Matthew 28:16-20

This passage occurs both in the Narrative Lectionary and the Revised Common Lectionary (Trinity Sunday), most recently May 31, 2026.

Summary:
Well, this passage clarifies a few things:
* Jesus did have to suffer
* Commissioning is just as important as proclamation
* Baptizing is subordinate to making disciples; yet Baptism binds us to God
* The resurrection changes God's name

While we are at it, let's also clarify two other things
* The Trinity was in Matthew's Gospel
* Some, not all, doubted
* The law still exists alongside of the new creation [see note at end]

Only five verses, but it really does tie together so much of Matthew's writing.

 
Key Words
ορος ("mountain", 28:16)   Mountains show up at many key points in the Gospel of Matthew:  The sermon on the Mount, the transfiguration and the betrayal of Jesus.  Matthew may be connecting some of the "dots" within his story here.  I wrote about this in my comments on Matthew 5 as well.
 

Γαλιλαία (Galilee, 28:16)  Just a reminder, that this was a good 60-70 miles away from Jerusalem, and may included walking through Samaria.  Quite an effort for some disbelieving and grieving folks!!

προσεκυνησαν ("worship", from προσκυνεω, 28:17) and εξουσια ("authority" or "power", 28:18). The President of Luther Seminary once gave a great sermon linking this passage (Matthew 28:16-20) with the temptation of Christ.  It will be on a mountain that the devil offers Jesus all authority if Jesus would worship him.  Now we return to a mountain and the disciples worship Jesus as they hear that he has all the authority.  The point of the sermon (by Dr. Richard Bliese) was that devil tried to convince Jesus that suffering wasn't necessary for his authority and glory, but Jesus would have none of it.  Likewise, we will be tempted to think that we can have glory without adversity, but this is a lie.

εδιστασαν ("doubt", from δισταζω 17)  Back in Matthew 14, Jesus rescues a sinking Peter and asks him why he doubted.  Here we are, after the crucifixion and resurrection, and doubt still lingers.  Interestingly, Jesus does not rebuke them for their doubt.  Instead, he puts them to use and offers them the promise of his presence.  To put it another way, what is Jesus response to failure on the part of the disciples?  Commissioning and promise.  I would argue that in both John 22 and Matthew 28, Jesus does not only hand over the promise but also employs people.  This to me suggests that law can function as Gospel when it lets us know that Jesus cares about us enough to entrust his work to us.  In other words, when someone tells us to quit smoking, we can hear this as law but also as love in that the person cares about us.  The failure of church to commission people is a failure to communicate God's love for them.  Ultimately, I would argue that the promise of Jesus' presence will give them the strength to carry out this command, but nonetheless fascinating to consider how things grammatically presenting as the law can function as the gospel depending on the situation and relationship of the people.

μαθητευσατε and βαπτιζοντες ("teach" and "baptize", 20:19)  Interestingly, the only imperative verb in verse 19 is "make disciples."  The rest are participles that likely describe the verb "teach."  "Going", "baptizing" and "teaching" are not imperatives, they are participles that describe the manner of making disciples.  This is true in the parish too; we make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them.  

• One should not press too hard here because even if "baptize" only modifies "make disciples" it is still commanded to us by Jesus!  
• Baptism without teaching is not what Jesus commanded. 
• To make disciples (μαθητεύω) is actually a word that in other places can mean "to teach."  However, μαθητεύω does not simply mean to lecture by to create followers.  To make disciples isn't necessarily about imposing discipline (thanks Latin translations of Greek!) but about inspiring someone to follow in your footsteps.
• Jesus splits out teaching (διδάσκω) from making disciples (μαθητεύω).  This is interesting for me because it sets up the two needs to "discipleship":  Baptism and Teaching.  Perhaps in a very Lutheran way, I want to see this as Gospel and Law, in that Baptism proclaims to you what God has done for you and teaching guides you in how to live out that love towards others.
• The main verb (μαθητευσατε ) is in the plural (second person).  No one of us is commanded to make disciples.  It always take the community to accomplish this task.

πορεύομαι ("go", 28:7, 16, 19)  I love the fact that the disciples go up the mountain and then are sent back out. This becomes a metaphor for life.  Life provides us with all sorts of data, both terrible and good.  We come with faith and doubt.  We need the mountain top to clarify our vision.  Jesus affirms he is God for us and sends us back out again!

