- Matthew 28.16-20 KWL
- 16 The 11 students go to the Galilee,
- to the hill where Jesus first appointed them.
- 17 Seeing Jesus, they worship him—
- but they hesitate.
- 18 Coming forward, Jesus speaks to them:
- “All power in heaven and earth is given to me.
- 19 So go make students of every nation!
- Baptize them in the name of the Father
- and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- 20 Teach them to retain everything I commanded you.
- Look, I’m with you every day
- till the end of this age.”
Previously:
“The resurrection in Matthew.” Mt 28.1-10
After Jesus was resurrected in Matthew, the angel told Mary and Mary to tell the other students that he’d meet them in the Galilee. In other gospels they didn’t believe the women, but Matthew skips all that: The students went right home to the Galilee.
Did the Holy Spirit tell ’em where to meet Jesus? No idea. It’s entirely possible they guessed: “Well, where should we expect to see him? Um… how about where he first made us apostles? In Matthew that’s actually the hill where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount. Kind of a profound place, so sure, it stands to reason that’s where they should see him.
Me, I figure Jesus would’ve shown up at any place they picked. Maybe at the beach where he first called Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Maybe his house in Capharnaum, or the synagogue. Maybe his mom’s house in Nazareth. After Jesus rose, the way the gospels describe him, he now appears to have the ability to appear and disappear—so he could reappear anywhere, right?
But I admit there’s every chance we Christians have wholly misinterpreted this “new power” of Jesus’s. When Jesus became human he limited himself. He’s wholly divine, but gave up the power we typically associate with divinity. A number of us would really like to imagine the newly resurrected Jesus got some of his power back. But maybe he didn’t; maybe his “appearing” and “disappearing” isn’t some superpower that resurrected humans now have, but some supernatural ability any Christian can exhibit as the Holy Spirit allows. Remember, the evangelist Philip disappeared too. Ac 8.39
Anyway, Jesus appeared to them on the very hill they chose, and that’s where he gave ’em what Christians tend to call “the great commission.” Frequently we capitalize it. I don’t; you know which great commission I’m talking about.
“But they hesitate.”
When the students saw Jesus they worshiped him. But, Matthew notes, οἱ δὲ ἐδίστασαν/oi de edístasan, “And they waver.”
The KJV translated this, “But some doubted.” All Matthew tells us is they wavered. I translated it “hesitate.” They worshiped Jesus, but they hesitated. Did they hesitate first—“Wait, is that Jesus?”—or after worshiping—“Okay, Jesus is back, and that’s awesome… but now what do we do? Is he taking over the world now? Ac 1.6 I mean, if he’s taking over the world, shouldn’t we be in Jerusalem?”
In its translation, the KJV speculates why the students wavered: They had doubts. But it doesn’t tell us what they doubted. And you could interpret their doubts every which way. Believe you me; I’ve heard the sermons.
- They doubted whether they were seeing the living Christ Jesus, standing right in front of them, speaking with them.
- They doubted whether the Jesus they were seeing was a living man, or the specter of a dead man.
- They doubted Jesus had ever actually died.
- They doubted this was actually Jesus. ’Cause y’notice people didn’t always recognize the resurrected Jesus, like Mary of Magdala Jn 20.14 or Cleopas and Simon. Lk 24.15-16 Somehow he looked different! (In The Word-for-Word Bible Comic, Simon Amadeus Pillario depicts Jesus as white-haired after his resurrection, possibly because the shock of his death turned his hair white. The scriptures do say Jesus’s hair is white, Rv 1.14 so this is a really interesting idea; it’d definitely explain why Jesus wasn’t so quickly recognizable.)
- They doubted what was to happen next. ’Cause (same as the words I put in their mouth above) wasn’t Messiah supposed to take over the world? What’re they doing in the Galilee?—shouldn’t they start taking over the world in some other city?
The KJV also says some doubted. In my copies of the Greek New Testament, it says no such thing; there’s no word for “some” in the text. It’s not in the Textus Receptus which the KJV translators used either. But it is in the Wycliffe Bible and the Geneva Bible… because it ultimately comes from the Vulgate. Quidam autem dubitaverunt, “Some of them doubted.” St. Jerome mistranslated it. But that’s the version of the verse Roman Catholics, and most of the Latin-speaking Anglicans and Presbyterians, would’ve known. So the verse in the KJV is based on the Latin bible, not the original text.
