is the message I was to give you. So the women hurried away from the tomb, frightened, yet overjoyed. In fact, they were overcome with trembling and bewilderment. They did not tell anybody a single thing, because they were afraid. They simply ran to give the news to His disciples.

[At this point John reports the arrivals of Peter and John, then of Mary Magdalene to the tomb. The men arrive first and enter the tomb, but apparently met no angels. Mary sees the angels, then Jesus. Cf. Mark 16:9.]

Then, as the women were going away from the tomb to tell the disciples, suddenly Jesus Himself met them and said, Hello! Going up to Him, the women hugged His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, You need not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee. They will see me there. Returning from the tomb, they told all this to the Eleven and to all the others. Mary Magdalene, for example, told those who had been His companions, as they were sorrowing and weeping, I have seen the Lord! She also told them what Jesus had said to her. Now it was Mary of Magdala, Joanna, Mary, James-’ mother and the other women with them who told this to the Apostles. But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by Mary of Magdala, this story of theirs seemed to them sheer nonsense. They continued to disbelieve the women.

SUMMARY

On Saturday evening three women purchased embalming spices for use next morning. Then, early Sunday morning before daylight they start for the tomb. Meanwhile an angel comes to open the tomb. His coming shakes the earth and shocks the sentinels. The women arrive at the tomb at daybreak only to find the tomb already open. Mary of Magdala jumps to the conclusion that someone has moved the body. So, without actually examining the question farther, she runs to inform Peter and John. Meanwhile, back at the tomb, two angels inform the other women that Jesus is alive from the dead and that they are to inform Jesus-’ disciples. On their way to do so, Jesus appears to them and sent a message for His followers to meet Him in Galilee. Meanwhile, Peter and John race to the tomb, but do not see either Jesus or the angels. Mary of Magdala arrives later and sees both. Mary and the other women return to the apostolic group and report Jesus-’ resurrection, but no one believes them.

NOTES ON THE THIRD DAY

Matthew 28:1 Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. Although the accounts of the resurrection differ as to details, as sometimes happens in the case of valid testimony, the general picture of the events is substantially consistent. Such differences, rather than undermine the accounts, tend to confirm their authenticity, because exact superficial harmony would be suspicious precisely because contrived. If it could be shown that two witnesses claim to discuss the same event or detail and appear to contradict each other, then a real problem would exist. However, simple differences of detail are but evidence of honest, independent testimony.

A sound juridical approach is to assume the reasonable accuracy and honesty of the witnesses and attempt to see whether their witness can be harmonized into a unified account that is consistent. Otherwise, they get treated as dishonest or mistaken until proven correct, an improbable hypothesis in the light of the ease with which the opposition could have disproven their assertions, had they been honestly mistaken about, or, worse, concocting, anything they testify. Our approach shall be to find that explanation which permits each witness to be treated as fundamentally honest and which alleviates any supposed divergence between the Gospels. Past attacks on harmonizing approaches assume that the harmonist must prove his theoretic explanation. On the contrary, given our present state of information, it only need be demonstrated that a plausible explanation of the supposed divergency exists to remove the charge of inconsistency or contradiction levelled against the Gospels. After all, were the resurrection the bold invention of shameless charlatans, surely its authors would have taken greater care to eliminate the many problems in the accounts so as to create the kind of strict, even if superficial, agreement that some minds find comfortable. (For an excellent harmonization, see Wilson, Learning From Jesus, 516-521; also James Orr, The Resurrection of Jesus, 155f.; Butler, Luke, 576ff.; John II, 463ff.)

Late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week (opsè dè sabbàtôn têi epiphoskoùsei eis mìan sabbàtôn). The ASV translation is particularly unfortunate here, because apparently self-contradictory and because Matthew is forced to contradict the other Gospel writers. The problems in this translation turn on two factors:

Opsè can mean late.

Epifòskô, to dawn, considered as a Hebrew idiom wherein the day begins at sunset, can refer to a time coincident with the closing of the preceding day (Luke 23:54).

If the time in question was late on the Sabbath day, Matthew means sundown, when Sunday begins, or dawns, according to the idiom. However, this rendering leaves the impression that Matthew thought the resurrection occurred on Saturday, as opposed to the other witnesses who are certain it occurred on Sunday morning. But if epifoskoùsei (dawning) be taken literally, Matthew means around sunup, in which case there is no justification for his reference to a time late on the Sabbath day, for that day ended at sundown the day before. Matthew certainly would not contradict himself in the same verse. Further, the final translation must recognize that his two expressions are two ways of referring to the same time. Two factors point the way out of the morass:

Opsè can be translated after (Arndt-Gingrich, 606; Blass-Debrunner, §164.4; Rocci, 1383). To render the phrase, After the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week (RSV), better suits the context and harmonizes with the other Gospels.

Epiphoskoùsei can be taken in its natural, literal sense, rather than idiomatically.

Matthew treats the period of darkness which came to an end at dawn on Sunday as still belonging to Saturday, but actually after the Sabbath was over. That the moment in question is early Sunday morning is vindicated by the following considerations: (Cf. notes on Matthew 27:63 f.; esp. on Matthew 12:40, my Vol. II, 708ff.).

Since the difficult expression can actually be translated and interpreted in harmony with the distinctly clearer testimony of the other Gospels who unequivocally place the resurrection appearances on Sunday morning, why should it not be so rendered?

The women who go to the tomb on Sunday morning are Mary of Magdala and the other Mary, who was also the mother of James, and Salome. (Cf. Mark 16:1.) Perhaps there were also others, like Joanna. (Cf. Luke 23:55 to Luke 24:1, Luke 24:10.) These wonder, Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb? (Mark 16:3). Now, if these same women had stopped at the tomb on Saturday evening as they were out buying burial spices (Mark 16:1), they would have encountered the soldiers guarding it. Granted that their timidity might hinder their seeking help from Roman soldiers and that they are probably thinking of assistance from some male disciples like Joseph or Nicodemus or others, yet, they could not have wondered about any help at all. Rather, had they seen the soldiers before arriving on Sunday morning, they would have worried about the soldiers-’ inflexibility that would not permit them to break the seal on the tomb in order to open it, even to embalm the body.

Mark has two definite notices of time, whereas Matthew only one. (Cf. Matthew 28:1 with Mark 16:1-2.) Mark narrates facts that occurred on two successive days, on Saturday evening just as the Hebrew Sunday was beginning, then on Sunday morning about sun-up. Mark’s distinction should be represented by two separate paragraphs. The assumption that Matthew 28:1 is parallel with Mark 16:1, or worse, derived from it, leads to the conclusion that Matthew thought that the resurrection occurred on Saturday night, whereas the other Evangelists place it as quite early on Sunday morning. (Cf. Mark 16:9; Luke 23:56; Luke 24:1.) It also assumes that the women purchased additional spices around dawn on Sunday morning on the way to the tomb, whereas Mark suggests that they took the spices which they had prepared the night before, i.e. on Saturday night.

The purpose of the women’s coming is expressed vaguely as being to see the sepulcher. But were it limited to that, they could have come on Saturday night. Their intention is more fully indicated by their bringing the embalming spices (Luke 24:1; cf. Luke 23:56; Mark 15:47; Mark 16:1). Therefore, they think that they both can enter the tomb with no more serious hindrance than the heavy stone, and that they should do so to embalm a corpse. Their pre-dawn departure from their lodging indicates their haste to deal with a quickly decomposing body. So, they obviously know nothing about the seal or the soldiers and they do not expect Jesus to be risen. Luke 23:56 definitely states they rested on the Sabbath. Hence, although they could have recommended the embalming on Saturday night, it would have been an unusual time without adequate motive, since they would have to work on into the night by torch- or candlelight, when on Sunday morning an entire day would be at their disposal.

Matthew simply means that, although the women intended to complete the embalming, they waited until Sunday morning.

As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. Because some believe that Mark, Luke and John are hopelessly contradictory as to the time element involved, it is altogether appropriate to see that the translation makes considerable difference:

John 20:1: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene left for the tomb early, while it was still dark.

Luke 24:1: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb..

Mark 16:2: And very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

The Greek verb rendered in bold face in every case-is échomai (= êlthon), which means come or go, according to context (Rocci, 770; Cf. Arndt-Gingrich, 310f.). The rendering to be utilized remains the translator’s choice based on appropriateness to the situation. However, some translators ignore the problems of harmonizing all available testimony and of assuming the witness to be telling the truth until proven false. Consequently, they created contradictions for readers unacquainted with this phenomenon in Greek. The supposed divergence is removed by simply using the other, completely appropriate alternative translation.

Matthew 28:2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. For connects the earth tremor directly with the angel’s coming, but it is not clear whether it was simply contemporaneous with his coming or caused by it. Because a great earthquake is an event which man can neither impede nor ignore, just as at His death, its occurrence at precisely this moment is not merely coincidental and must be judged an appropriate accompanimentbetter: announcement?of Jesus-’ resurrection. (See notes on Matthew 27:51.)

Evidently, the angel rolled away the stone before the women reached the tomb, since they found it already removed upon their arrival (Mark 16:4; Luke 24:2; John 20:1). The stone was rolled away, not to let Jesus out, but to let the resurrection’s witnesses in! (Cf. Mark 16:5; Luke 24:3; John 20:6 ff.) Leaving the sealed tomb was no problem for the Lord of life. (Cf. John 20:19; John 20:26.) In fact, did Jesus arise when the angel came, or had He already left the tomb by simply walking away from it as simply as He entered the closed Upper Room? Precisely when Jesus emerged from the tomb is not stated. Rather, Matthew’s silence implies that He had already risen. Matthew does not describe the actual resurrection of Jesus nor affirm that anyone witnessed it. So, those who became witnesses to the resurrection are actually witnesses of the accomplished fact, rather than of the event itself. (Cf. Acts 1:22.)

When the angel. rolled away the stone, he heaved the huge disk down onto the ground before he sat upon it. By this superb gesture the angel seems to express the heavenly authority with which the tomb’s seals were broken and the great stone door opened. The grip of death is broken by heavenly power. And neither ancient nor modern skepticism have been able to reclose the open sepulcher of our Lord.

The angel is described by Mark and Luke as two (young) men, because heavenly messengers are often described by their appearance in human form. (Cf. Genesis 18:2; Genesis 18:16; Genesis 18:22; Genesis 19:1; Genesis 19:5; Judges 5:23; Judges 13:6; Acts 1:10.)

Mark and Luke report the presence of two angels (Luke 24:4). It is difficult to decide whether Matthew is simply summarizing by referring to the most prominent speaker of the two, or whether another appeared later. Omitting to mention the other angel does not create a contradiction, since Matthew does not affirm there was only one angel. His evident purpose is to report the message the women were to announce. Two possible harmonizations exist:

Perhaps the women encounter the first angel outside the tomb where he had frightened the soldiers and rolled away the stone door. He then invites the women into the tomb to verify his word. They enter, but do not find the body. Instead, they encounter another angel seated on the right side of the ledge. Then, perhaps he arose and the women find themselves standing between two heavenly beings and are frightened (Mark 16:5; Luke 24:3 ff.). Later, when Mary Magdalene arrives, she finds the two angels both inside the tomb (John 20:12).

