“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:18–20
The Empty Tomb (Verses 1–8)
After the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to see the tomb. An earthquake comes — an angel of the Lord has descended from heaven, rolled back the stone, and sat on it. His appearance is like lightning, his clothing white as snow. The guards tremble and become like dead men. The angel speaks to the women: do not be afraid. I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him.
They depart from the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, and run to tell the disciples. The stone the guards were set to protect has been rolled away not to let Jesus out — he was already gone — but to let the women in, to see that the tomb is empty. The angel sitting casually on the stone that empire sealed with soldiers is one of the quietly triumphant images in the gospel. The powers of this world did their best. It was not enough.
Jesus Meets the Women (Verses 9–10)
As they go, Jesus meets them. Greetings. They come and take hold of his feet and worship him. He tells them: do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. The first word the risen Jesus speaks in Matthew is a greeting. The first thing the women do is worship. The first instruction he gives is to go and tell. The resurrection does not produce paralysis or private consolation. It immediately sends people outward, toward others, with news.
The Report of the Guards and the Cover-Up (Verses 11–15)
While the women are going, some of the guard report to the chief priests what has happened. The priests assemble with the elders and take counsel. They give the soldiers a sufficient sum of money and instruct them: tell people his disciples came by night and stole the body while we were asleep. If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. The soldiers take the money and do as they are directed. This story is spread among the Jews to this day, Matthew says.
The irony the chapter does not comment on is devastating. The guards are paid to say the disciples stole the body — which would have required them to overcome a Roman guard while the soldiers slept at their post, itself a capital offense. The cover-up is more implausible than the resurrection. But the ones who engineered the crucifixion are still engineering the story, and money will do what evidence cannot.
The Great Commission (Verses 16–20)
The eleven disciples go to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had appointed. When they see him, they worship — but some doubted. Matthew does not smooth this over. The risen Christ is encountered and some who see him doubt. The doubt is not resolved before the commission is given. Jesus comes to them and speaks: all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
The commission flows from the authority. Because all authority in heaven and earth has been given to the risen Christ, the disciples go not in their own power or by their own credentials but in his. The scope is all nations — which Matthew has been building toward since the Magi came from the east, since the centurion’s faith was praised, since the Canaanite woman received what she asked for, since the parable of the tenants promised the vineyard to a people who would produce its fruits. The gospel of the promised King ends with the King sending his people to all nations — because the promised King was always for more than one nation.
The commission is threefold: go, baptize, teach. In the Greek, the only direct command is make disciples. Going, baptizing, and teaching are the means by which that command is fulfilled. The disciples are not told to make converts and move on. They are told to make disciples — people formed in the pattern of all that Jesus commanded, which is the whole of what Matthew has recorded across twenty-eight chapters.
And then the final word, which closes not only the chapter but the gospel: I am with you always, to the end of the age. Not for a season. Not until the task feels too large. Always. The one who said in the garden, not as I will but as you will, is the same one who now says to those he sends: I am with you always. The promise does not diminish with distance or time. It extends to the end of the age, wherever the disciples go, in the name of the one to whom all authority belongs.
Reflection
Matthew’s gospel begins with a genealogy that roots Jesus in the whole history of Israel and ends with a commission that sends his followers to the whole world. Between those two poles, Matthew has shown what the kingdom of heaven looks like: in parables and healings, in arguments with the religious establishment, in the Sermon on the Mount, in the bread broken at the last supper, in the garden prayer, in the cross, in the empty tomb.
The gospel ends not with a conclusion but with a sending. The disciples on the mountain — some worshiping, some doubting — are commissioned and promised. They are not told to wait until their doubt resolves. They are told to go, and they are promised that the one who sends them goes with them. That is the shape of the whole gospel: not a system to master but a person to follow, into a world that needs the news of what the empty tomb means.
He is risen, as he said. Go and tell. I am with you always.