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The Great Commission -- our Easter 2026 lesson from Matthew 28

  • Writer: mww
    mww
  • Apr 2
  • 17 min read

All authority. All nations. All things. All time. All Jesus.


Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Matthew 28

In this mashup or a Resurrection Sunday lesson and a Great Commission lesson that's taken out of order so we can study it on Easter, we see the final goal of Jesus' earthly ministry: to call, save, and empower His followers to make disciples of the rest of the world. In this chapter, we see the motivation, the method, the hope, and the promise. Jesus is risen!

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (28:20)

When We Studied This Passage in 2022

Lifeway is giving us a repeat of a lesson they gave us in 2022 (well, except they're charging a lot more now). Here are my notes from that lesson:


The sections on promises and a harmony of the Gospels are really useful; you may want to skim them because I won't spend so much time with them in this post.


Welcoming Guests and Infrequent Group Members

First, I strongly encourage every Sunday School class and Bible study group to make sure to invite everyone on their roster to join them on Easter. Just do it.


Second, that means you need to prepare for having some new faces in your group! Yes, this is something we should do every week, but Easter should be a "maximum effort" Sunday for churches. Here's what that means:

  • Clean up your room!

  • Look at everything on the walls / whiteboard; does it need some refreshing?

  • Be mindful of guests during discussion.

  • Make sure to invite your guests to any event you have planned.

  • Make this a totally self-contained lesson.


That should all be pretty self-explanatory. Be very mindful of the questions/topics/illustrations that come up during discussion -- explain what needs explaining. They won't return if they don't feel meaningfully included.


Getting Started: Things to Think About

My guess is that you'll start a little later than usual. My hope is that you have some new (and old) faces, and everybody wants to chat for a while. That has its place! But if you let that go on, you'll need to cut back on another part of your lesson.


If you still want a casual discussion-starter, you could use something like

  • What is the most memorable statement in modern history?

  • What's the most surprised you've ever been?

  • What's the most tired you've ever been?

  • What's your favorite Easter tradition?

  • What's the mission statement for your workplace?

Those are simple, and you should be able to tie them to the lesson passage pretty easily.


Otherwise, just jump into the content.


What Is the Church's Mission?

Remember how I said this should be a standalone lesson? I'm immediately going to suggest something that follows what we talked about last week. It can be done; you just have to be sensitive. One of the ways to do this is simply to give your own recap of what you said the week before. I.e., don't ask "what did we say about the church last week?" but rather "let me share a summary of some things we talked about last week".


Keep it simple -- go with this basic definition:

A church is a congregation of Christ’s baptized disciples, united in the belief of what he has said, and covenanting to do what he has commanded.

Following that, ask, "What has Christ commanded a church to do?"


Today's lesson passage includes the Great Commission, so that will be our eventual focus. But I find it valuable to record the answers of your group. What do they think the mission of the church is? And when you get to the end of your time together, you can compare their answers with Jesus' command. Are they compatible? Or do your group members need to reevaluate their understanding?


When It's Dangerous to Reach the Nations

We've recently used persecution as a "big idea" --

but assume your group members will need a refresher. That post includes a link to the powerful "Red List".)


Ask a question like, "Have you heard anything in the news about violence against Christians around the world?"


Sadly, the American media seems to avoid this topic, so your group members may have no idea about this. Here are two headlines currently on the Baptist Press website:

The Nicaraguan government stripped an entire Baptist denomination of its legal status, banned the entry of Bibles and revoked the citizenship of various religious leaders in escalating religious persecution, CSW said March 30 in a new report. (Note: used to be "Christian Solidarity Worldwide".)

The Jos attackers were dressed similarly to Nigerian security forces, Okoh said, and shot defenseless people.

Come with a few examples from current events, and then move to the point: "Does violence and opposition change the church's mission?"


Of course the answer is no. And anybody who has been studying Matthew with you had better know that. But some American Christians may not have thought about this before. Give everybody time to process, and then move to your transition: "Why or why not?"

This Week's Big Idea: Authority

We've talked about "authority" a lot in Matthew. It was a key idea for him. And it's the key to understanding the Great Commission. But for this to be a standalone lesson, you have to assume that you need to give a refresher. Rather than add even more for you to cover, I'll just summarize what we've previously said. Particularly from


The word for "authority" (exousia) is sometimes translated as "power" in versions of the Bible, but that can be misleading. The word doesn't mean "power" as in "physical strength" but "power" as is the "rightful exercise of power".


