What is said and what is not said

Series: Doubting and believing (1-3)

Title: What is said and what is not said

Text: Matthew 28:16-20

Theme: everyone a believer, everyone a missionary.

Goal: Every believer in everything we do, remembers and lives out the Mission of Christ.

Missionary: One sent to promote Christ in a foreign country. (One sent to promote saving faith and discipleship in Christ.

1598 means act of sending or to send.

Those who gathered doubting and believing.

ME: ORIENTATION: FIND COMMON GROUND WITH THE AUDIENCE

I found somethings in this passage that has caused me to see through Matthew’s eyes a very interesting revelation of the text.

This passage is a very human passage.

I found joy and purpose in what was said in this text and what was not said.

WE: IDENTIFICATION (MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU STRUGGLE)

There is a group of people who believed and doubted.

They found themselves lost and confused.

Maybe this thing with Jesus is over.

After all Jesus is Dead.

The Church today

This is the way people feel about church!

This is part of why they may not be coming to Church!

We may look and behave no different than others. Our behavior may not represent Christ’s love !

It does nothing for them!

Something very tragic has happened and hope and tragedy mingled together.

GOD: ILLUMINATION (THE GOAL IS TO RESOLVE THE TENSION

We come to Christ in our humanity.

Jesus appears to at least two women

The risen Jesus appears to his disciples in Galilee (28:16–17). Matthew cites only Jesus’ resurrection appearances to the women on resurrection morning in Jerusalem (28:9–10) and then his appearance in Galilee to (at least) the eleven disciples.

* The other Gospels share how the 11, had spent time with him. Yet this is not mentioned here.

* The difference does not negate the truth but rather shares how each writer shared their experience in these gospels

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

B. The eleven disciples

This is what was left after Judas death.While Christ’s ascension isn’t spoken of it could easily fit here at the end.The eleven go to Galilee

For the first time those who had been designated as the Twelve (cf. 10:1–2) are called “the eleven disciples.” The designation “eleven” has poignant significance. Judas has betrayed Jesus and hanged himself (27:3–5), so he is excluded. But although Peter denied his Lord and hid away at the moment of testing, he is still numbered among the disciples (Luke 24:9–12, 33–34) and is restored to a position of leadership among them (cf. Acts 1:15–26; 2:14–39).1

* we will define a disciple a little bit later.

C. WE too come to Christ in our humanity.

* we may have belief and doubt.

* we may or may not know Christ.

* We may have faith and doubt this morning.

* the Flu, the senseless murder, riots, looting my touch how we see God today.

* We come to Christ in our humanity, just as they did. Bringing our issues we meet here today.

We worship and doubt in His presence

17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

A. They… who was they.

The most likely identity of these others is the unexpected use of “brothers” in 28:10,

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 28:10). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

distinct from “disciples” in 28:7.

7 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.”

8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 28:7–8). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

When Jesus instructed the women disciples to tell his “brothers” to go to Galilee, where they will see him, this likely indicates the wider group of disciples beyond the Eleven. The Eleven will be privileged to see Jesus in Jerusalem, but the broader band of disciples who have not yet encountered the risen Jesus will see him at the gathering in Galilee.1

These are the kinds of questions that many Jews have until they personally see Jesus raised bodily. If this last view is correct, this passage may well be an allusion to the group of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared (see 1 Cor. 15:6).

6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Co 15:5–6). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

This would further correspond with Jesus’ directive to the disciples to meet him in the mountainous area (28:16),

Once the doubt of these people is removed by seeing Jesus, they too will fall down in humble worship of the risen Son of God.

Verse 17 doubt:

② to be uncertain about taking a particular course of action, hesitate in doubt (Diod S 10, 4, 4; Dositheus 71, 5; Just., D. 28, 2; 39, 6) perh. Mt 28:17

17: worship

προσκυνέω (proskyneō). vb. to bow down, worship. To bow down before a human as a sign of respect or before a divine figure as an act of worship.

Disciples have a purpose

The disciples are witnesses rather than bearers of a tradition because their attachment is to Jesus and because Jesus himself brings tradition to a definitive end.

As the fulfilment of his people’s hope, who is the truth itself (Jn. 14:6), Jesus

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jn 14:6). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

cuts across all traditions (cf. Mk. 3:1ff.). He calls his disciples, to obedient giving of testimony

YOU: APPLICATION (TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO AND WHAT THEY HAVE HEARD)

Conclusion:

We are humanWe stand in His presenceWe are prepared by what Jesus has developed to live in the mission and become missionaries.