Matthew 28:1-20

Matthew’s Good News

Matthew’s *Gospel

Hilda Bright

Chapter 28

Jesus becomes alive again 28:1-10

v1 The holy day had finished. Now it was dawn on the first day of the week. So Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the grave. v2 Then the earth trembled very greatly and one of the *Lord’s *angels came down from heaven. The *angel went to the front of the grave. Then he rolled back the stone there and he sat on it. v3 He shone like lightning and his clothes were as white as snow. v4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook. Then they fell down and became like dead men.

v5 But the *angel spoke to the women. ‘Do not be afraid’, he said. ‘I know that you are looking for Jesus. Men killed him on a *cross. v6 But he is not here now. God has caused him to become alive again. Jesus said that he would do that. Come here and see the place where he was lying. v7 Then go quickly and tell his *disciples about it. “He has become alive again”, tell them. “He is going ahead of you to Galilee district and you will see him there.” That is the message that I came to tell you.’

v8 So the women hurried away from the grave. They were afraid, but they were very happy. And they ran to tell his *disciples.

v9 Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings!’ he said and they came close to him. They held his feet and they *worshipped him. v10 Then Jesus spoke to them again. ‘Do not be afraid’, he said. ‘Go and tell my brothers and friends to go to Galilee district. They will see me there.’

Verses 1-4 The *Sabbath ended at six o’clock on Saturday evening. Very early on Sunday morning, the two women called Mary came to the grave. They had seen the men bury Jesus in the cave. Mark 16:1-2 and Luke 24:1 say that the women brought ‘spices’. They had prepared these ‘spices’ from plants that have a beautiful smell. And they were going to put them on Jesus’ body. The reports about this day have different details in each of the four *gospels. But they all agree that women received the news first. Nobody saw Jesus at the moment when he became alive again. But the stone had rolled away and the grave was empty. It is only Matthew who records that an *angel rolled the stone away.

Verses 5-7 The *angel said that he knew why the women were there. God knows all about us. ‘Jesus said that he would do that’ reminds us that God always keeps his promises. The man who wrote Psalms 145 knew this. ‘The *Lord does everything that he has promised to do’ (Psalms 145:13). The women had to tell the *disciples that Jesus would ‘go ahead of’ them to Galilee district. Jesus ‘goes ahead of’ his people in every situation. He guides and he comforts them.

Verses 8-10 Jesus told the women to tell his ‘brothers and friends’. The *angel had told them to ‘tell his *disciples’. Jesus perhaps used the word ‘brothers’ to include his own family. His own family did not believe him during his public work. But after he went back to heaven, they were with the other *disciples (Acts 1:14). Paul records that Jesus appeared later to his brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7).

The report from the guards 28:11-15

v11 While the women went on their way, some of the guards went into the city. They reported to the chief *priests. They reported everything that had happened. v12 Then the chief *priests met with the other leaders and they made a plan. They gave a lot of money to the soldiers, v13 and they gave orders to them. ‘You must say that his *disciples came during the night. And they stole his body while you were asleep’, they told the soldiers. v14 ‘If the *Roman ruler hears about this, we will explain to him. We will see that you do not get into trouble.’

v15 So the soldiers took the money. They did what the chief *priests had told them to do. And this same story has spread among the *Jews to this very day.

Verses 11-14 The *priests were desperate. They did not want anyone to know the true story. They wanted the soldiers to tell lies about Jesus’ body. So they had to pay a lot of money to the soldiers. This was a very serious matter. A *Roman soldier should never have slept while he was on duty. The *priests promised that they would deal with the ruler. There would be no trouble for the soldiers.

Verse 15 The story was a weak story because it was a lie. But people still heard it at the time when Matthew was writing this *gospel. Nobody could deny that the grave was empty. It is strange that the *priests did not search for the *disciples. The *priests probably knew that they would not find Jesus’ body. And some *priests later believed that Jesus was alive again (Acts 6:7).

Jesus gives his last instructions 28:16-20

v16 Then the 11 *disciples went to Galilee. They went to the mountain that Jesus had told them about. v17 When they saw Jesus there, they *worshipped him. But some of them doubted that it really was Jesus. v18 Then he came close and spoke to them. ‘God has given me all authority in heaven and on earth’, he said. v19 ‘So you must go to the people in all the nations and make them my *disciples. *Baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son and the *Holy Spirit.’ v20 Teach them to obey everything that I have told you. And you can be sure that I will be with you always. I will be with you until the world ends.’