Matthew does not affirm that the angel met the women outside, whereas Mark and Luke definitely affirm that they talked with an angel inside. Accordingly, the women ignored the fallen soldiers and rushed into the tomb and encountered both angels inside. Only one of them speaks (according to Matthew and Mark), but because the other confirms the testimony of the first, he may be said to have spoken (Luke 24:5). On this view, the angels arrived, one rolled away the stone and sat on it, thus frightening the guards. Then they entered the tomb. The women, upon arrival, found the two angels together inside.

The fact that the women encounter a varying number of angels, in different locations, standing and sitting, etc., is not at all irreconcilable with the sudden appearance of angels elsewhere in Scripture. The apparent contradiction between the Gospels is caused by each writer’s reference to a different phase of the scene or to a different principle speaker. No writer claims to tell all he knows about the picture. Cross-questioning of the witnesses and writers is now no longer possible, but the hypothesis of a plausible harmony exonerates them from embarrassment of proven error.

Matthew 28:3 His appearance was as lightning, and his raiment white as snow. The blinding flash of light from heaven took definite, human form. (Cf. Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4.) Unless this phrase contains Hebrew parallelism, because a distinction is made between his appearance and his raiment, the former is thought to refer to his face. His total appearance resembles the angels of the Old Testament (Daniel 10:6) and the glorified Christ (Matthew 17:2 = Mark 9:2 f. = Luke 9:29; cf. Revelation 1:14 ff.). The intense radiance reflected the glory of God whom he represented. (Cf. Exodus 34:29 f.) His raiment white as snow resembles that of heaven’s inhabitants (Revelation 4:4), not only the angels (Daniel 10:5 f.; Luke 2:9; Acts 1:10; Revelation 10:1; Revelation 18:1) but also the saints (Revelation 3:4 f; Revelation 6:11; Revelation 7:13 f; Revelation 19:8) and God (Ezekiel 1:26 f.; Daniel 7:9).

Matthew 28:4 and for fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as dead men. Even if these guards were not on the crucifixion detail, barracks rumors could give them reason to be apprehensive about this night duty. Just when it was almost over, there was a sudden, terrific shaft of light from heaven and the ground under their feet waved violently. The sentinels found themselves face to face with the true guard of honor at the tomb of the risen Christ! The shock left them paralyzed with fear of him. Any opposing reaction on their part was effectively preempted by a force with which they were psychologically unprepared to cope. Although they became as dead men, it is not clear whether they were completely unconscious. Perhaps they were simply immobile, as if dead. This supposition argues that the guard did not flee immediately upon the arrival of the angel, but at some undesignated time later, after the women arrived. (See on Matthew 28:11.)

At this point the women arrive at the garden tomb. However, because of the great size of the stone used to close the tomb, they could see at a distance that the tomb door was already ajar. Without investigating further or pausing to reflect that perhaps the tomb’s owner had returned to help complete the embalming, Mary Magdalene wrongly inferred that the tomb had been rifled, the body gone. On the basis of this mistaken deduction she left the women at the garden and rushed to inform Peter and John (John 20:1 ff.). This detail explains how Jesus could appear first to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9; John 20:11 ff.), although she left for the tomb earlier with the other women (Matthew 28:1). From Luke we learn that, besides Mary the mother of James and Joseph, there were others, among whom Joanna (Luke 24:10). If we may infer that the same women who bought the spices on Saturday night, also brought them to the tomb Sunday morning, then Salome came too (Mark 16:1 f.). Disappointed that Jesus had failed, they still loved Him, and would now serve Him for the last time, though He were dead. (For their identification, see notes on Matthew 26:56 and the Special Study: The Brethren of the Lord, my Vol. III, 185ff.)

Because the guards were terrorized into immobility, the women who would have been impeded from entering the tomb before, can now procede.

Matthew 28:5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, who hath been crucified. Although Matthew named only Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the former is now gone to inform Peter and John. So, by saying women, our author incidentally confirms what the other Gospels affirm, i.e. the presence of the others.

The angel intended is the principle speaker. He answered, or addressed, their unasked questions and astonishment. Fear not ye: addressed to the women, the ye (humeîs) is emphatic. Although fright in the presence of the supernatural is a normal reaction, the women are not to be terrified like the guards. The women are also not to fear that something terrible has happened to Jesus-’ body. His authoritative assurances seek to calm them. For I know that you seek: this justifies his calming tone and language. He treats them as friends of his own Lord. That the angel described Jesus as Him who hath been crucified sounds oddly out of tune with the resurrection victory. But this old, old story is already a theme sung in glory (Revelation 1:5 ff; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 5:12; Revelation 7:9; Revelation 12:10 f.). Further, he addresses women who mistakenly expected to find the Crucified One’s dead body in this sepulcher.

Matthew 28:6 He is not here; for he is risen, even as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

The IRREFUTABLE FACT: He is not here. come, see the place where the Lord lay. The heavenly message was backed by earthly proof.

This is tangible, circumstantial evidence of the reality. They were to examine the calm order of the linen wrappings and folded face-cloth and conclude that, were His corpse stolen, these items would have been missing. Instead, He Himself had removed the burial clothes, neatly set everything in order and left the tomb, unquestionably alive.

The place where the Lord lay: what humiliation for the Lord of glory! What infinite grace and love permitted Him to be brought so low! But because He entered into our death, He disarmed our fear of the tomb (Hebrews 2:15).

The EXPLANATION: for He is risen. Were anyone but an angel speaking, this would be simply a possible, logical implication of the empty tomb. But this is not merely an inference, but God’s revelation of a fact. Without the intervention of human beings or angels, He left His grave behind Him forever (Mark 9:31; Luke 18:33; John 10:17 f.). It is also true to translate, He was raised (egérthê), since His victory is ascribed also to the Father (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:23; Acts 2:24; Acts 2:32; Romans 8:11).

Those who attempt to explain the resurrection as a pure visionary apparition that projected messages from the other world to the brain of the early disciples, must face the eloquent fact of the empty tomb. Further, the actual messages that came were not simply to comfort the apostles that everything was going to be all right or simply that Jesus-’ soul was then living with God and sends His love. Rather, the angels and Jesus Himself transmitted the same central message that His physical body had left the grave alive.

The PROPHETIC WORD: as He said. (Cf. Matthew 16:21 ff.; Matthew 17:23; Matthew 20:19; Luke 9:43-45). Despite His many predictions, the disciples-’ emotional rejection of His coming death blinded their minds to the truth. What they did not accept, they did not expect. But this deserved but gentle rebuke, however, comforts them, because their unbelief did not keep His often repeated supernatural promise from coming to pass: He faithfully kept His word! (Cf. Luke 24:6.) His resurrection put God’s stamp of approval on everything He said or did, but it especially established Him as a true Prophet of God. (Cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-22.)

Matthew 28:7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples, He is risen from the dead; and lo, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. This story is so well-founded that they themselves may join in telling it too. An evil angel had communicated the message which brought sin and death into the world. Woman had been the first to believe and tell man and pass it on to the human race. Now the Lord’s angel commissions woman to be the first to announce death’s defeat to man. Let no man or woman consider themself too lowly to be a humble link in God’s chain to proclaim the Gospel to others.

But these are not just incompetent, excited women liable to believe anything! Their training in righteousness as disciples of Jesus should indicate much about their reliability and basic honesty. These women proved themselves competent to testify to Jesus-’ resurrection by closely observing everything that involved His suffering. Their being devoted friends or aunts of Jesus only apparently disqualifies them by compromising their objectivity, for no scientific commission in the world could furnish a more accurate observation of the unique fact to which they testify. For the disciples, the character and stability of these women was already proven. For the enemies, the facts they report were already proven. (See on Matthew 28:11-15.) For the readers of the Gospels, the corroboration of their testimony with the many other appearances of Jesus consolidates their case.

The testimony of these women would be discounted by the male disciples, but not on the ground that these women were objectively incompetent. Certainly, Jewish bias against the testimony of a woman entered into the question. However, the men’s refusal to believe the women arose, not from investigation of the women’s evidence and competence, but from an emotional bias against the objective probability of the resurrection of Jesus. Whatever the origin of their opinion, it was nonetheless a prejudice. Similarly, men today reject the resurrection because of intellectual and moral prejudice against the possibility of the supernatural. Although the Lord Himself would grant many convincing proofs that He was alive (Acts 1:3), He rightly criticized the Apostles for rejecting the women’s unassailable personal testimony (Mark 16:14). Jesus made the principle of credible witness the basis of His Gospel and a standing rule for all time (John 20:24-31, esp. John 20:29; cf. Romans 10:13-17; 2 Peter 1:12-18).

Lo, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him. This victory would yet be celebrated together with Jesus alive on earth at the glorious reunion in Galilee precisely on schedule, just as He predicted (Matthew 26:32)! He goeth before you (proàgei, present tense) does not mean that He is at this moment traveling to Galilee, but is used more generally to confirm His project: He is actually going there ahead of you, just as He promised. They understood this promise, there shall ye see him, as general, referring broadly to all the disciples. (Cf. Luke 24:9: all the rest.) It does not intend to preclude the appearance of Jesus to the women just a few moments later (Matthew 28:9). Since nothing is said of His intention to appear to the despondent, broken-hearted disciples that very day, they must simply act on a faith already severely tried. Even so, this precious hope aims to stir a joyous expectation in them.

Jesus-’ strategy in the choice of Galilee may have various motives:

If they shared the Jewish belief that the ghost of the departed hovered about the tomb for several days after death, in Galilee there would be no suspicion that the post-resurrection phenomena they observed were this sort of spectral apparition. (Cf. Edersheim, Life, II, 631.) His appearances in Galilee, far from the scenes of horror surrounding His death and burial, would, therefore, tend to undergird the disciples-’ certainty of His resurrection.

After expecting the disciples to believe the testimony of those who had seen Him alive, He gave them their second lesson in acting by faith. For them to return to Galilee to see Him required believing the testimony sufficiently to make the trip without Him, just trusting Him to keep the well-attested appointment. In an atmosphere of faith it is easy to believe. But the physical act of walking to Galilee took them away from a highly charged ambient where people could expect apparitions to occur. It removed the powerful, psychological atmosphere that permits or induces the hallucination. His appearance in broad daylight at a great distance from places associated with His former appearances would increase their certainty that It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared.

The location facilitated His control over the choice of witnesses of His resurrection (Acts 10:40 f.). First the Passover pilgrims are allowed to go home to their various lands and nations. Then, in the calm of an obscure mountain in Galilee, He could accomplish so much more by revealing Himself to a severely restricted number of disciples.

Galilee is home. (See note on Matthew 26:32.) In this brilliant touch of psychological appropriateness Jesus is revealed His genius and condescension to their weaknesses and need. His present task was to reconstitute the apostolic group, now fragmented because of His death (Matthew 26:31 f.). Judas was dead, Thomas alone in his dark world, the others with no unifying sense of mission left. Although He would reiterate the commission in Jerusalem both before and after the Galilean appearance (Luke 24:44; John 20:21 f.), and although they would all return eventually to Jerusalem to witness His ascension and await the Pentecostal arrival of the Holy Spirit, His principle purpose for the time being for sending them to Galilee was to take them back home. He knew that in Galilee, they could form a clearer concept of their mission. While standing in and looking at the old, familiar scenes of Galilee, the very area where they had already labored successfully in His Name and by His powereven in His absence, they could more easily conceive of the feasibility of world evangelism. In Galilee a world mission did not appear so impossible, because they had labored there by His grace. So, even as He had commissioned them originally on a Galilean mountain and taught them (Luke 6:12 ff.; cf. Matthew 5:1), so now He would take them back to their origins as a group, commission them, placing upon their shoulders even greater responsibilities and promise them even greater power (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:16 ff.). In Galilee, they had tried their wings; in Galilee, they received their new, permanent commission to world evangelism. In this vividly suggestive, physical environment Jesus taught them to see that yesterday the target was Galilee, today it is the world!

