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.”
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
Me, I figure Jesus would’ve shown up at any place they picked. Maybe
But I admit there’s every chance we Christians have wholly misinterpreted this “new power” of Jesus’s.
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