And most modern translations follow the KJV’s lead, and also mistranslate it:
- CEV, ESV, NET, NIV. “…but some doubted.”
- AMPLIFIED. “…but some doubted [that it was really He].”
- GNT. “…even though some of them doubted.”
- MEV. “But some doubted.”
- MESSAGE. “Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.”
- NASB. “…but some were doubtful.”
- NLT. “…but some of them doubted!”
- VOICE. “But a few hung back. They were not sure (and who can blame them?).”
Of the few which actually translate it correctly, there’s the Disciples Literal New Testament, “…but the [ones] doubted”; Mt 28.17 DLNT and the 2021 edition of the NRSV, “…but they doubted.” Mt 28.17 NRSVUE The rest—even the ones which claim the most they’re literal!—inserted “some,” and didn’t even bother with brackets or italics.
Again, the Greek text has oi de edístasan: “And they waver.” Not some waver; they waver. All of them. All the Eleven, plus anybody else who went to see Jesus along with them.
No I’m not claiming all of them doubted Jesus; I’m not even claiming that’s what edístasan means. Considering all of them were there in response to what the angels told the women—they traveled all the way to the Galilee, then to that specific hill, expecting to see Jesus—I don’t think doubt was the issue. It was hesitation. Now that Jesus is alive… what do we do next?
Jesus’s answer to that unspoken question was his great commission.
“Go make me some more students!”
“All power in heaven and earth is given to me,” Jesus began. If the students were hesitant about what might happen next because they doubted what Jesus was able to do, this should silence them—and us—immediately. The Father has granted the Son power and authority over everything. Not just some stuff; everything. He’s omni-potent. Christ Jesus is almighty.
So what’s he gonna do with this power? Duh; he’s gonna take over the world!
Yep, the apostles got that part right. What they got profoundly wrong was how he takes over the world. He’s not creating an invading army; not till his second coming. He’s not doing it through political means, despite what power-coveting American conservatives would have you believe. He’s doing it through a new covenant with humanity: He wants a relationship with each and every one of us. We’re to be his people and he our God… or in terms more familiar to us Christians, we’re to be his disciples and he our Master.
The apostles were ordered to go make students of every nation. Not just fellow Jews; every people-group. Or as the bible tends to call ’em, gentiles. Since the apostles initially concentrated all their efforts towards fellow Jews, and it took a while before they finally reached out to gentiles, I’m not sure they fully understood what Jesus commissioned them to do. Maybe they assumed “every nation” meant “go to other countries, find Jews in those countries, and teach them.” But Jesus bluntly meant everyone. He wants everyone. He’s trying to save the world.
He wants ’em baptized—which is why we Christians do baptism—for the same reason John baptized people: They’re gonna repent of their lifestyles before they came to Jesus, and they’re gonna follow him. He wants ’em taught his commands so they know how to follow him. And he states he’s gonna be with them till the end of the age, by which he means the Christian Era, which ends when he physically returns to rule the world in person.
Yeah, various Christians have interpreted the great commission a number of other ways. Usually in ways which reflect what they believe… and don’t believe. If they don’t believe in obeying Jesus, they’re gonna bollix what the new Christians are meant to be taught. If they don’t really believe Jesus is alive, or returning, they’re gonna mangle the idea of what it means when he’s gonna be with us. If they don’t bother with baptism, or teach various weird things about it, they’re not gonna make any priority of repentance, or encourage any lifestyle of it. If they don’t wanna go to every nation and preach Jesus, they’ll find plenty of excuses not to.
Heck, they’ll even claim the great commission only applies to apostles, not them. Some will even claim there are no more apostles; the Eleven died out in the first century! Or they’ll come up with all sorts of theological-sounding reasons why we can safely ignore it. But we can’t. It’s not just a commission Jesus gave the first Christians, but to all Christians. Including me. Including you.
So… how are you obeying it?
