Mary Magdalene and another Mary visit Jesus' tomb on the first day of the week, where they encounter an angel who tells them Jesus has risen from the... Mary Magdalene and another Mary visit Jesus' tomb on the first day of the week, where they encounter an angel who tells them Jesus has risen from the dead. The women are instructed to tell Jesus' disciples that he will meet them in Galilee. Meanwhile, some guards try to cover up the truth by bribing the chief priests to spread a false story about the disciples stealing Jesus' body.
1In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
3His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
4And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
5And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
6He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
7And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
8And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
9And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
10Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
11Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.
12And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
13Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
14And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
15So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
16Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
17And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
About this chapter
Matthew dares to say it out loud: at the founding moment of the church, “they worshipped him: but some doubted.”
Jesus gives the Great Commission to people who are actively doubting. Faith and doubt coexist at the founding moment of the church.
Central idea
Matthew 28 is about how the resurrection doesn’t just prove something, it launches something. The church’s mission begins in a world of fear, rumor, worship, and real hesitation, anchored by Jesus’ authority and presence rather than the disciples’ inner steadiness.
Matthew puts the church’s first marching orders in a sentence that feels almost rude in its honesty: “they worshipped him: but some doubted.” This is the risen Jesus, in front of them, and the room still has a wobble in it. Matthew does not smooth that out. Jesus does not wait for a cleaner emotional moment. He speaks over the mixed reaction, claims “all power” in heaven and earth, then sends them to make disciples everywhere, baptizing and teaching a people who will live by what he commanded. The commission starts in a room where worship is real and doubt is real, and Matthew makes sure you see both at once.
That uneasy blend fits the wider scene Matthew has been showing. The empty tomb is not a private religious experience, it is a public incident with guards, officials, money, and a story planted on purpose. Matthew says the bribed explanation keeps circulating “unto this day.” So doubt is not just a personality defect in a couple of disciples, it is the normal pressure of living inside a contested story. Every telling has rivals. Every witness speaks into rumor and intimidation. Even the women’s first task shows how Matthew imagines the message moving. They are told to go quickly and gather the disciples in Galilee. Jesus meets them, tells them not to be afraid, and calls the disciples his brothers, which lands like kindness aimed at people who might bolt. Galilee then is not trivia. It pulls them away from the Jerusalem flashpoint and back into the place where work, family, and ordinary days happen, and from there the message goes outward. Matthew’s realism is that mission begins while the noise is still loud and the inner life is still uneven.
Jesus holds the whole thing together with a promise that shifts the weight off their steadiness and onto his presence: “I am with you alway.” Those are simple words, and they refuse to play the usual game. He does not promise a permanent spiritual high. He does not promise they will never hesitate again. He promises himself, and he stretches it to “the end of the world.” Matthew opened by calling Jesus Emmanuel, God with us, and he closes with Jesus saying the same thing in plain speech, now attached to obedience in motion. That is why the church can be sent while its people are still a mix. Augustine, arguing with the Donatists, insisted the church does not come alive only when its leaders are spotless. Matthew has already put that into the origin scene. The King with “all power” does not outsource the mission to the disciples’ psychological certainty. He goes with them. The work can feel like carrying a lamp through fog, and the comfort is that the light is not only what you manage to hold steady, it is the presence beside you, keeping pace.
Key verses
28:2The earthquake and the angel calmly sitting on the stone make this feel like a public takeover: God isn’t sneaking the body out, but openly overruling the seal and the guards.
28:5The angel keeps the focus on “Jesus who was crucified,” so the message can’t float off into a vague spiritual victory that forgets the executed man, and he also treats the women as legitimate seekers.
28:6The angel ties the resurrection to Jesus’ own earlier words (“as he said”) and then invites them to look at the place where he lay, mixing promise kept with a real, checkable location.
28:7The command sends everyone back to Galilee, pulling the center of gravity away from Jerusalem and back to the margins where Jesus first called his disciples and first did mission.
28:9The women grab his feet and worship him, which pushes the idea that this is a bodily resurrection and also puts women in the story as the first worshipers of the risen Jesus.
28:15Matthew shows he knows about an ongoing argument over the empty tomb and writes straight into it, trying to shape his community’s memory against rival explanations.
28:17Matthew doesn’t airbrush the disciples into heroes, because worship and hesitation show up in the same scene, and mission moves forward anyway because of encounter and command.
28:18This is Matthew’s “enthronement” moment, where the risen Jesus claims authority over everything, echoing Daniel’s vision of worldwide rule and grounding the mission in kingship.
28:19The commission universalizes Israel’s Messiah mission and provides Matthew’s most explicit triadic “name” formula, functioning as a foundational text for later Trinitarian and sacramental theology.