In chapters 8 and 9, Matthew establishes that Jesus has authority over

  • disease

  • demons

  • sin

  • forgiveness

  • nature

  • the law

  • death

  • healing (directly, indirectly, and even from a distance)


For the casual reader, they might think that Matthew's point is that Jesus has the "power" (i.e., "ability") to do those miracles. No, that's secondary. Matthew is building the very careful case that Jesus is God (building up to the Transfiguration in chapter 17 and the Resurrection in chapter 28), so of course Jesus has the ability to do those things. Rather, Matthew is establishing that Jesus has the "right" to do those things. As God in the flesh, Jesus has been given the authority by God to intervene in the normal order of things on earth. God trusts Jesus to exercise His authority (so beautifully illustrated by the encounter with the Roman Centurion). And then Jesus entrusts a certain amount of His authority into His followers.


In other words, God the Father has given God the Son the "right" to operate as He sees fit. As God, Jesus has infinite power to intervene or withhold Himself as He sees fit. And Jesus has the right to invest that authority into His followers as He sees fit.


(And no, He has not invested as much authority as the pope would have you believe.)


All authority on earth is derived from God the Father. Jesus respected that, and so must we. This means that Christians submit to the structures of authority that God has created. (This includes in a country, in a family, and in a church.) In particular, it means that Christians submit to God's authority. We should do what God has told us to do. We should act how God has told us to act. This applies to us as individuals and us as churches.

Where We Are in Matthew

This is a standalone lesson, so you'll have to rely on your group's familiarity with the events of Holy Week. There are lots of great "summaries" of Holy Week on the web, and here's a graphic that I like very much (yes, it's from the Gospel of Mark):

created by Mark Berry, found on visualunit.me
created by Mark Berry, found on visualunit.me

Church Plug:

  • We have our Maundy Thursday service at 7:00 in the sanctuary

  • Good Friday service at 5:30 in the sanctuary at Thomson Methodist

  • Sunday Sunrise service at 7:00 at Savannah Valley

  • And then our own services at 8:15 and 10:45

Come, and learn more about the events of this week. Spoiler: Jesus rises from the dead!


I do like the combination of passages in this week's lesson -- it makes the connection between resurrection and authority as clear as possible. That's worth a Big Idea:


Bonus Big Idea: Resurrection and Authority

Matthew includes this Holy Week exchange:

21: 23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did John’s baptism come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, because everyone considers John to be a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

That's one of my favorite exchanges. But Jesus faced many such challenges throughout His ministry. John reports that the first time Jesus entered and "cleansed" the temple, He heard an almost-identical challenge:

John 2:18 So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?” [basically "by what authority?"] 19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” 20 Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made.

In other words, John recorded an event in which Jesus explicitly connected His authority with His resurrection. "When I rise from the dead, you will finally realize that I do indeed have the authority to speak and act on behalf of God the Father (because I too am God)." (All of these statements eventually turn into a study of the doctrine of the Trinity. You can decide how far down that road you need to go.)


[Note: about "resurrection". My theology focus this week is the Great Commission, not the resurrection. Not because it's more important! I just don't think we have the space to cover both fully. We will talk about resurrection in a few weeks.]

Part 1: The Resurrection (Matthew 28:1-7)

1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.
5 The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you.”

This passage is never not awesome.


We've also studied it more than once.


  • the best news ever

  • "resurrection" in Jewish thought

  • the testimony of women in those days


And some more reference posts:


The note about the Sabbath and the "first day" is a helpful reminder why Christians worship on Sunday, not Saturday, and also why "the Lord's Day" is not a replacement Sabbath but something entirely new.


About Mary and Mary, you may want to use some of those other posts to clarify which women were present (the "harmony of the Gospels"). I don't know why Matthew chose to reduce the cast of characters except to make it easier to follow.


"Violent earthquake" doesn't tell us if the effects were localized to the garden area or not. The women felt it, and they associated it with the action of the angel.


"Angel" is another great harmony of the Gospels note; Matthew just wanted to draw attention to the presence of an angel. Here's a relatively quick assignment -- look up every instance of "angel" in the Gospels. What role did angels play pertaining to Jesus? It might help your group understand why an angel was used for this event.