There shall ye see him: Even the Jewish authorities knew that belief in the resurrection was not definitively determined by the empty tomb, because a desperate hypothesis of theft could still be concocted to explain that perplexing discovery. The irrepressible excitement of the Gospel was not the product of reports from reliable sources that His body had not been found in the tomb and that mysterious messengers had announced the resurrection as a fact. What convinced these men and women that He had risen was His concrete encounters with them as the Living One. Their close encounters with Him had a place and a date concerning which many, living witnesses could testify when and how these incidents took place. (Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:5-8.)

Lo, I have told you. This solemn observation means that the angel’s mission is completed so far as the women were concerned. Now, they must rise to obedience to their mission. Rather than take away man’s initiative or responsibility, angelic messages increase it. To doubt the authenticity of his message would not be merely foolish but sinful. (Cf. Luke 1:19; Hebrews 2:2.)

Matthew 28:8 And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. In obedience to the divine message, they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid (Mark 16:8; contrast Matthew 9:31; Mark 1:45). Genuinely shaken by the angelic encounter, they fled from the scene of an event emotionally overpowering for them. Afraid to disobey the messenger of God, they paused to talk to no one until they could relay the good news to the disciples. Otherwise, they might have shouted the glorious news to everyone they met, despite Jesus-’ desire that this news not be proclaimed officially until Pentecost under the leadership of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:47-49). With fear and great joy is the paradoxical but psychologically real mixture of emotions felt by people who hear something too good to be true. Can it be completely believed? And yet, if God’s angel has told us, it must be true! Although these women have stood in the majestic presence of the supernatural, they have heard the supremely joyous news that Jesus is no longer dead but gloriously alive and victorious! (Cf. Psalms 2:11.)

The women ran to bring his disciples word, their flying feet expressing their obedient love. Eagerly, they completed their responsibility, although their enthusiastic message was disbelieved (Mark 16:13; Luke 24:10 f., Luke 24:24 f.).

Contrary to the view of those who place all resurrection appearances in Galilee, the women immediately found the disciples present in Jerusalem. There is no indication that they had fled home to Galilee or that the women had to run clear to Galilee to announce Jesus-’ resurrection. Rather, their message is that Jesus would go before them into Galilee, clearly implying that they to whom the message is sent are not in Galilee, i.e., yet in Judea. Many resurrection appearances to the disciples in the Jerusalem area are recorded as occurring on the same day as the resurrection itself. Without some previous arrangement or without adequately convincing motivation, the scattering of despondent apostles excludes their all gathering by chance on a mountain in Galilee.

The irrefutable fact demonstrated

Matthew 28:9 And behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Matthew does not state nor imply that Jesus appeared to them the instant they left the tomb, but merely at some unstated time after they had left it. Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, then, shortly thereafter, to these women (Mark 16:9; John 20:11 ff.). They were on their way to obey the divine message when Jesus met them. The Second Coming shall take place precisely like this appearance: in the midst of duty we shall be surprised by His coming. (Cf. Matthew 24:36 to Matthew 25:13.) Although in comparison to the Hebrew greeting, Peace be to you (John 20:21; John 20:26), the Greek communicates the happy nuance, Rejoice, His quite ordinary greeting, All hail (chaìrete), simply means, Hello, everyone or Greetings, everybody. (Cf. Matthew 26:49; Acts 15:23; Acts 23:26; 2 Corinthians 13:11 Good-by; James 1:1; 2 John 1:10 f.)

That Jesus should appear first to the women disciples, rather than to the men, is peculiarly fitting, because of their love. The disciples did not approach the cross nor take care of Jesus-’ body either before or after the entombment. Their fear, despondency, shock, left them immobile, while these loving women overcame their hurt and did what had to be done each time. The men could also have been given this reward of love, but only the women put themselves in a position to receive it. There is mercy with the Lord: these women were wrong not to believe His promise, and foolish to bring spices to embalm Him, but He forgave their blunder, and appeared to them anyway. All that they had admired in Him before now stands before them alive. Deeper awe and adoration are appropriately due Him, because He has qualified Himself as worthy of worship. (Cf. John 5:23.) They recognize that resurrection has altered the former relationship: they are beings unworthy of His presence. (Cf. Judges 6:22 f; Judges 13:21 f.; Luke 5:8.) He is their exalted Lord and offer Him their hearts-’ adoration.

Perhaps they also desired to touch Him to assure themselves that He is the same Jesus they had known, loved and followed so long, once dead, but now very physically alive. The Good News was not that His sepulcher was found empty by unimpeachable witnesses. This circumstantial evidence supports the resurrection story, but is not the central truth. It was the personal knowledge of numerous, competent witnesses that Jesus had really died and was buried, but was later verified to be alive from the dead by many personal contacts with Him. These direct, tangible proofs demolish the charges that the early disciples were overly credulous, victims of auto-suggestion, mistaken identity and tense nerves. Here die the theories of mystical, psychic apparitions or fleeting glimpses of the risen Christ. These disciples were then present and debated these questions themselves and answered them. What they saw and personally touched led them to an absolutely unshakable conviction of His triumph over death. Consequently, one cannot resist their evidences today without himself becoming irrational. (Cf. Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-29; Acts 2:32 f; Acts 4:20; Acts 5:32; 1 John 1:1-3.)

Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene before He met the other women (Mark 16:9; Matthew 28:9). Some feel that, because she was sent on ahead of these women to bring the disciples the glad word (John 20:17 ff.), by Jesus-’ delaying them here they were permitted to hug His feet and she not. This unnecessarily imputes partiality to Jesus. Although He forbade Mary Magdalene to cling to Him, Jesus permitted these women to take hold of his feet. (John: mé mou hàptou: Matthew: ekràtêsan autoû toùs pòdas) It would appear that the difference does not lie so much in the Greek words, as in the attitude of the women themselves. Mary gripped Jesus with a determination driven by desperation not to lose Him again. (Cf. Mark 5:18 ff.; Luke 8:38 ff.) But, by so doing, she also hindered Him from doing and being what, in His new state of being, must now become normal for Him. She cannot keep Him on earth any moreshe must prepare herself for His return to Heaven (Butler, Luke, 581). In fact, all the disciples must dismiss from their minds the hope that everything would return to the unbroken fellowship of the past months. His mission was not yet complete without His return to Heaven. The loving embrace of His feet by the women is essentially the same act as that of Mary, but it is differently motivated, for she lovingly wanted to keep Him forever. They, however, worshiped him, letting Him be God, autonomous of their wishes, desires or will for Him. This same distinction still separates appropriateness from selfishness in discipleship today.

They came. and worshipped him. (Cf. Matthew 28:17). The disciples-’ spontaneous adoration of the risen Lord on that first day of the week became the joyfully accepted reason for regular celebration of Jesus-’ resurrection by the early Church. (Cf. Ignatius: Magnesians 9; Barnabas 15:8 f.; Justin Martyr, Apology, I, 67:1-3, 7; Dialogue, 41:4; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2.) What would happen to the modern Church, if the first day of every week should once again produce the resurrection impact on us that it did on those early disciples?

Matthew 28:10 Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not: go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Because of Jesus-’ victory over man’s ancient, final enemy, death, this brief reassurance would mean so much more. His dispirited disciples can now live under constant tension of threats and intimidation, possibly ending up crucified or hideously butchered (Matthew 10:26-33). But they shall overcome, not by wishful thinking or philosophical optimism, but with unshakable confidence in His resurrection power that gave them inexpressible joy full of glory.

With all His old gentleness, He showed Himself to be a Brother for the defeated and discouraged: Go tell my brethren. Who are these brethren?

Jesus-’ own kin, His half brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas (Matthew 13:55)? He did not consider their being less open to His message and ministry earlier (John 7:5) a hindrance to His appearing to James (1 Corinthians 15:7). He undoubtedly knew that appearance to them would determine their commitments to His program. James would become the great leader in the Jerusalem Church (Acts 15:13; Galatians 1:19) and Judas would pen the New Testament epistle bearing his name (Jude).

Jesus used this heart-warming term to identify Himself to His disciples as their Brother (John 20:17; Matthew 12:49; Acts 1:15; Romans 8:16 f., Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:11-18). This view does not exclude the former, because the result of a message to His physical brothers would confirm their discipleship. He has just proven Himself Son of God, gloriously victorious over death, and yet He graciously elevated these unworthy earthlings to be His brethren! Hendriksen (Matthew, 992f.) notes that Jesus did NOT say:

those habitual quarrelers. who promised to remain loyal to me no matter what would happen, but who when the crisis arrived left me and fled;. who, with one exception, were not even present at Calvary when I was laying down my life for them. None of that. Instead, my brothers, those whom I acknowledge as members of my family, those who share the inheritance with me, those whom I love.

This warm human tenderness, so characteristic of Jesus, evaporated the women’s nervousness and made them confident that He really is the same kind Master they had always known and loved. (Cf. John 15:14 f.) That they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Did Jesus intend that the disciples depart immediately? Apparently not, because John records two appearances in the Jerusalem area, one of which occurred a week later than this command (John 20:19 ff., John 20:26 ff.). Nothing is said here about His not intending to see anyone in Jerusalem. He simply arranged to meet them in Galilee and He did so. Even so, why does Jesus tell the women to remind the disciples to depart for Galilee, when He could do it Himself at these two appearances?

In line with His original, heartening prophecy (Matthew 26:32), Jesus Himself reminds them that He has kept His word about his resurrection. This bracing reminder begins drawing them out of their despondency even before He appears to them the first time there in Jerusalem.

Jesus is better than His word. Even if they were to expect to see Him in Galilee on the basis of the prophecy and its repetition here, He would graciously grant them a number of appearances even before that long-awaited happy reunion in Galilee.

The message is intended not merely for the Eleven or a few women, but for all His disciples or brethren. Even if He showed Himself alive to a few limited groups or individuals in Jerusalem, these appearances laid vital groundwork for appearances to His larger congregation in Galilee.

Once the feast was over, the greatest issue for these Galilean disciples might well have been the debate whether to return to Galilee at all, For them the question may have been their loss of face at home. For it was in Galilee, among their own kindred and acquaintances among whom they had evangelized widely in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, that they could imagine themselves most disgraced by the scandal of the cross. But Jesus must order them to return to that very province to face those very people, no longer ashamed, but aflame with a new passion that finds its only adequate explanation in the power of the risen Lord.

Jesus must insist on their going to Galilee, since it would be emotionally difficult for them to wrench themselves away from the precious scenes where their Lord had appeared to them. The same impulse to be near Him that drove the women to embrace the risen Lord would inspire them all to want to remain in the Jerusalem area.

Why give these first supernatural revelations and appearances to the women and not the eleven, even Peter and John? These women braved danger to be near Jesus-’ cross, follow His body to the tomb, return faithfully to anoint it with spices. Was this a form of special appreciation for their loyalty and love? (See on Matthew 28:9.)

