[00:00:07] Speaker A: Welcome to that makes total sense, a podcast dedicated to exploring God's generosity and justice. I'm Alexis Busetti, a Christian aiming to ask good questions and encouraging you to do the same.
Every one of us is wired by God to live out generosity and justice. But the how sometimes eludes us that makes total sense is a way for us to get together, posture ourselves as learners, and challenge one another to practice generosity and justice in a tangible way every day.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: The final verses of the last chapter of Matthew have perhaps some of the most familiar words within 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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.
These are the last recorded words of Jesus in Matthew's gospel account, but the whole last chapter records some pretty wild stuff, beginning with the discovery and the immediate aftermath of the resurrection of Jesus only days after he was put to death by crucifixion.
And that's where I'd like to spend just a little bit of time today, because that's where I find myself. And maybe you find yourself there, too.
We're just after the resurrection.
Holy Week has come to a close with a glorious celebration, remembering the empty tomb and the joy that that event births and rebirths in each of us every year as followers of Jesus.
But what happens next?
What did the moments after hearing this news look like for those closest to our Lord?
And what did the disciples do next?
How did they feel? And how do we feel 2000 years later?
What do we do now?
What might Jesus be speaking to us?
Matthew 28 begins like the other gospel accounts of the resurrection, with a scene painted of women approaching the graveside.
They're there to anoint the body of Jesus, since they were unable to complete that sacred task when his body first came down from the cross.
In Matthew's telling, it shouldn't go unnoticed that there's a lot of terror.
The Marys in his account arrive first on the scene, and they encounter a glowing angel.
This being is so otherworldly that it frightens the guards almost literally to death, the text reads. They shook and appeared like dead men.
These were trained roman guards charged with keeping watch at a cemetery overnight.
There's no doubt in my mind that they had witnessed their share of executions and probably had even carried out some on their own.
I think they had seen some things, but the presence of this angelic being shocked them to the point that they had no other response than silent shaking in their bodies.
Yet the women we see press on.
The women speak to the angel. The women receive instructions and a message for their friends.
The women see and hear from Jesus himself.
They touch him, they worship him, and they receive him.
In the next lines of this chapter, there's a short but interesting interlude that I won't necessarily go into here about the guards conspiring with some of the religious leaders to create a false narrative about the disciples having stolen Jesus body instead of him resurrecting.
And then we come to the final verses of this chapter, the ones I read at the beginning that are so familiar to us as believers.
These are where we often find our call to action.
But I'm wondering if we might look at those words just a bit differently today, if we might hear them with a different set of ears.
The eleven disciples in this passage received the message from the Marys, apparently, and they decided to do what they'd been instructed to do and make their way back to galilee, to the place where Jesus told them to wait.
They reached their destination and sure enough, Jesus shows up. And the text tells us in verse 17 that when the disciples saw him, they worshipped, but they also doubted.
And that's where I'd like to stay for just a minute today.
Again, the verse reads, when they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
This is a smaller part of that super famous passage that I'm talking about. We call it the great commission, but it's not really a conversation, at least the way it's recorded here in Matthew's gospel.
The disciples here in this last paragraph don't say anything to Jesus, but Matthew notes how they're feeling.
They followed the directions they were given. They met Jesus at Galilee, and when they saw him, they worshiped him.
But they also doubted.
We as a community often give Thomas a bad rap as being the one who doubted. But none of the disciples were immune to doubt. We can see that in the other gospel accounts and from Matthew as well, that from the dinner before Jesus arrested, many of them are recorded as doubting what's happening. They couldn't believe the fate that Jesus had predicted for himself. And this doubt continues for them even after the resurrection, as we see here.
The disciples saw him, they worshiped him and they doubted.
This got me to thinking. What might this experience of the disciples tell us about ourselves?
I'll let you know what it tells me about myself.
That I can see Jesus, that I can see his goodness, see his grace, see evidence of his presence in my life, worship him, for all he is in his glorious self and still have doubts.
Will he continue to be with me? Will he solve the problems I want him to solve?
Does he love me?
Is he really in charge?
Can he be trusted?
Do we think Jesus didn't know what the disciples were feeling, what they were thinking, what they were experiencing? Experiencing? Of course he did.
I believe Jesus knew exactly what the disciples were going through and that we can hear that knowledge in his words to them when they meet up.
So what if, just for a moment, we took the name, the label, the great commission, out of our minds, just for a second, and we listened to Jesus words here as a response to what the text tells us.
That the disciples, having followed their instructions to meet the glorified Jesus in Galilee after his resurrection, were uncertain.
And that Jesus, being the good friend and rabbi and companion that he had been to these disciples all of those years, tells them some important things about themselves, about their assignments, and about himself as lord and king.
The first thing we hear him do is reaffirm what they already knew on some level, that he still has authority in heaven and on earth.
When they saw their friend, they were still a bit frightened, even after everything that they had been through together. And Jesus, in that moment, reassures them that he is still, still in charge, that the miracles they saw him perform, the authority he showed over the waves of the sea, over sickness, over disease, over nature, and now over death, that all of that authority is rightfully his, according to the God of Israel, and that the disciples can count on that now and moving forward into whatever is coming for them next.
Then Jesus gives them a job, an assignment.
Go and make disciples of people everywhere. Baptize them and teach them.
And this might sound like a strange instruction for people that, you know, are standing there doubting, but I don't think it's actually all that strange at all.
Doubting is, after all, a natural part of what we experience as people.
They doubt, and Jesus trusts them.
Jesus trusts them to share their experiences, their joys, their heartbreaks, to share what they've learned from the scriptures and to share with others how the messiah has impacted their lives.
He trusts them to teach people just like themselves, who have seen Jesus long, to worship him and still have their doubts.
Finally, Matthew ends with his telling of the gospel account with some of the most comforting words I think in all of scripture.
And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
These are the words of a true friend and a faithful lord.
These are the words of someone who understands the doubts of his friends.
Remember, I am with you always.
And this friendship is what we can remember, too.
This day after this week, after months, after Easter passes, that even when we see Jesus, we feel his presence, we witness his work in our lives, even when we worship him, that it's not an unfaithful juxtaposition to also doubt.
And just like Jesus didn't chastise his disciples for the doubt they felt, he doesn't chastise or punish us either.
It's quite the opposite, I think.
He reminds us that he's always with us, that he has all authority in heaven and on earth, and that part of how we live this life as disciples is to teach others about our lord's life and how it continues to impact ours, doubts and all.
So this Monday after Easter, we can continue to meet Jesus in our worship and in our doubt, remembering and with his reassurance that he is with us always, even to the end of the age.
Amen.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: The links for all the resources mentioned in today's episode can be found in the show notes, music and podcast production by Seth Busetti. Be sure to give us a review on iTunes and subscribe at your favorite podcast listening app. You can also visit
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