"Rolled back the stone" -- Jesus did not need the stone to be rolled away. You might remember that He appeared in a locked room without anyone knowing how. No, this was so the followers could get in and see that the tomb was empty.


I've recently talked about the physics of light and "white".


The "guards" were certainly not Romans. These would have been hired by the Sanhedrin and answerable to them. Roman soldiers did not answer to Jewish officials.


"Don't be afraid" is another phrase you might look up in the Gospels. When was it used? By whom?


"He is not here for He has risen" is the most earthshattering statement made in human history. (That's why I used the modifier "modern" in my discussion idea -- obviously, nothing comes close.)


"Come and see" is another great phrase in the Gospels. What is its relationship with evangelism? Also, note the helpful observation that this would keep the women from being accused of visiting the wrong tomb.


Now, about "Galilee". Why would the angel say this, knowing that the disciples would see Jesus before they saw Him in Galilee?


There are a few ways of looking at this. First, it ties directly to what Jesus already said to the disciples in Matt 26:32. The disciples knew that this was what they were supposed to do. Second, it's been suggested that the disciples were going to need some added oomph -- that they were so shocked by these events (even though they should have known better) that Jesus' appearance is what knocked them out of their stupor. I personally like a third option -- that Jesus was so excited about seeing His disciples that He didn't want to wait that long. Saying that He would see them in Galilee doesn't mean He couldn't see them sooner!

Part 2: The First Appearance (Matthew 28:8-10)

8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news. 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

For whatever reason, Matthew didn't see the need to report the other events of that day. He wanted to connect the resurrection directly with the Great Commission, and so He emphasized the triumph and joy.


The other Gospel writers wanted to emphasize the fear and the confusion, so they included several additional things that happened. It's all true; all of the Gospel accounts harmonize very nicely. If you were to do anything with this section, it would be to walk your group through the exercise of harmonizing the Gospels.


For my part, I think we're better off beelining for the Great Commission

Part 3: The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20)

16 The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Here's another post related to this passage:

That was from 2017!


(I'm getting ahead of myself, but here's the latest chart from the IMB (Research Data – Global Research)

0 is the most unreached, and 6 is the most reached ("most reached" just means 10% evangelical presence). They've changed some of their calculations in the cast few years, but any way we slice it, the world is growing faster than we are reaching it.)


Matthew doesn't answer a lot of questions. Did others go with the disciples? (Likely.) Which mountain? How long before they left? Who doubted and why?


The word for "doubt" also means "hesitate"; we can safely say that this was a lot for the disciples to take in. This is Jesus - the same man (Man!) who had called them and taught them and lived with them for years. And now, He's fully revealed as God. It's a lot.


And let's not get into the task Jesus gave them! The IMB has been working on this for decades with all of the resources of the modern world and millions of Baptists at their back, and they're barely scratching the surface. It's just a lot for these disciples.


But let's get into the Great Commission. These are the marching orders for every Christian and every church in history. (Yes, some Christians in the past tried to argue that Jesus gave this command only to the 11 disciples; the rest of us are off the hook. That's a weird argument.)


Start with the word all. All authority. All nations. All things. Partial Christianity is not an option. Partial obedience is not an option. Partial effort is not an option. And that's because all the authority belongs to Jesus. It always has, but now on the other side of His physical resurrection, it's so much plainer to see on the part of the disciples.


"Therefore" is based on Jesus' authority. We could take this to mean that Jesus simply has the authority to order us to this monumental task. But I think it's more than that. The task is to "make disciples" of Jesus, i.e., lead people to follow Him. So, because Jesus has all true authority on earth, completing His task equals rescuing people -- the very people He died to save -- from hell. In other words, because the authority belongs specifically to Jesus, the task He gives also aligns with His own priorities and action. Think "if anyone would follow Me, let him take up his cross".


In the Greek sentence, the imperative verb is "make disciples". "Go", "baptize", and "teach" are all participles modifying the verb; they help explain how we make disciples. In other words, our command is to make disciples [of Jesus]. To do that, we go to the people, we baptize them, and we teach them what Jesus commanded.


You've probably heard it translated "as you go". That's fine, but it might give the false impression that Christians don't have to go out of our way to make disciples. That's not what Jesus was suggesting. Jesus was sending the disciples to find lost people.


"All nations" means just that. It's the equivalent of "all peoples" in the promise to Abraham in Gen 12:3.