On the other hand, God has always been using this method. In the face of masculine prejudice against the testimony of a few excited women who tell tales of a reputed resurrection, God chose to utilize the weak things of the world to confound the mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27 ff.). Whoever thought that a Lamb could overcome the great beasts of the world led by a dragon? Or that a small stone, hewn without human hands, could smash the colossal statue and grow into a mighty mountain that fills the whole earth (Daniel 2)? Or that in place of great, terrible beasts world dominion could be given to one like a mere son of man (Daniel 7)? Or that the first harbingers of the resurrection story could be* female*?! Not hardly what serious scholars, critical analysts or scientific observers would have expected, but it is very much in harmony with the style of God. (See fuller notes on Matthew 21:16.)

For further study of the evidences of Jesus-’ resurrection, see Seth Wilson, Learning From Jesus, 508ff.; Paul Butler, Luke, 592ff.; John, II, 463.

FACT QUESTIONS

Define the time of day involved in the expression, Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week.

Show how Matthew’s account of the arrival of the women at the tomb harmonizes with that of the other Gospels.

List all the women who went to the tomb, as named in all the Gospels.

Describe the arrival of the angel, what he did and what occurred at the time of his coming.

What was the reaction of the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb?

Quote the message of the angel to the women.

The angel affirmed, He has risen. When did Jesus rise?

On what earlier occasions had Jesus predicted His resurrection, to which the angel could now point in confirmation?

Cite the message the women were to carry to the disciples.

Which of the women was not at the tomb when the angel spoke to the others?

What did the angel invite the women to do to satisfy themselves that Jesus had indeed arisen? What speical value would this invitation have for them?

What was the women’s reaction to their experience with the angel at the open, empty tomb?

On what mission did the angel send the women?

What amazing event briefly interrupted the women’s carrying out their mission?

What was their reaction to this interruption?

What were they to do after this interruption?

Defend or deny: The brethren of Jesus are His disciples.

List the prophecy(ies) that were fulfilled when Jesus arose. Do not limit your list of spokesmen for God to the Old Testament prophets.

Matthew 28:11-15

SECTION 77 JESUS-’ GUARDS TESTIFY TO HIS RESURRECTION

TEXT: 28:11-15

11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass, 12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money unto the soldiers, 13 saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and rid you of care. 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

Is there any evidence in the text that the soldiers fled from the tomb in terror, once they overcame their initial fright? In what sense is it true that some of the watch went into the city and reported to the chief priests?

Why did the soldiers report to the chief priests and not directly to Pilate? Are these not Roman soldiers?

What do you think the soldiers actually reported? If you had to write the script for their report to the authorities, how would you word it?

Why would the chief priests need to consult with other authorities?

If the authorities were certain Jesus could not rise from the dead, why did they bribe the soldiers to tell a fabricated story? Why not present the evidence to prove Jesus was still dead, without all this difficulty?

Do you think the authorities, upon hearing the soldiers-’ report, recognized that they were defeated? What does their reaction reveal about their character?

Why do you suppose the soldiers had to be bribed? Were they black-mailing the Jewish authorities?

Why would the governor be concerned that some of his men had slept on guard duty?

Is it not blatantly inconsistent to affirm a fact purportedly observed while asleep? If so, in what way(s) would the soldiers spread the rumor that the disciples stole the body while they slept?

The disciples disbelieved the eyewitnesses who testified that Jesus had risen. How does this disbelief prove that they could not have perpetrated a resurrection hoax?

PARAPHRASE

The women had started on their way, when some of the guards went into the city to report to the religious authorities everything that had happened. After these latter held a meeting with the elders and discussed the matter, they gave a substantial bribe to the soldiers with these instructions: Tell people, -His disciples came during the night and stole Him away while we were asleep.-’ Should the governor hear about his, we will convince him and you will have nothing to worry about. So the soldiers accepted the money and carried out their instructions. Furthermore, this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to the present day.

SUMMARY

After the departure of the women and perhaps also of the angels, the guards find their courage and report to the Jewish authorities for instructions. The hierarchy and civil officials prefer to hush up this damaging news by bribery and dishonesty. Jesus-’ disciples are to be blamed for stealing the corpse, while the guard slept. Further, the authorities promised to persuade the governor too, should the guards run into difficulties because of their story. At the writing of Matthew’s Gospel this report was still circulating throughout Judaism.

NOTES

Truth Suppressed by Wickedness

Matthew 28:11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. It would appear that, contemporaneous with the women’s second departure on their mission, part of the guard arrived in the city. Although the exact timing of the women’s arrival and departure is not indicated with relation to that of the men’S, there is no need to believe that the women did not also see the stunned soldiers still at the tomb. Matthew’s silence about the presence of the guard while the angel talked with the women is no proof the soldiers were not there. In this case, the soldiers may have heard the angelic message to the women and this would become part of their deeply disconcerting report to the Jewish officials. The stupefied soldiers possibly got hold of themselves when the angel and the women disappeared. So, while they were going, the guards perhaps hastily evaluated their own alternatives.

All could remain at the tomb until relieved from duty by further orders. But, if the tomb is empty, there is no further purpose to guard it.

All the men could abandon their post. In a shameful display of unmilitary conduct some could scatter in fear, while only some of the guard had the courage to report to the authorities.

While some men remained on duty until relieved, some of the guard could leave the tomb to report and update the status of their mission.

Apparently, they chose the third option, because, if they all abandoned the tomb, they would all have gone into the city, since their barracks lay inside the city at the Castle Antonia, and not some of them (tines), as Matthew affirms. So, while the women perhaps took one route to find the lodgings of Peter, John and the other disciples, the soldiers took the most direct route to the house of Caiaphas.

That Roman guards reported to Jewish chief priests is not surprising, because they were granted by Pilate to the Jewish authorities for temporary service (Matthew 26:65 f.). Further, the very character of their report required that these supernatural events be reported to those most qualified to interpret them and give counsel. To have reported them to the Roman officers would have been to invite unmitigated humiliation, but to go to the Jews meant receiving information and counsel in the explosive situation. Further, had they rashly broadcast the news that Jesus was risen, this testimony could have meant their death too, since to testify to that fact which they were supposed to prevent, would expose them to the unjustified wrath of those most determined to keep it from happening. So, they desperately needed to get advice from the Jews.

What would these unwilling witnesses have reported? Their humiliating shock in the presence of one superterrestrial being? Were they fully conscious, even if immobile, to stare helplessly while the angel rolled away the stone and sat on it? Were they in a position to see inside the tomb, hence to testify to the fact that it was empty, even though no one had disturbed it or them before that first terrible fright? Did they hear the angel’s confident announcement to the women: He is not here! He is risen as He said! Come see the place where He lay!? Was this message relayed to the Jews? The fact remained that the seal was broken, the stone rolled away, the tomb was empty, its temporary Tenant gone.

The Pious Pay-Off

Matthew 28:12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money unto the soldiers. The emergency assembly thus convoked brought together the ruling body of Israel, present in its constituent members. It matters little whether it was called as an official session of the Sanhedrin or not, for these official advisors are not acting as private citizens, but as Israel’s spiritual heads. There is no backing out now. They were all too deeply implicated in this supremely crucial question, and so must decide their future course together. The choice which lay before them was either to admit the obvious or to maintain their dignity only by the most preposterous lie.

Here is invincible blindness: they received the unimpeachable testimony of soldiers who honestly reported undeniable, supernatural events. Punishing the guard was never even discussed: their story was irresistibly convincing. How could they escape the undeniable conclusion that, if what the soldiers testify is true, the Sanhedrin and priesthood of Israel have been soundly defeated? They had done everything humanly possible to insure the absolute certainty of the Nazarene’s death. Now they could not claim that He had merely fainted or that, after recovering in the tomb, He managed to escape alone. Their own disbelief excluded the hypothesis of a break-out from within the tomb. The testimony of armed guards among the best disciplined in the world excluded a break-in from without. By all their precautions, they had defeated themselves. They all knew that Jesus had threatened to rise from the dead on the third day (Matthew 27:63 ff.). Incredibly, the authorities persist in denying the possibility that Jesus-’ highest claims were true.

The authorities were immobilized into inaction, because they knew that producing a fraudulent corpse would be disastrous. The usually shrewd Caiaphas and his crew could not pass off a mauled, decaying body of just anyone recently dead in place of the executed Nazarene. Such a contrived rebuttal must backfire, because not all of the soldiers had left the tomb over which the Jews themselves had set them. They could easily identify its location and could publicly swear that this tomb previously occupied by only one body was now empty. There could not be the confusion of disciples who might have gone to the wrong tomb and lied about a resurrection, since the enemies knew the correct one and guarded it. The mental paralysis and failure of Caiaphas and his holy brethren demands explanation: they could find no reasonable solution to their dilemma, because they knew that something had really happened at that tomb that spelled disaster for them. Aside from understandable fear that someone would taLk. they were forced to concede that what they feared was true.

They gave much money unto the soldiers. These pious men thoroughly grasped the magic influence of money to shut mouths. But the pay-off must be generous, if the Romans must testify to a lie which could cost them their lives. That men as notoriously covetous as Annas would spare no cost to gain their point gauges how determined they were that the soldiers-’ testimony be heard by no other ear. The Man who had cost them initially only thirty pieces of silver is beginning to cost them much, much more.

Where could Christians have learned about this secret corruption of the guards? Everyone learned what the guards were to say, but who could have leaked the news of the corruption itself? From inside the Sanhedrin from Nicodemus or perhaps Josephus of Arimathea? From some of the priests converted later (Acts 6:7)?

The Official Account

Matthew 28:13 saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. The authorities must openly admit that the absence of the body is a fact requiring public explanation. A quick examination of the tomb could verify this. But the empty tomb alone does not prove that Jesus emerged from it alive. It is merely circumstantial evidence of a fact, if it can be proved to be a fact on some other basis, as by His presenting Himself alive to competent witnesses. His foes recognized that an empty tomb has another possible interpretation: the body was hauled out dead. So, a face-saving statement could yet be worded so as to counter the damaging report of a resurrection. The Romans must never again tell the story they had just reported. The only viable solution open to those hardened men living with the concrete realities was to accuse the disciples unjustly of a theft that everyone on the inside knew could not have taken place.

However, the resulting, well-financed lie is blatantly self-contradictory. It reveals more than it conceals:

The soldiers would be testifying to a fact that required their own death, we slept on guard duty. But they were obviously not going to suffer punishment for it, or they would not admit it.

The soldiers must swear to a fact supposedly observed while the observers themselves were asleep: they positively identify the transgressors of the tomb as none other than His disciples. If they recognized them, why did they not stop them? If they slept, how could they recognize them?

The disciples showed no readiness to rescue Jesus from death. They had not expected His death, much less now His resurrection (John 20:9; Luke 24:6; Luke 24:25 f.). Every available indication shows that the disciples knew nothing of the seal or the guards at the tomb and learned of these precautions only after the resurrection, Like Jesus, their Teacher, these men were too honest even to think in terms of molesting the tomb or perpetrating a hoax. Then, when they were notified that the resurrection had actually occurred, they continued to demonstrate their inability to invent the resurrection story, by stubbornly disbelieving the witness (Mark 16:11; Luke 24:11). So far from being visionaries ready to believe any convenient story, their dissatisfaction with numerous, competent witnesses proved them far too skeptical to be psychologically capable of that of which they are accused. Although the Jews could not know this, the modern critics can, if they will.

