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Matthew 28

Chapter Text

The Resurrection

The Guards' Report

The Great Commission

Summary

After the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the tomb at dawn. An angel descends, rolls away the stone, and announces that Jesus is risen. The women depart with fear and great joy and encounter the risen Jesus Himself, who tells them to instruct His brethren to go to Galilee.

The chief priests bribe the soldiers to spread the lie that the disciples stole the body. Jesus meets the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee, declares that all authority in heaven and earth is given to Him, and commissions them to make disciples of all nations.

Meaning

The resurrection is the vindication of everything Jesus taught and claimed. Without it, the cross would be merely a tragedy. With it, the cross becomes the triumph of God over sin and death. The empty tomb is the foundation upon which the entire Christian faith rests.

The Great Commission establishes the mission of the church for all time: to make disciples, baptize, and teach obedience to all that Christ commanded. His promise to be with them always assures that this mission is carried out not in human strength but in the presence and power of the risen Lord.

Background

The guard at the tomb had been placed at the request of the chief priests, who remembered Jesus' prediction that He would rise on the third day. The bribery of the soldiers reveals that even the opponents of Christ could not account for the empty tomb.

The mountain in Galilee where Jesus met the disciples is unspecified. The trinitarian baptismal formula, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is one of the clearest trinitarian statements in Scripture.

Chapter Outline

  1. vv. 1-4The Angel and the Earthquake
  2. vv. 5-7He Is Risen, As He Said
  3. vv. 8-10Jesus Meets the Women
  4. vv. 11-15The Guards Bribed to Lie
  5. vv. 16-17The Disciples Meet Him in Galilee
  6. vv. 18-20The Great Commission

Key Verses

“He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”— 28:6

The angelic announcement of the resurrection is the cornerstone of Christian faith, declaring the empty tomb and vindicating every prediction Jesus made about rising on the third day.

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”— 28:18

Christ's claim to universal authority establishes His cosmic lordship and provides the foundation for the missionary mandate that follows.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”— 28:19

Known as the Great Commission, this verse contains one of the clearest Trinitarian formulas in Scripture and defines the church's global mission.

“Teaching 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.”— 28:20

Christ's promise of abiding presence echoes the Immanuel theme that opened Matthew's Gospel (1:23), forming a literary bookend of 'God with us.'

People & Places

People

  • Mary Magdalene — Devoted follower of Jesus and first witness to the empty tomb.
  • The other Mary — Likely Mary the mother of James, who accompanied Mary Magdalene to the sepulchre.
  • Angel of the Lord — Heavenly messenger who rolled back the stone and announced the resurrection.
  • The keepers — Roman soldiers guarding the tomb who trembled and became as dead men.
  • Jesus — The risen Christ who appears to the women and later commissions the eleven.
  • The eleven disciples — The remaining apostles after Judas's death, who meet Jesus in Galilee.
  • Chief priests and elders — Jewish leaders who bribe the soldiers to spread a false report about the body.
  • The governor — Pontius Pilate, whose potential intervention the priests promise to manage.

Places

  • The sepulchre — The rock-hewn tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea outside Jerusalem where Jesus had been laid.
  • Galilee — The northern region where Jesus had ministered and where He appoints the disciples to meet Him.
  • The mountain in Galilee — An unnamed height designated by Jesus for His climactic post-resurrection appearance and commission.

Prophecy & Fulfillment

This chapter fulfills Jesus' own repeated predictions of His resurrection on the third day (Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19), as the angel explicitly notes, 'He is risen, as he said' (v. 6). The resurrection also fulfills the sign of Jonah Jesus promised in Matthew 12:40 and vindicates Old Testament hopes that God's Holy One would not see corruption (Psalm 16:10). The Great Commission inaugurates the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham that in his seed all nations would be blessed (Genesis 22:18).

Devotional

The women came expecting death and found life. So often we approach our own sealed tombs—grief, failure, fear—bracing for the worst, only to discover that God has already moved the stone. The risen Christ meets us on the road with a word of peace: 'Be not afraid.'

Notice that some still doubted even as they worshipped (v. 17), yet Jesus commissioned them anyway. He does not wait for perfect faith before entrusting us with His work. His final promise—'I am with you alway'—is not reserved for the strong, but given to ordinary disciples sent into an ordinary world with an extraordinary companion.

Literary Style

Resurrection narrative combining historical reportage, angelophany, and commissioning discourse. Matthew employs vivid sensory detail (earthquake, lightning countenance), dramatic contrast between worshipping women and conspiring priests, and concludes with a solemn programmatic speech that forms an inclusio with the Immanuel promise of chapter 1.