Matthew: Jesus is Alive

Matthew 28:1-20

“These women will become the first witnesses to the resurrection, a fact that seems to guarantee the credibility of the account in a world that usually did not accept women’s testimony as legally binding. Were the story fabricated, only male witnesses would have appeared. The role of the women also points to the dawning of a new age of equality among women and men in Christ” Craig Blomberg

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

“For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers…” —Hebrews 2:11

“Not only does he show himself as still loving and accepting those who had abandoned him, but he even treats them as equals! (They might be failures, but) they remain laborers with him in the work of the Father. Jesus is neither denying his uniqueness nor deifying the disciples. But he is portraying the church as a brotherhood that manifests more equality than hierarchy, even if some functional differentiation between leaders and followers is clear from other Scriptures. (e.g., 1 Pet 5:1–5; Heb 13:17).” Craig Blomberg

“Think what he (Matthew) had to gain and lose by it. Denying the resurrection left everybody’s world view intact. The Jews could continue as they had done. The Romans could go on running the world their way. Philosophers could still debate their lofty doctrine. Nobody would need to make radical readjustments. But if the resurrection of Jesus was true, and if people were to start reordering their lives by it, they would be on a collision course with the rest of the world. Matthew knew that as well as we do.” - NT Wright

“Mountains have figured prominently at least six different times in this Gospel (see also 4:8: Temptation Mountain; 5:1: Sermon Mountain; 15:29: Supper Mountain; 17:1: Transfiguration Mountain; 24:3: Consummation Mountain). Ever since Sinai, mountains have been the classic loci of the Lord’s great revelations. Now here in Galilee, the Lord gives the final revelation of his Gospel on a mountain. “As it were, the same divine law swings itself like a bow from the mount of the first revelation in Sinai to this mount of the last revelation in Galilee.” Matthew’s Jesus, the New and Better Moses, the Messiah- Interpreter of God’s law, will now give his church her final orders from the Mission Mountain.” Dale Bruner

“All spiritual, metaphysical, philosophical, and religious power “in heaven” but also all social, physical, political, and economic power “on earth” are in his hands. He is in charge around here.” Dale Bruner

“The Christians’ focus was not on “saving” people or recruiting them; it was on living faithfully—in the belief that when people’s lives are rehabituated in the way of Jesus, others will want to join them.” - Alan Kreider

“Disciple” (mathēteusate). Interestingly, the usual missionary terms are not employed here: “preach,” “convert,” “win,” and the like. A slower, lower-profile verb is used, an almost scholastic, schoolish word, “disciple.” To disciple means “to make students of,” “bring to school,” “educate” or, in modern-English terms, “to mentor,” “to apprentice.” The word pictures students sitting around a teacher more than it does penitents kneeling at an altar—an educational process more than an evangelistic crisis, a school more than a revival. The word’s prosaic character relaxes and says in effect, “Work with people over a period of time in the simple educational process of teaching Jesus.” Only the Cosmo-creator can do the big things like convert, win, bring repentance, or bring a person to decision—all authority is his, and his alone. Disciples will do the little thing of “discipling” others—that is, they will spend time with people—in the confidence that sooner or later the Cosmocrator with all his authority will create in some of these people the decision to be baptized (or, in Christianized cultures, the decision to own their baptisms) and then to follow Jesus.” Our Main Man Bruner

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” —Jesus (Jn.10:28)