The soldiers could be believed, if they told of their being overpowered by a force superior to their own. But who would believe that they were overwhelmed by an inferior number of unarmed, discouraged men?

But even had they dared, the logistics of moving the body from the tomb without detection by even one of the many supposedly sleeping guards is also highly improbable. The night was illuminated by a full Paschal moon and moving a heavy stone door away from the tomb in absolute silence on a still night is virtually impossible. Further, they risked detection by anyone among the thousands of Passover pilgrims encamped all around Jerusalem.

Everything about the tomb’s interior bespoke calm and order: had men stolen the body, they would not have calmly removed the burial garments and folded them (John 20:5-7). The success of such an operation depended upon speed and stealth. Anything that compromises either must be rigorously eliminated, and yet there lay those perfumed wrappings and the face-cloth, evidence inconsistent with the theory of a hurried theft.

The Insurance Coverage

Matthew 28:14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and rid you of care. The eventuality of a military inquest defines these soldiers as Romans, since Jewish guards could have no fear of a military punishment from the Roman governor. Sleeping on guard duty was punishable by death, but everyone knew that these men had not slept. Their only fault is that they witnessed a politically embarrassing fact. So, should a judicial investigation be made into the soldiers-’ story, the Jews promised their influence: We will persuade him, a promise that communicated more than would be diplomatic to reveal: the only penalty to pay would be another handsome bribe or some dark political threat for Pilate. Corruption through bribery was the standard operating procedure to achieve political power in Palestine (Ant., XVIII, 6, 5; XX, 6, 1; 8, 9; 9, 2; Acts 24:26). However, as Bruce (Exp. Gr. T., I, 338) suggests: Of course they might take the money and go away laughing at the donors, meaning to tell their general the truth. Could the priests expect anything else? If not, could they propose the story seriously? The story has its difficulties. Their dilemma consisted in the impossibility of inventing a plausible story that could stand up against undeniable truth.

The Snow Job

Matthew 28:15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day. Because the soldiers-’ orders had come from the Jews, they could risk admitting whatever their Jewish superiors wanted published. If they are satisfied, then everyone is satisfied. Matthew does not affirm that the soldiers actively spread the rumor. The soldiers simply did as they were taught, while this saying made the rounds throughout Judaism.

This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day. Aside from the expression, King of the Jews, this is the only time Matthew, himself a Jew, uses the expression the Jews. Squarely facing the prejudiced unbelief circulating among his readers and dealing with it, of all places, even in his next to last paragraph, he defused it. Jewish readers could reason thus: If the author of this testimony were trying to deceive the gullible in Judaism, he would not have dared reveal the origin of this absurd rumor and the facts which explode it. Too many would yet be able to disprove his thesis. Further, even decades after this event, any Jew could know what Matthew affirms: opponents of Christ’s resurrection had still turned up no more convincing explanation of the phenomena than the soldiers-’ tale.

Naturally, this section has come under attack from anti-super-naturalists. The attack objects that the Jewish attempt at a rebuttal of the resurrection is so flimsy that men so astute as the Sanhedrinists could not have originated it nor the soldiers propagated it. Farrar (Life, 664, note 1) exposes their inconsistency:

Those who are shocked at this suggested possibility of deceit on the part of a few hard, worldly and infatuated Sanhedrists, do not shrink from insinuating that the faith of Christendom was founded on most facile and reprehensible credulity, almost amounting to conscious deception, by men who died for the truth of what they asserted, and who have taught the spirit of truthfulness as a primary duty of the religion which they preached.

Granted, the false report was a clumsy expedient. But, under the circumstances, what better solution could have occurred to the best minds among Israel’s leadership? He who would criticize as illogical the story Matthew attributes to them and discount his report as unauthentic, must furnish a more rational alternative to their best efforts. They were baffled (1) by the fearless, precise, unassailable evidence given by courageous witnesses, and (2) by their own incompetence to explain the undoubted absence of the body from the empty tomb or to produce the corpse as undeniable evidence of the disciples-’ supposed fraud. Naturally, they would admit no more than absolutely necessary, but some plausible interpretation of the facts must be circulated to reduce the damage to a minimum. They could do no less than admit the absence of the body. The authorities-’ only solution was brazenly to lie in harmony with their rationalistic evaluation of the risk they faced (Matthew 27:64). The authorities arrested the early Christians for propagating the resurrection of Christ, but they never accused them of theft of the body, showing how little they believed their own story. May we not imagine the spies of Annas and Caiaphas surreptitiously listening in on everyone’s conversation for some clue to the whereabouts of the Galilean’s corpse, or out wildly combing the hillsides and caves of Palestine, searching desperately for any evidence of a recent burial?

Unfortunately, This saying. continueth until this day provides no direct clue to the writing of Matthew’s Gospel, since Justin Martyr (165) reported the continuance of this calumny till his time (Dialogue With Trypho, 108, 2). In fact, Justin charged that the Jews aggressively sought to check the powerful influence of the resurrection Gospel by propagating this calumny by means of special couriers sent all over the Jewish world. Unable to dispel the power of the facts, these disbelievers settled on a legend which would hide from their descendants what they themselves could not deny was the truth.

But that Matthew alone, of all the Evangelists, reported the Jews-’ efforts is adequately explained by these factors:

Matthew addressed his Gospel to the Hebrew reader, so needed to meet this issue head-on.

Other Gospel writers, precisely because Matthew reported it, needed not give this even more publicity, when they too had so much more to tell.

But this passage furnishes another unexpected evidence of the Gospel’s truthfulness. Matthew knew that one is known not merely by the friends he keeps, but also by the quality of his enemies. The Jewish lie must stand throughout history side by side with the life-transforming message, the heroic martyrdom, the conscientiousness and morality of these same disciples. The result of the comparison leaves no doubt as to the sincerity, dedication and ethics of the Christians as compared with the best efforts of their detractors to conceive some plausible alternative explanation of the fact everyone admitted: the empty tomb. Further, the disciples did not foster the gradual spread of a vague rumor. Rather, by their fearless proclamation of the risen Christ right in the heart of world Judaism, these eye-witnesses launched their pointed public testimony in the teeth of a vicious storm of persecutions, privations and death. If the enemies desired to demolish the data on which the Christian preaching was based, they could desire no greater or fuller opportunity. Matthew’s testimony also removes the suspicion that Jesus-’ body was secreted away by some of His enemies. Otherwise, when the early Christians began to shake Judaism to the core by making thousands of believers in the risen Christ, the rulers would have mercilessly exposed the hoax by simply producing the badly decomposed body themselves. That they did not means they could not.

Together with its companion passage (Matthew 27:62 ff.), this section stresses just how much the whole Passion was under the direction of an omnipotent God whose plans could not be frustrated by the most careful planning of rebellious men bent on having their own way. This realization prepares the mind to accept Jesus-’ universal authority and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18 f.; cf. Matthew 10:28). Turning his attention away from unbelieving Israel that had despised its true King, in harmony with his Apostolic commission (cf. Acts 13:46), Matthew turns to the Gentiles (Matthew 28:18-20). Further, by showing that God permitted the resurrection’s first messengers to be the enemies-’ own witnesses whose report was never questioned as completely true, Matthew underlines the fact that intellectual knowledge of the greatest fact in the world is insufficient to produce saving faith. Rather, one’s heart must be that of a disciple, open to God, willing to be taught, before faith can lead to salvation. (Cf. Matthew 13:18-23; esp. Luke 8:15.)

By reflection on the superficialness and absurdities involved in this story which is included as a model of what skeptics are capable, Matthew’s readers are emboldened to face with intelligence; skill and courage all other rationalizing attempts to explain the empty tomb.

FACT QUESTIONS

State the reaction of the guards when they returned to their senses.

To what specific authority did the soldiers report?

Why report specifically to them?

What was the immediate reaction of this authority?

What was the strategem chosen by the authorities to deal with the new crisis?

Explain why people hostile to Jesus invented nothing more plausible than the strategem on which their council finally settled.

Did this strategem work? If so, to what extent? If not, to what extent did it fail?

List the facts that demonstrate the absurdity of the strategem.

Matthew 28:16-20

SECTION 78 JESUS COMMISSIONS HIS DISCIPLES TO WORLD EVANGELISM

TEXT: 28:16-20

16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying. All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

When so many appearances of Jesus occurred in the Jerusalem area, why is this appearance in Galilee so important as to deserve such special notice to the seeming exclusion of all those others?

Why was it so important for Jesus to order the disciples to return to Galilee and go to a specific mountain?

If Jesus had already appeared a number of times, how do you explain the fact that when they saw Him. some doubted even yet? Who do you think worshipped Him and who doubted?

Do you not think that Matthew is risking the loss of credibility to insert this compromising phrase, but some doubted? Give just one good reason why anyone may believe Matthew, precisely because he included it, and for which one could doubt his integrity, had he not done so.

Why do you think Matthew reported so few appearances of Jesus risen from the dead? Was he unaware of, or critical of, other reported appearances?

Why do you think it was important for Jesus to claim universal authority before ordering His disciples to disciple all the nations?

Do you see any evidence here to sustain the common assertion that we are ordered to win the world to Christ?

As opposed to a thousand other worthy goals or responsibilities, how does the order to make disciples indicate the true mission of the Church?

This commission is addressed to the eleven disciples present on the mountain in Galilee. Nevertheless, what evidence does Jesus give here that this commission was not limited to them, but is valid for the entire Church in all ages of its existence and is so fundamental that any congregation of the Church may judge its true success and importance to God by the degree to which it is fulfilling this order?

What does baptism have to do with discipleship?

What do you think Jesus intended to reveal to us by requiring baptism in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? What concept(s) is involved in this formulation? Some affirm that He did not intend to dictate a baptismal formula. What do you think about this, and why?

What does it mean to teach them all things I have commanded you?

How does the solemn affirmation, that Jesus is now with us until the end of the world, express the true, fitting, final climax to the fundamental message of Matthew’s Gospel?

What does this assurance of Jesus-’ presence with us until the end of the world, intend to contribute (1) to the life of the church taken as a whole, and (2) to the encouragement of the individual Christian?

What changes do you envision necessary in the life of your church to realize the full impact of Jesus-’ promise to be with us all?

What personal steps do you see essential in your personal life to act on the promise Jesus made to be with you? Or does this promise mean little to you personally? What could you do, if you really believed it?

How does Jesus-’ being with us until time’s end reinforce His expectation that we baptize and be baptized? What connection, if any, is there between our baptism and His promised presence?

If the Apostles were going to die before the end of the first century, in what real sense could Jesus be with them until the end of the Christian age? In what sense would His promise not refer to them alone?

In what sense is it true that this Great Commission is actually a foregone conclusion for anyone who has been reading Matthew’s Gospel carefully?

Even though the Church would take up the torch also, Matthew especially mentioned the Eleven as the particular, primary early recipients of this great commission? What impact on your soul does it make to realize that Jesus defied the whole, hell-bent world with a few humble Galileans, and won, and just keeps right on winning?

Do you think the modern Church is carrying out the Great Commission? What parts are we doing? What needs reinforcement?