Verse 16 Jesus had called his first *disciples in Galilee district. Now it was the place where he gave his last instructions to them. He had promised to go to Galilee ahead of his *disciples (Matthew 26:32). The *angel and Jesus had both repeated this message (Matthew 28:7; Matthew 28:10).

Verse 17 It is not clear who doubted him. There may have been more than the 11 *disciples present. Some people could not believe that Jesus was really alive again after his death.

Verses 18-20 Matthew records how Jesus had shown his authority. He showed it by all that he did. And he showed it by all that he taught. Jesus has universal authority. So therefore he can order his *disciples to obey him. Jesus’ authority is more powerful than that of any ruler or official in this world. So his*disciples serve a powerful master. His instructions were clear.

1. His *disciples had to go to ‘the people in all nations’. Jesus meant that both *Jews and other people should hear the *gospel. Jesus had trained his *disciples. He had told them that all of the people in the world would hear the *gospel message (Matthew 24:14).

2. The book called Acts tells us about the first Christians. From the very beginning, Christians *baptised people. And Peter declared that *baptism was a sign. It showed that people trusted Jesus (Acts 2:38). It showed that God had forgiven people. Water washes people’s bodies clean. In a similar way, *baptism shows other people that new *disciples are ‘clean’ from their *sins. Jesus said that they should use God’s complete name during the *baptism. Believers trust that God is their Father. They believe that Jesus has saved them. They know that the *Holy Spirit will give them power. With the *Holy Spirit they can live a new life.

3. ‘Teach them to obey everything that I have told you’, Jesus said. The *disciples needed to teach new Christians how to behave as believers. They had to think about new things. *Jews may have learned from the *Old Testament. But they needed to understand completely what the *Law meant. *Gentiles used to behave badly. So they had to learn how to behave in a different way. Matthew wrote in five sections what Jesus had taught. And new *disciples would be able to learn from this. Many of them came from places where nobody knew the truth about God. Later Paul wrote his letters because it was necessary to teach these people.

4. Jesus had given his *disciples an enormous task. He had warned them that people would hate them. People would oppose them. But he did not want them to be afraid. So he promised that he would be with them always. Then they could obey his commands. He will be with his *disciples every single day. When the ‘end of the world’ comes, they will have finished their work for him.

Jesus told some stories that we can read only in Matthew’s *gospel. See:

The weeds among the wheat 13:24-30; 36-43

The hidden *treasure 13:44

The *pearl that had great value 13:45-46

The net with good and bad fish 13:47-50

The owner of a house 13:52

The story about the servant who would not forgive 18:23-34

The story about the land-owner’s workers 20:1-16

The story about two sons 21:28-32

The story about a wedding meal 22:1-14

The story about ten young women 25:1-13

The story about three servants 25:14-30

The story about the sheep and the goats 25:31-46

gospel ~ 1. good news; 2. one of the first four books in the New Testament.

New Testament ~ the last part of the Bible, which the writers wrote after the life of Jesus.
Lord ~ master; a name that we call God or Jesus; we call God or Jesus Lord when we obey them.
angels ~ God's special messengers.
messenger ~ a person who gives a message.
cross ~ two pieces of wood that someone has fixed together in the shape of a cross.
disciples ~ those who follow another person to learn from him.
worship ~ show honour to God, usually with other people.
sabbath ~ the seventh day, Jewish day of rest.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything to do with a Jew.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
gospel ~ 1. good news; 2. one of the first four books in the New Testament.

New Testament ~ the last part of the Bible, which the writers wrote after the life of Jesus.
priest ~ a man whom God chose to do a special work for him. The priests worked in the Temple.
Temple ~ the special building in Jerusalem where the Jews worshipped God.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
worship ~ show honour to God, usually with other people.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
Roman ~ Rome was the capital city of the rulers at that time. That which belonged to Rome was Roman.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
baptise ~ to put a person under water or put water on a person to show that they want to follow Christ.
holy ~ all good with no bad in it; separate from sin.
sin ~ when we do not obey God's commands.
baptise ~ to put a person under water or put water on a person to show that they want to follow Christ.
baptism ~ when they put a person under water or put water on a person to show that they want to follow Christ.
sin ~ when we do not obey God's commands.'Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
Law ~ the rules that God gave to Moses for the Jews.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
Gentiles ~ people who are not Jews.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
treasure ~ anything of great value.
pearl ~ a little white ball of hard material that shines. It is very valuable. small, soft animal that lives inside a shell (a hard thing round it) makes pearls. This animal lives in the sea.