28:20Matthew ends where it began (Emmanuel): Jesus’ presence sustains obedience-centered discipleship, framing the church as a teaching community living from an ongoing divine-with-us promise.
Patristic / Orthodox (Chrysostom, Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem)
These writers read Matthew 28 as God publicly clearing Jesus’ name after the crucifixion and as the launch of the church’s life of baptism into the shared name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They treat the women’s witness and the disciples’ worship as the right response to the risen Jesus, and they see the earthquake and the angel as world-shaking signs that death’s grip has been broken and creation is starting to be renewed.
Augustinian / Western Christian (anti-Donatist; ecclesial authority and sacrament)
Augustine reads the Great Commission as the start of a mission that reaches everyone, with baptism and teaching staying real and trustworthy even when the people doing ministry have mixed motives. For him, the triune name matters as the basic test of faithful belief, and “I am with you always” means Jesus is present to the whole church, not just the original apostles.
He also points to the mix of worship and doubt as a reminder that the church is on a journey, kept going by grace rather than by constant clarity and sight.
Thomistic / Catholic (Trinitarian theology and sacramental initiation)
This tradition treats Matthew 28:19 as a key text for talking about Father, Son, and Spirit, because there is one “name” and yet three who are named, which suggests real unity as well as real distinction. The sequence in the commission, moving from Jesus’ authority to mission to baptism to teaching obedience, is read as a picture of the church’s apostolic calling to form both faith and life.
The promise that Jesus will be present to the end is taken as a foundation for confidence in the continuing, authorized leadership and teaching of the church.
Reformed / Calvinist (Christ’s kingship and mission under sovereign authority)
Reformed readers lean hard on “all authority” (28:18), taking it to mean the risen Jesus rules over everything and that the church’s mission rests on his rule, not on human energy. “Teaching them to observe” is heard as a call to a life of obedience under Jesus’ lordship, not just learning ideas.
“I am with you” then becomes a reason to trust that Jesus actively guides his church through Word-centered ministry.
Historical-critical / Redaction criticism (Matthew’s distinctives and polemical context)
Historical-critical readers argue that Matthew shapes resurrection material to answer arguments his community was facing, especially by adding the guard story (28:11–15) to respond to claims circulating in Judean or Jewish settings, and by highlighting Galilee as the meeting place over against Jerusalem’s establishment. They notice how often Matthew stresses fulfillment (“as he said”), authority, and teaching, which fits his wider portrait of Jesus as a Moses-like teacher who speaks with command.
They also point out that the three-part baptism wording can look like something already used in church worship in Matthew’s community, even if it is still rooted in what Jesus taught.
Feminist / Womanist biblical interpretation (women as first witnesses; authority and embodiment)
These readings underline that women are the first to hear the news, the first to be told to speak, and the first to worship the risen Jesus, which quietly challenges cultures that try to control whose testimony counts. Their mix of fear and great joy becomes a picture of what it feels like to speak risky truth when powerful people want silence.
The bribery story then shows institutions trying to discredit unwanted witnesses by paying to steer the public story.
Postcolonial / Liberation theology (mission, power, and counter-story)
The chapter juxtaposes two economies: Jesus’ authority that liberates and commissions, and the authorities’ money that purchases false testimony (28:12–15). The Great Commission can be read either as liberating inclusion of the nations or as a text later weaponized for empire; the narrative’s own emphasis is on teaching obedience to Jesus’ commands (including justice, mercy, and nonviolent enemy-love in Matthew) rather than cultural domination. “I am with you always” becomes a promise of presence to oppressed communities engaged in risky truth-telling.
Daniel 7:13-14When Jesus says he has all authority (28:18), it echoes Daniel’s scene where the Son of Man receives rule over all peoples, so resurrection reads like being enthroned, not just coming back to life.
Matthew 1:23Matthew opens with “God with us” (Emmanuel) and closes with “I am with you always” (28:20), like bookends saying God’s presence shows up in Jesus from start to finish.
Matthew 26:32Jesus had already told them he would go ahead of them into Galilee after he was raised, and 28:7 and 28:16 show that specific meetup promise being kept.
Mark 16:6-7Mark has a similar angel message, but Matthew adds the earthquake, the guards, and the bribery story, which shows Matthew leaning into both public defense and his own themes.
Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:8Luke and Acts put the commissioning around Jerusalem and stress the Spirit’s power, while Matthew places it in Galilee and stresses Jesus’ authority, teaching, and staying presence, so the pictures complement each other.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8Paul’s early tradition lists appearances (including to “the twelve”), while Matthew highlights women and then the eleven in Galilee; together they show diverse early testimony streams converging on resurrection proclamation.
The takeaway
Jesus doesn’t wait for a perfectly confident team before he gives the Great Commission. He builds a global mission on people who can worship and wobble at the same time, because the foundation is his authority and his “I am with you,” not their certainty.