Once you've "found" that potential disciple, and they have chosen to follow Jesus, the next step is baptism. We have talked about this a whole lot, so I won't do more here. However, if anyone in your group has any questions about baptism, you need to be prepared to talk about this. This verse is the primary reason why Baptist churches believe that true baptism is a result of a declaration of faith (no infant baptism), and also why one has to be baptized to be a church member. According to Jesus Himself, believer's baptism by immersion is an initial step of following Jesus, so if someone isn't willing to do that, we have no choice but to ask if they have truly followed Jesus.


[See below for more about baptism.]


And then we "teach" that baptized disciple. We teach them all things Jesus said and commanded. And because the Bible is the written record of God's activity on earth leading to the ministry of Jesus and the activity of those who followed Jesus and established the first churches, we teach the whole Bible. This is why any form of discipleship must be rooted in Bible study.


Here's where I have to warn that experts in the Greek language say that that the word forms for "baptize" and "teach" are complex participles. "Baptizing" and "teaching" characterize making disciples, but they are not the means of making disciples. In other words, you can't just baptize someone, run them through Bible Drill, and say "I've made a disciple". There's more to it than that -- a lifetime of obedience, for one -- but we can at least say that baptism and learning the Bible are part of making a disciple.


Now let's finally get to the word "disciple". Jesus commands His followers to make disciples. In that day, the word was used of a student/teacher apprentice/master relationship. At First Baptist Church, we say that a disciple is someone who is thinking, being, and acting like Jesus, particularly as they love God, love people, and make more disciples. You might remember this graphic from our revitalization process a few years ago.


You can find it on our website --


And you might remember that I preached a sermon on that scorecard earlier this year.


Obviously from that, you can't be a disciple simply by being baptized and being taught. A disciple is someone you are, something you do. It's not something that happens to you; it's something you are a part of.


But for the part of the Commission, baptizing and teaching are all we can do for someone else. We cannot force someone to be a disciple any more than we can force someone to be saved. (Yes, those are related.) I think that's why Jesus used the exact language He did.


To me, this comes back to authority. Jesus has all authority. He is Lord. Being a disciple means realizing that Jesus is Lord (your Lord) and fully submitting to Him in all things. That takes time for most people. It's a process of growth and change. It takes ongoing commitment. That's why you still study the Bible to this day. That's why you still pray. That's why you still evaluate your choices and actions and attitudes.


And guess how long this goes on? Until the end of the age. There will never be a day in which Jesus' commands need to be updated or changed. There will never be a day in which we can throw out the Bible as old-fashioned or out-of-touch.


And the good news for us is the promise that comes with it: because Jesus will never change, and because His words will never lose their power, His promise will always be trustworthy. Jesus has promised that He will receive in heaven everyone who has trusted in Him. And Jesus has promised that He will be with everyone who follows Him. This fulfills the first promise in Matthew's Gospel, that Jesus is "God with us".


We don't know how long "this age" will last. We know that we are in "the last days", but only God knows how long that will be. In the meantime, we faithfully follow.


Note that Lifeway is taking this out of order because of Easter Sunday. We still have weeks in the Gospel of Matthew, so you don't need to do a retrospective just yet. But this is still a great time to ask big-picture questions:

  • how are you (personally) doing in your discipleship to Jesus?

  • what are you (personally) doing to help others in their discipleship?

  • what can you (as a class) do to help one another in both?


I'm not talking about something flashy. I'm talking about the day-in day-out faithful effort in thinking, being, and acting like Jesus. How's that going for you?


Aside about the "Formula" of Baptism

This debate becomes such a slog, and we talked about it more than once when we studied Acts, but I'm hoping you have guests in your Bible study group who have other church backgrounds. Some churches, including some churches right here in Mcduffie County, say that proper baptism can only be done in the name of Jesus only. On the surface, I hate to quibble about wording, but that perspective is actually rooted in an old heresy that says God is not a Trinity, that Jesus is the only God and He sometimes appears as "Father" and sometimes as "Spirit". No, God is a Trinity, and that's why Jesus gave us this specific language to use in our baptisms. Misconstruing God-as-Trinity is catastrophic for Christian beliefs. Here's why I don't like to quibble about some wording: you might say, "I don't remember the exact wording the guy who baptized me used. Is my baptism valid?" If you know you were baptized because you were taking an intentional step of following Jesus, what some other person did or did not do cannot invalidate that. And if you have any questions about this, reach out to me and we can talk it through.

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