PARAPHRASE

Now the eleven disciples set out for Galilee.

[Perhaps here is to be placed John’s report of Jesus-’ appearance to the seven disciples fishing on Lake Galilee (John 21:1-23).]

They went to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him. However, some hesitated. As Jesus came up to them, He addressed them, My Father has committed full authority in heaven and on earth to me. So, go make all nations my disciples, immersing the disciples into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to put into practice everything I have commanded you. Remember, I myself am with you every dayright down to the end of time!

SUMMARY

Matthew chose to conclude his Gospel with the appearance of Jesus on a Galilean mountain. Jesus-’ appearance produced two opposite results: worship or doubt. Nevertheless, He claimed universal authority from God, and so ordered the disciples to evangelize the world, baptize the believers and teach them obedience to the whole message of Jesus. He promised participation in this task down to the last day of the world.

NOTES

Rendezvous in Galilee

Matthew 28:16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. The Twelve have now become the eleven. (Cf. Acts 1:25.) Notwithstanding the faithlessness of Judas, God’s program marches on. (Cf. Romans 3:3.)

Just when the eleven disciples went into Galilee is not indicated. However, it may be assumed that they observed what remained of the Feast of Unleavened Bread before returning home in Galilee. This would allow time for the appearance in Jerusalem (John 20:19; John 20:26). Until this point Matthew left unrecorded the designation of the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. Calling it the mountain (tò òros) does not prove it was a familiar spot, because Matthew designates other hills across the Jordan the same way (Matthew 14:23; Matthew 15:29). The fact that Jesus appointed them (etàxato, order, fix, determine, arrange) implies that the disciples really needed very express directions to go there, in the same way they required more than one reminder even to leave for Galilee (Matthew 28:7; Matthew 28:10). It is likely that He indicated His choice during those appearances, a probability that presupposes that the appearances which Luke and John record truly occurred. In this case, we have another incidental confirmation of the Gospel narratives.

Because it was apparently Jesus-’ purpose not to show Himself alive to all men, but to witnesses chosen before by God (Acts 10:40 f.), He could not set His appointment with them in some city of Galilee where hundreds of unbelievers could witness this appearance. Rather He must name some remoter location, distant from human habitation where this appearance could occur in privacy. Open fields on the plains would still be watched. Therefore, the strenuous effort to ascend a mountain would thin out the idly curious and furnish the desired privacy. Also, if only disciples knew the identity of the mountain where Jesus had appointed them and not improbably also the day and hour, then only disciples would converge on the spot.

Jesus knew that from the elevation of a mountain the disciples could gaze over Galilee where their first dreams of the Kingdom of God had been formed. There, in His discipleship, their fledgling efforts in His service had been expended. Now He must challenge them to world conquest. This material vantage point offers the psychological advantage of reminding them of what was known, tested and proven in their own personal evangelistic experience, and aids their perception of their own part in world evangelism in the regions beyond. (See notes on Matthew 28:7; Matthew 28:10.)

History’s Greatest Watershed Issue

Matthew 28:17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Although many of these people had already seen Jesus alive before, this appearance produced a powerful effect. This is not common, oriental obeisance, but a new reverence for Jesus as God, To worship the risen Lord is the natural, appropriate reaction of the believer. (Cf. Matthew 28:9.) How much more so now as the disciples, filled with awe and joy, are reunited once again with their victorious Lord in Galilee, just as He promised.

That some doubted would appear to question the validity of the evidence given that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. Or it could suggest that His previous appearances were finally unconvincing for some of the very eye-witnesses themselves. Despite the seeming adequacy of the proof of Jesus-’ victory over death given earlier, apparently competent people who were present and therefore able to give valid testimony, hesitated at the insufficiency of the so-called evidences that convinced other less critical (= more gullible) people. It would appear, therefore, that Matthew made an unfortunate misstep by including this damning admission on this critical, last page of his work.

One might conclude, therefore, that this phrase is to be dismissed as an ignorant blunder on Matthew’s part. No sectarian apologist in his right mind, who intends to establish a conclusion regardless of the evidence, could afford to make the embarrassing admission that Matthew calmly sets down for posterity in precisely this setting where its effect would be devastating. On the other hand, if it could be shown that we must judge our author at least normally intelligent, hence aware of, and responsible for, the long-term consequences of this phrase: and some doubted, then he is innocent of an inexplicable gaffe that spoils the efficacy of his argument, and with it that of his book. Conceivably, what at first glance seemed to be the most compromising remark of Matthew’s entire Gospel, surprisingly supports his entire message with uncommon power. McGarvey (Evidences, II, 155f.) argued:

The very admission of this doubt is an indubitable mark of naturalness and truthfulness in the narrative; for it could certainly not have been thought of had it not been true; and even though true, it would have been omitted if the author had been more anxious to make the case a strong one than to tell it as it was.

Our only alternative at this point, then, is to judge Matthew so sure of the adequacy of the evidence that Jesus really arose, that no argument to the contrary based on this phrase could ever be raised. His case is so solid that inclusion of this phrase could never even disturb it.

John confidently dared to admit that, as late as six months before the Last Week, some of the people closest to Jesus did not believe in Him (John 7:5). He boldly documented Thomas-’ refusal to believe (John 20:25). Mark and Luke admitted that the disciples did not believe the women’s eyewitness testimony (Mark 16:11; Luke 24:11). Luke reported that the disciples, locked in a room with the risen Christ and, staring right at Him, still disbelieved for joy and wondered (Luke 24:41)!

Rather than doubt the evidence of the other writers, Matthew is so certain of his position, that he can afford to include even less evidence than other Gospel writers. This coincides with his style of apologetic begun with his account of the crucifixion. Just as he cited no Messianic prophecy to support the Messianic claims of Jesus, so now here, to support the truth of the resurrection, he cites only two appearances interspersed with the enemy’s frantic efforts to nullify the powerful eloquence of the Empty Tomb. His technique again is Not too little, not too much.

Granted the appropriateness of mentioning that some doubted, we must now ask how it was possible that people who, presumably, were already disciples, would or could continue to doubt at this critical moment, with which Matthew is going to close his book. Worse, how could they doubt, when they saw him? The demands of empirical evidences assume that seeing is believing, but these see and continue to doubt!

Some consider it completely absurd that any of the eleven could doubt, after the convincing appearances in Jerusalem (Luke 24:33 ff., John 20:19 ff., John 20:26 ff.). There is hardly room for some who doubted in the small group of the Eleven. Therefore, those who doubted, even when they saw him, are held to be other people whose presence on this occasion was simply not mentioned. This event is held to be the appearance to the five hundred of which Paul speaks (Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:6, a suggestion highly probable for these reasons:

Jesus insisted that messages be sent to His followers to meet Him in Galilee (Matthew 26:32; Matthew 28:7; Matthew 28:10). So, the reminders of this Galilean gathering were known not merely by the Eleven, but by the women who told them and potentially by many other disciples as well. (Cf. tell my brothers to go to Galilee. Matthew 28:10; Luke 24:9: all the rest as distinguished from the eleven.)

Since the appearance was apparently the only one prearranged by Jesus-’ appointment, it facilitated the convocation of many more than the Eleven.

Because after the ascension only 120 disciples gather in Jerusalem, it may be assumed that the larger group of 500 of whom Paul wrote, met Him earlier in Galilee.

Even at Jerusalem, when the disciples are mentioned as key witnesses of His appearance, others besides the Apostles were present. (Cf. John 20:18-26; Luke 24:33.) If Jesus set the appointment during those appearances, these could know about it.

So in Galilee, it is possible that He approached and spoke to some disciples who had not yet seen Him (Matthew 28:18). Even so, Matthew did not mention the 500, but centers all attention on the Eleven.

Some see this doubt as the psychological self-protection of men who now truly wanted to believe, but distrusted their own emotions-’ power to compromise their objectivity. So they continued to oppose the resurrection hypothesis until the overwhelming evidence of the facts so powerfully asserted itself that denial became not merely more unreasonable than belief, but unsustainable unless they would deny their own rationality. (Cf. Bruce, Training, 494f.) Such doubt expresses mingled conflicting feelings of reverent recognition and hesitation as to the identity of the person played their part (Bruce, Exp. Gr. T., I, 339). These men would take nothing for granted. Rather, motivated by a holy seriousness, they questioned whether this unusual experience might not have some other explanation. Lenski (Matthew, 1170) is undoubtedly right that the psychological and intellectual makeup of the apostolic group was heterogeneous: the eleven were of different dispositions. Some were receptive, some slow to apprehend, of little faith, easily discouraged and troubled, unable to let go their old notions and to rise to the new spiritual heights. No wonder, then, that they doubted!

A fallacy lies in thinking that they saw Him and continued to remain unconvinced during the entire discourse and even after this event. Matthew’s text does not so affirm. Rather, after the phrase in question, Matthew reports that, Jesus came to them and spake unto them. From this McGarvey (Evidences, II, 155) concludes that this

shows that at the moment of the doubt he was not very near to them and had not yet spoken to them. There is no difference, then, between the doubt on this occasion and on the first, when they thought for a time that he was a ghost.

Even so, Matthew does not record their transformation into believers.

Another solution is to see that what they doubted was not whether Jesus were risen at all, but the identity of the One whom they now see. Awed, they had reason to doubt whether what they were seeing at first were really Jesus and not something or someone else. They could perhaps sense an alteration in His appearance: greater majesty, more evident glory. For whatever reason, some people had not recognized Him at first (John 20:14; Luke 24:16; Mark 16:12). He could appear and disappear at will, transcending physical limitations (Luke 24:31; Luke 24:36; John 20:19; John 20:26). Even though He manifested miraculous power during His earthly ministry, that surpassed the laws to which ordinary humans are subject, they could rightly wonder whether this Personage were the same humble, suffering Galilean with whom they had been so long acquainted.

Although Matthew wrote: they doubted, he did NOT say, they disbelieved. The former questions; the latter affirms. Thus, it is possible to conclude that, by approaching and addressing them. Jesus gave them infallible evidence that dissipated their initial hesitation as to His identity and reality. The Apostles naturally would recognize Jesus instantly from their previous encounters with the risen Lord, and worshipped Him. The others, not being rushed even by the good example of others, wanted to verify their facts.

The unbelievable patience and justified confidence of Jesus led Him to address His Great Commission to those who doubted just as much as to those who believed. He knew that whatever questions remained would have answers in the grand days that followed: the Holy Spirit would come, they would experience His power in its fulness. So, He treated them even now with the same friendly courtesy, as future believers, believed the best of them, and made believers of them! What a lesson for us who demand that everyone have every doctrine straight before we treat them with courteous brotherliness!

Thus, as to the empirical reality of the fact, the hesitation of those who were slow to be persuaded is as precious as the worship of those already convinced. Their extreme prudence and refusal to be convinced except by the validity of the proof and their resultant, unshaken certainty after their doubts were resolved by evidence, all prove conclusively that their proclamation of the risen Lord was not the result of self-deception, but because the concrete fact that Christ arose could not reasonably be disbelieved. (Cf. Luke 24:11; Luke 24:22 f., Luke 24:36 f.; John 20:8 f., John 20:24-31.) Their doubt is recorded so that we might not have a doubt (Bruce, Training, 479, 482).

