As he said: the vindication of Jesus

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for 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 behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

We are at the denouement of the gospel of Matthew. After the climactic crucifixion we come to the vindication of Christ. We should also note that while we can read, and should, read this vindication as a foregone conclusion I think there are some details which serve highlight the emotional desolation for the disciples in the moment.

We’ve noted before the number of times that Jesus predicted to his disciples that he would suffer and die in Jerusalem:

16:21, the turn towards Jerusalem, he will “suffer many things… be killed, and on the third day be raised”
17:22-23, after the Transfiguration, men will “kill him, and he will be raised the third day”
20:18-19, after entering Judea, the Son of Man will “be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised the third day”
26:2, “the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified”

The faithfulness of Jesus’ female disciples

Although we know from the gospel of John that John was near the cross, only the women are mentioned here. It’s interesting that none of the Twelve are again named. Joseph of Arimathea is named, Jesus’ relatives and female disciples are named, but not Peter, James, John or any of the rest. This serves to highlight Jesus own pronouncement at the Last Supper, the shepherd was in fact stricken and the sheep in fact did scatter.

The faithful women don’t only appear here but follow Jesus’ body. They come at dawn on Sunday, they would have been unlikely to go to the tomb on Sunday as it was a Sabbath but at the earliest opportunity they go to the tomb. Why? To mourn? To wait? We get hints at these answers in the other gospels but Matthew does not shed any light on it. The reward of the faithful women is to bear witness to the risen Christ.

Irony abounds

All that the chief priests and Pharisees accomplish in setting the guard on the tomb is ensuring that they have a first-hand report of resurrection.

The great commission

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “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.”

When Jesus arrived at the place he told his disciples to go, they “worshiped him, but some doubted.” The doubt in mind is the same that’s described Peter when he was walking on the water (and only occurs here and there). It is not an intellectual doubting but being of two minds, a practical uncertainty. This seems right to me. We don’t know how many of the disciples came to the cross, at the very least John was there, and some of Jesus’ female disciples were nearby. The crucifixion was purposefully quite public. Crucifixion was as much a PR statement by Roman authorities as it was a punishment. So certainly some in the group of disciples in Galilee had seen Jesus on the cross. It would be impossible for him to survive that, and his disciples were not wrong about this. He was certainly dead, but just as he said, he was resurrected.

Authority

This is a profound statment of authority and its coupled to the command of extending Jesus ministry to the entire world.

Note that the idea of “Go” functioning as its bare grammatical participle “going” or “as you go” is not really tenable as a translation. It stands in conjunction with “baptizing” and “teaching” which are translated into participles. So insofar as the only imperative, “make disciples” requires baptizing and teaching it also requires going.

Authority is an important motif in Matthew. Lexically it’s references are clustered after the first discourse and just before the passion narrative proper.

7:29, the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority
8:9, from the centurion, “For I am a man under authority”
9:6 & 8, as Jesus heals the paralytic “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”
10:1, Before Jesus sends out the twelve to minister in Galilee he “gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction”
21:23-24 & 27, the chief priests and elders questioning by what authority Jesus is “doing these things”

The theme of authority goes well beyond just the uses of the word, for instance:

The calming of the storm
Jesus could call on the Father for 12 legions of angels (“now” as in “right now”!) and he would receive them.

Comfort

Questions for the end

Why do we get the command with the comfort?
Just to pull some threads together, in what ways do we see these elements pulled together in Matthew?