εις το ονομα ("into the name" 19)  Two points here.  First off all, there is only the most scant evidence that Matthew's Gospel did not originally have the Trinitarian name.  All the major manuscripts have it.  In fact, each and every manuscripts has it.  The main evidence against it consists of one or two Greek Fathers who don't include it when they cite Matthew, most importantly Eusebius.  However, Eusebius wrote around 300; the Didache (110 AD), which heavily quotes from Matthew's Gospel includes the name Father, Son and Holy Spirit within its Baptismal formula. (The Didache also use the word "into" and not "in" reflecting Matthew's language)

Second point, we are baptized into the name of God.  There is something that happens in Baptism that joins us to Christ.

μεθ υμων ("with you"; the word μεθ is μετα but the letters change before a vowel, much like "a" becomes "an", vs 20).  It is a good reminder that Jesus offers a plural promise here:  "With all of you."  More importantly though, the words "with you" appear in the middle of the words "I am."  "I am" or εγω ειμι can also signify the name of God (see one of the previous' weeks entries on this).  Here though we find the construction "I with you am."  In the middle of God's name is "with us."  I would argue that God's name has been changed by the death and resurrection of Jesus.  God is forever bound to humanity in a way that God was not before (see tearing of temple curtain).  Even if the whole name of God thing seems like a stretch, Jesus is indicating that after the crucifixion and resurrection he is truly Emmanuel, or God with us, as the angel declared in the beginning of the Gospel. 

Grammar:  How Greek often switches subjects.
In verse 17, Matthew says that "some doubted."  He actually doesn't use the word "some," but the words οι δε.  These two words simply mean "The and."  How did the translators get to "some" from "the and"?

This particular construction (δε ("and") following the word οι/ο ("the")) almost always implies a new subject.  Often times Greek writers will do this, perhaps to save space because it is quicker to write "ο δε" then to write out "the other person I was just writing about."  This device, I assume, almost functioned like a period or a paragraph start; "attention reader, new subject."  For example, Matthew uses this construction back in verse 16 to switch the narrative from the Jews to the disciples. We have a paragraph marker there, but in the original Greek, which lacked punctuation, this didn't exist. 

In verse 17, the question becomes, whom is Matthew referring to when he switches the subject? We are not told of anyone on the hill.  It seems the only option is to assume Matthew here switches from all eleven disciples to a smaller group within that.  While a minority think he means all the disciples (and thus is NOT switching subjects), most people assume he is referring to a subset within the disciples.  Regardless at least some of the people on that hill are doubting...and Luke tells in Acts they all keep moving forward with the team!

***  End note on new creation and the law 

εταξατο ("command" from τασσω, 28:16)  The great commission is not set up as an ascension text, but rather as an Easter passage!  Go to the others; go to the mountain; go to the world.  This suggests that even on Easter, the law was still functioning.  Humans needs more than simply the good news, they needed some nudging from the command.

This command to go and obedience to it were crucial to the story.  It is the women's obedience to "go" that leads them to stumble into Jesus on the road.  It is their obedience that leads the eleven to hear.  It is the eleven's obedience to "go" that leads them to see Jesus on the mountain top.  

This brings up all sorts of puzzles for me about the law and the new creation.  Each time I look at this passage, I am rather unsettled with what I wrote the previous time:

I wrote in 2017:  Even after the resurrection, the concept of obedience still exists.  I write this because recently I've been engaged in some discussions with "hyper" Lutherans who want to functionally deny the role of the law within the new creation.  The law still exists; the new creation does the law.  But okay, let's avoid this discussion and actually get to something that we can preach:  Living as a disciple means obeying, even as we doubt.

I wrote in 2023:  I would probably want to write this differently -- I am not sure the new creation does the law; I might say fulfills the law.  Regardless, the reality though is that the creation that we are on earth, both sinner and saint, needs and does the law.

In 2026:  I would say that at least for this life, the law exists alongside of the new creation.  Jesus hands over the promise, but he also clarifies their actions, suggesting that as humans, we need guidance, not simply inspiration.  The question the Lutheran confessors asked was whether the new creation needed that guidance or if it is simply the old Adam inside of us that needs that clarity.  The Lutheran confessors said the Old Adam.  In this case, I agree!  But at some level, it doesn't matter, we simply need to preach the law and the Gospel and let the Spirit sort it out!