The Universal Lordship of Jesus Christ

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. The formal introduction of what follows is reminiscent of the formulations that introduced great discourses like the Sermon on the Mount. (Cf. Matthew 5:1 f; Matthew 10:1; Matthew 10:5; Matthew 13:3; Matthew 18:2 f; Matthew 23:1 f.) Rather than treat the reader to an extended sermon as in the former cases, the equally satisfying summary Matthew includes is a marvel of brevity and completeness, a fitting conclusion to Jesus-’ life and ministry on earth, a summary of His doctrine and of His program of world conquest. Even though the content is nothing less than the solemn outline of their duty, His manner is friendly and informal, (elàlesen autois), he talked with them.)

Matthew’s Gospel opened with the claim that Jesus was David’s Son, hence truly Messianic King (Matthew 1:1). Now it concludes with His far more glorious claim of unlimited sovereignty as King of the universe. The one leads inevitably to the other. Without formally citing Daniel 7:14, Jesus, the Son of man par excellence, majestically claims this cosmic authority with a naturalness that is appropriate only for One whose right it unquestionably is. Without yielding once to Satan’s offers of world dominion (cf. Matthew 4:8 ff.), He overcame and was rewarded with His own, rightful, true sovereignty. (Cf. Acts 10:36; Romans 10:12; Romans 14:9; Ephesians 1:20 ff.; Philippians 2:9 ff.; Colossians 1:18; Colossians 2:10; Hebrews 1:6; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 5.)

Hath been given points to the Father as the source of His authority. (Cf. Matthew 11:27; 1 Peter 1:21; Revelation 2:27.) As the Word of God, He was equal with God (John 1:1; John 17:5; Philippians 2:5). However, during His period of self-humiliation as a servant of God, as man, Jesus qualified Himself to receive the authority and responsibilities entrusted to Him. Thus the original plan of God for man shall be realized (Psalms 2; cf. Hebrews 2:5-18; see notes on Matthew 21:16).

The Kingdom of God shall be given those uncompromising saints who, like their Lord, really defeat Satan’s offers of all the kingdoms of this world (Daniel 7). We can only do this in the measure we really acknowledge the transforming power and cosmic sovereignty of the risen Christ over our lives and problems. Little will be done to make believers, until disciples believe in that awesome authority and power whereby He is able to subject everything to His control. As long as our Omnipotent Christ is in control, we can never think our task impossible.

The Universal Mission of the Church

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, i.e. on the basis of the unlimited power and awe-inspiring, universal authority of Jesus-’ Lordship, we may do anything He tells us because of His might to strengthen, defend and lead us in triumph (Philippians 4:13). Despite the staggering odds against us and although our lives and ministry be severely limited by the greatest obstacles and gravest dangers or even cut short by martyrdom, we may be confident that He shall make His gigantic undertaking to triumph and we shall reign with Him anyway. A universe under His boundless control cannot be out of orderno matter what happens.

Go ye: the Church must involve herself in aggressive warfare that ignores earth’s national or cultural boundaries or else be fundamentally disobedient to a Lord who aims at ultimate, total control of the earth. Earlier, Israel’s light in the world was less aggressive. God’s people received men if they approached Israel. Now, however, this positive going to them to take Christ’s message is a new element.

Merely because expressed as a participle, Go ye (poreuthéntes) is no less a command. Since it is subordinate to a principal verb in the imperative mood (mathêteùsate), this renders it n less a command than that verb itself. (Cf. e.g. Matthew 28:7, [= 10]; Luke 19:5 in Greek.) Had Jesus desired to say, as you go, preach, He could have expressed Himself differently, (poreuòmenoi kêrùssete, Matthew 10:7). The ASV is correct in rendering this participle and its main verb, Go ye, and make disciples. Often those who argue that the Greek means, Having gone, as if it were not imperative, are not consistent in using the same logic or grammar with the other two participles in this commission: baptizing (baptìzontes) and teaching (didàskontes). Although these actions are admitted on all hands to be absolutely essential, the going is no less imperative than either of these. So, the main point of this commission is to bring the message of life in Christ Jesus to all, not to wait to do so if and when we happen to go.

The early Christians did not automatically or naturally grasp the universality of the Gospel (Acts 10:18; Acts 11:19). Because of their nationalistic prejudices, they took their time about evangelizing a different ethnic group or, establishing the first racially integrated congregation (Acts 8-11). So, His command, Go ye, is not simply appropriate but imperative. Further, that this order was not limited exclusively to the Apostles is clear:

The early Christians understood it as applicable to the whole Church. (Cf. Acts 8:2; Acts 8:4; Acts 11:20.) This understanding may arise from the fact that many non-Apostles were present when Jesus gave this great mission. (Cf. Mark 16:13 ff.; Luke 24:13; Luke 24:33 ff., Luke 24:44-49 with John 20:19-21.) Since Jesus did not apply it exclusively to the Apostles, they could consider themselves responsible to carry out this commission within the limits of their gifts and opportunities.

It is implied in teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. What Jesus commanded the Apostles they loyally committed to faithful men who would be able to teach others also. (Cf. 2 Timothy 2:2.) The Apostles told the Church what Jesus had told them: Go ye and make disciples of all the nations. And so the irrepressibly joyful song is taken up by new voices in new languages.

The Lord’s vineyard and harvestfields are still plentiful (Matthew 9:37 f.) The field is still the world (Matthew 13:38). All church members are nonprofessional missionaries who live in an area of the world that needs the gospel as truly as someone a thousand miles distant. The efforts of missionaries in other areas do not exclude, but rather require, those of Christians in the areas whence the former were sent forth.

For the final time, Matthew briefly highlights one of the sublimest themes of his book, expressed in the grand words of Jesus. Anyone who has been reading this Gospel closely could well suspect that, sooner or later, He whom Matthew presented as the truly Jewish Messiah interested in the salvation and blessing of Gentiles; not merely of Hebrews, would arrive at this point. (Matthew 24:14; Matthew 26:13; cf. Special Study: Gentiles at close of this volume.) Consequently, the Great Commission is no new revelation but the well-prepared, foregone conclusion of everything Matthew has included to describe the purpose and direction of Jesus-’ life and ministry on earth.

Even so, this is neither the first time nor the last that Jesus would direct His followers to evangelize the earth (John 20:21 ff.; Luke 24:48 ff.; Mark 16:15 ff.; Acts 1:4-8). It is highly significant that the Evangelists note on how many different occasions the risen Lord revealed His deepest concern by concentrating so much of His post-resurrection instruction on the disciples-’ aggressive campaign of witness before the world (Acts 1:1-9).

This King of the universe orders His subjects, not to conquer all the nations, but to make disciples of them. The goal of the Gospel is not to develop great philosophers, pious religionists, holy mystics or theological lawyers, but disciples who learn from Jesus, let Him teach them and submit to His Lordship. Because disciples are to be the product of the Church’s efforts, Matthew has deliberately chosen to utilize this word, disciples, rather than apostles throughout his Gospel, to furnish the paradigms whereby the reader may grasp what discipleship implies. Even though the Twelve disciples became Apostles, no one must misunderstand that these great men whom we have come to respect highly for their work’s sake were once common disciples with problems, ignorance, prejudices, conceit, frustrations and sins. But they were in love with Jesus, submitted to His leadership, committed to His Kingdom. Although they sometimes failed to understand Him, their unshakable commitment to Him and willingness to learn from Him brought them unerringly back on course. All of them risked flunking out of His school, but all of them but one let Him be the Teacher! This alone made the difference between the Pharisees and genuine students of Jesus, between sectarians and Christians, between camp followers and real learners, between the multitudes and these who fought back their fears, crying, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and come to know, that you are the Holy One of God (John 6:68)! We are to make people believe that Jesus has all the truth and long with all their hearts to submit to the truth and remain in it (John 14:6; John 8:31).

There are no exceptions: His gospel is directed not just to Israel, but to all the nations. Israel’s exclusive privilege has ended (Matthew 21:43). They are now but one of the nations. Consequently, Jesus-’ early restriction of the Apostles-’ ministry (Matthew 10:5)is now completely countermanded. From this time on the Christians preached to every creature, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, (Acts 13:46; Romans 1:16; Romans 2:9 f.). But the Jews are to be admitted to the Kingdom, not because of physical sonship to Abraham or by adherence to their cultural heritage, but by sincere discipleship to Jesus and salvation by faith in His grace (Acts 15; Galatians 2:11-21).

All the nations means Jesus demolished such divisive boundaries as culture, class, race, sex or wealth which formerly structured mankind (Galatians 3:28). There can be no untouchables or unlovables unworthy of an equal place in His Kingdom. Now the decisive question is: Is my neighbor a disciple? If not, he is a prospect for the Gospel. If so, he is mine to love as a brother in Christ, a subject of the heavenly King, a member of a new race being formed from every kindred and tribe (Tolbert, Good News From Matthew, 247). This is the spirit of God’s intention for Abraham’s grand family, that in you and in your children shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Genesis 22:18). The Church’s mission, therefore, is relevantly rooted in God’s faithfulness in keeping His promise to Abraham!

The Formal, Definitive Induction into the Kingdom

Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus-’ command to make disciples requires that the only appropriate candidates among the nations for baptism be disciples of Jesus. They are not undiscipled peoples who have never enrolled in the school of Christ to learn from Him (Matthew 11:28 f.). Nor are they babes who cannot acknowledge His Lordship by believing (Mark 16:16; Acts 16:31) or by repentance (Acts 2:38). To suppose that infants can be inducted into the Kingdom by baptism has historically introduced into the Kingdom generations of people who were never made disciples. Similarly, formally correct baptism of unconverted adults continues to swell churches with pagans uncommitted to the Lordship of Jesus. The early Christians rightly thought that making disciples was the way people must be saved, and equivalent to conversion, the new birth, becoming Christians (Acts 14:21 f.).

That literal immersion in water is the rite intended must be concluded from the consideration that His disciples were thoroughly familiar with John’s literal baptizing in water (Matthew 3:1 ff.; John 3:22 f.) and practiced it themselves (John 4:1 ff.). When they heard Him order them to baptize, they would be immediately reminded of that immersion in water with which they were already accustomed, especially since He did not qualify His words otherwise. That they thus understood His meaning, the uniform practice of the apostolic Church is convincing confirmation. (Cf. Acts 8:36-39.) That a baptism in the Spirit is not meant is proven by the consideration that when Jesus summarized the glorious mission His Church must undertake, it is most unlikely that He would insert a command expressed in language symbolic of something else when all else He said is to be understood literally. His command implies that His disciples administer the baptism in question, whereas Jesus Himself would be the administrator of baptism in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; John 1:33; Acts 2:33).

Does Jesus hereby make baptizing essential to salvation (Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 3:21)? No more nor less than the belief and repentance that precede it (Acts 2:38). No more nor less than the discipleship requisite to it. No more nor less than His own death with which baptism identifies the penitent believer (Romans 6: Colossians 2:12). And no more nor less than the growth to maturity Jesus requires after baptism (Matthew 20:20). But by ordering baptism, Jesus tests every man’s discipleship as concretely as if He had ordered him to sacrifice his firstborn son or to build an ark or paint lamb’s blood on the doorposts of his house. Even so, Staton (The Servant’s Call, 50f.) warned that to emphasize baptism to the neglect of -making disciples-’ is to disobey the Great Commission. We are to baptize only repentant believers. If a person is quite content to run his own life, he has not acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus. He does not accept the meaning of belief and repentance.

