What is Matthew 28 about?
Matthew 28 is the Easter chapter of Matthew's Gospel. Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to the tomb. There is an earthquake, an angel rolls back the stone, and the guards shake with fear. The angel tells the women, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said" (verse 6). Running to tell the disciples, they meet Jesus himself and worship him. The chief priests bribe the soldiers to say the body was stolen. The chapter ends with the Great Commission on a mountain in Galilee: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations... and, lo, I am with you alway" (verses 19–20).
What does Matthew 28 mean?
Matthew 28:19
These words are part of the Great Commission, Jesus' final instructions to his disciples on a mountain in Galilee after his resurrection. Having just said that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him, he sends them out: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." The Greek means to make disciples, followers who learn from Jesus. The mission is for "all nations," not only Israel. They were to baptize new disciples "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," one of the clearest statements of the Trinity in the Bible. This verse has inspired Christian missions for two thousand years.
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