For the Jewish reader, quite noticeable in this command required of all nations is the complete silence about circumcision or anything else belonging peculiarly to Judaism. This point was lost on too many Christians during the first two decades of the Church’s life (Acts 15. Jerusalem council around 50 A.D.).

Into the name: God is one and His Name one (Zechariah 14:9). He is not merely the God of Jews only but also of Gentiles (Romans 3:29 f; Romans 10:12). Immersion into the name is more than a formulary repetition of the divine Name over the candidates for entrance into the Kingdom. It is more than our acting as agents on His authority, in the Name of the Almighty. Rather, baptizing them into the name objectively initiates them into a new relationship with the one God whose Name it is, a relationship of Owner and owned. Baptism becomes the moment when the believer is invested with the Name of his new Master to whom and into whose service he is now formally dedicated. If God promised to meet with His people where His Name is named (cf. Exodus 20:24; Matthew 18:20), then it is no marvel that the Divine Name should be placed on every single believer (Revelation 3:12; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 22:4) and on the body of believers thus constituted to grow up into a holy temple in the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:16 f; 1 Corinthians 6:19 f.; Ephesians 2:20 ff.; 1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 21:3). Without officially naming the Trinity, Jesus implied the doctrine by placing each of the three Persons in a unified relationship into which the believer is baptized. Omitting all other beings, angels or men, He unites just these three. (Cf. other examples of this phenomenon: 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 2:18-22; Ephesians 3:14-17; Ephesians 4:4-6; Ephesians 5:19 f.; 2 Thessalonians 2:13 f.; Hebrews 6:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 3:23 f; 1 John 4:2; Jude 1:20 f.; Revelation 1:4 f.) In so doing, He implied the essential deity and equality of each Person mentioned, hence also the high significance of the new relationship the believer sustains to each one. Expressions such as baptized in the name of Jesus Christ or baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38; Acts 8:16; Acts 10:48; Acts 19:5; Galatians 3:27) do not deny the Trinitarian formula, because Luke and Paul may not have intended to express the exact form of the baptismal formula used on those occasions. Rather, they affirm the believer’s confession that, of all earth’s spiritual leaders, only Jesus has Messianic authority to admit us into living fellowship with the Triune God (Matthew 11:27; John 14:6).

The Daily, Unfinished Task of the Church

Matthew 28:20 **teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. **If the former commands express the evangelistic efforts of the Church whereby people are brought into the Kingdom, this latter expresses the edification of the saints whereby they are kept there. The believers, as disciples, must receive further instruction, not merely to recognize orthodox doctrine or adhere to a few formalities, but to practice everything I commanded you. (Cf. 1 Timothy 1:5; James 1:22 f; James 2:8-26.) With the Lord, there can be no genuine Christianity that stops at mere mental mastery of material and does not also lead to lives transformed into the image of Christ, making us partakers of the divine nature (Ephesians 4:11-15; 2 Peter 1:3-11). The test of discipleship is how much of Christ’s word bears fruit in us (John 15:1-17), which is evidenced by our obedience (John 15:10; John 15:14). Our rule of faith and practice must be:

everything, i.e., nothing omitted by convenience or neglect. (Cf. Acts 20:20; Acts 20:27)

I commanded, clearly revealed truth, not human opinions or inferences (2 Peter 3:2; 1 Corinthians 14:37).

you, my witnesses, empowered by the Holy Spirit (John 15:26-27; Acts 1:8; Acts 10:41-42), i.e. the Apostles-’ doctrine (Acts 2:42; 2 Timothy 2:2; 1 Corinthians 15:1 ff.), not false revelations purporting to be inspired (2 Thessalonians 2:2). Lest the Apostles forget something, He furnished them the divine Spirit to teach them all things and remind them of everything He had said to them (John 14:26).

What does it mean to teach them everything I commanded you?

His own centrality in all of God’s revelations in the Hebrew Scriptures, His own universal authority expressed here.

His specific lessons that inform our minds.

Self-denial, cross-bearing.

The Kingdom, its goals, methods, values, future.

The disciple’s relationship to others, humility, forgiving spirit, helpfulness.

The dangers of hypocrisy, pride, ambition, self-deception.

His emphases on the spiritual, as opposed to the material and political nature of His rule and Kingdom.

His great, precious promises to motivate us to become sharers in His divine nature.

His own marvelous example that shows us what righteousness means and how it is achieved. His entire life and ministry, death and resurrection are full of information about the mind of God and how human conduct can reflect it.

His commands that render specific His moral imperatives, His graciousness to make clear what it is He expects us to do.

His unequivocal confidence in the authority and validity of the Old Testament as well as the Christian’s new relationship to its standards, examples, types, predictions, theological concepts, etc.

His validation of the authority of the Apostles and their ministry.

His driving sense of world mission to seek and save that which is lost.

This is but a poor, short summary. The mind of Christ is broader than this. But if we observe all that He commanded, we shall not simply have more of the Spirit of Christ, but more appropriately and significantly, the Lord shall have more of us! The clearest lesson here is that selection of a few pet doctrines cannot substitute for loving absorption of the total mind, ministry, manners and morals of Christ.

God with Us Forever

And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. This heart-thrilling assurance aims to encourage His people to believe that they have power equal to their task in the age-long mission on which He sends them and that He personally and concretely guarantees this power with His presence. (Cf. Exodus 33:14 f.; Joshua 1:5.) This heartening word to weak mortals burdened with the responsibility of discipling a lost world is but another way of saying, I send you heavenly power, the Holy Spirit my Father promised, (Luke 24:49). Since these disciples had already labored in Galilee in Christ’s absence (Matthew 10:1 ff.; Cf. Luke 9:6; Luke 9:10; Luke 10:17 ff.), they knew that the power He delivered to them was invincible. The visible presence of Christ was not to be expected because not absolutely essential to the victorious completion of their mission.

Matthew omits all mention of the ascension. Three considerations argue that his silence cannot be interpreted as a denial of Luke’s clear affirmations that it occurred:

Even before promising them His presence with them, His command to go had already implied His absence during their efforts, unless somehow He could accompany each one personally. His incarnation had limited Him to be one Man in one place.

Unless He were to overcome the previous, self-imposed, spatial limits on His physical, even if glorious, body, how could He personally remain with all the believers in all the world until the judgment? But by dispensing with these limitations, He could be everywhere with all His people all the time. Although the ascension means so much more, it is nonetheless a highly feasible, appropriate way to facilitate this.

Matthew’s special purpose was to picture Jesus as the Christ, ruling the Kingdom of God among His people. While His return to heaven could still accomplish this, Matthew desired that the last impression of the reader should be that of the heavenly Messianic King, Jesus Christ ruling on earth, living among His people. Matthew has created a magnificent effect by not reporting the ascension. The reader is left with the impression that life in the Kingdom of God continues as if the Lord never departed. Rather, in the person of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would somehow take on omnipresence, so that each disciple, however far across the face of the earth he may go, might know Jesus-’ love and sympathy and bank on His vast reserves of heavenly might. Thus, any disciple may maintain the closest contact with His heavenly King.

So, even if it would be His eternal Spirit to accomplish this uninterrupted omnipresence, Matthew’s report of His promise, by its nature, presupposes His absence and leaves room for the ascension, reported by his colleagues.

The grand significance of His Name, Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23), with which Matthew’s Gospel began and now ends, shall be realized: God is with us in the person and presence of the Spirit of Christ. Now it becomes clear how His presence could bless even the smallest possible gathering of the Church anywhere in the world in any age (Matthew 18:20). Already the language of this cosmic Sovereign reflects the confidence of the eternal point of view where all tomorrows resolve into one endless now: I am. (Cf. John 8:58.)

Always, even unto the end of the world: the time-barrier has been broken. Jesus is Lord of the Christians, singularly and collectively, in every epoch until He pleases to call a halt to this age and start eternity rolling for us. Thus, the modern Christian, rather than lament his misfortune not to live in that great golden age when Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine, may rise to the challenge of the early Church who saw her risen Lord ascend into heaven, leaving them the power of His Spirit, rather than His physical presence. The early Christians adored Him, not as an admirable historical figure, but as their Eternal Contemporary who led them always, everywhere in triumph (2 Corinthians 2:14 ff.).

Although the Apostles would not live unto the end of the world, because they would die before that moment arrived, yet His being with them promised them support, not only in their personal ministry but, especially by means of the Holy Spirit. He would give power and authority to their words, so that their words, whether oral or written, would become the touchstone by which all of the Church’s future life would be judged. (See notes on Matthew 10:40; Matthew 19:28.)

Even though He gladdens our hearts by the warmth of His presence, the time-span between His departure and His return appears to lengthen as He guarantees His presence down to the end of an era that must seem unthinkably long for those whose Messianic expectations looked for a rapid conclusion of the age. (Cf. John 21:22 f.) Contrary to the misunderstandings of those who read this notion into Scripture, the concept of a distant Parousia was already taught (Matthew 24:48; Matthew 25:5; Matthew 25:19; Luke 19:11).

After this, the disciples would return to Jerusalem for the Ascension in anticipation of the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:48-52; Acts 1:4 to Acts 2:4). Matthew closes his Gospel before these latter events, not to diminish their importance or, worse, because he supposedly knew nothing about them, but to leave in the readers-’ mind the ringing challenge of world-wide evangelism in the Name and power of the Risen Lord, Jesus the Messiah. As he has done in so many episodes before. Matthew now terminates his entire book without relating what the people did when they first heard Jesus-’ divine mandate. The conscience of the reader is left to ponder, Were I in this situation what must I do about Jesus? Matthew’s brilliant conclusion implies: Jesus has completed His mission expressed through His incarnation. Now He grants us the fellowship of His omnipresent Spirit, in order that we might successfully and joyfully fulfil ours.

For further study, see Wilson, Learning From Jesus, 531-541.

FACT QUESTIONS

In relation to the appearances in Jerusalem, when did the appearance in Galilee recorded by Matthew occur?

To whom did Jesus appear on this occasion?

Explain why some of these could worship Him.

Explain why others doubted.

How many appearances of Jesus does Matthew report?

What may we learn about Jesus from His self-revelation in this section?

Quote the pre-amble to the Great Commission.

Explain why this introduction to the Great Commission was necessary.

List every evidence in the Gospel of Matthew that conclusively established that Jesus really possessed all authority.

What does it mean to baptize into the name of someone?

In what sense would Jesus say, I am with you?

How could His presence with His people last until the end of the world?

Old Green Commentaries

The College Press Bible Study Textbook Series — 59 volumes by 25 authors, published between 1961 and 1992 and affectionately known as the 'old green' commentaries for their green hardback bindings. Each volume is a commentary, workbook and teaching manual in one, written by Restoration Movement …

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Old Testament

GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUT 1SA 2SA 1KI 2KI 1CH 2CH EZR NEH EST JOB PSA PRO ECC SOS ISA JER LAM EZK DAN HOS JOL AMO OBA JON MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL

New Testament

MAT MRK LUK JHN ACT ROM 1CO 2CO GAL EPH PHP COL 1TH 2TH 1TI 2TI TIT PHM HEB JAS 1PE 2PE 1JN 2JN 3JN JUD REV

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