Context at a Glance
Author:Traditional Attribution
Topic:matthew Chapter 28 Study
This chapter provides a foundational look at the theological themes of matthew, analyzed across multiple historic translations for maximum scholarly depth.
Matthew 28
New Revised Standard Version
1After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
2And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
4For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.
5But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
7Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you."
8So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
9Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
11While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened.
12After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers,
13telling them, "You must say, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.'
14If this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."
15So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.
16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
18And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." MARK
72MARK Introduction Modern readers often take the Gospel according to Mark as a story of Christian discipleship, but is much more than that. Mark is a story of conflict — or rather of multiple conflicts. That is why it is so exciting to read and why it has such a compelling message. In the dominant conflict that builds to a climax throughout the Gospel, Jesus' challenge to the high priestly rulers and their Roman imperial overlords escalates from his preaching and practice of the kingdom of God in the village gatherings of Galilee to his dramatic demonstration against the Temple and confrontational challenge to the rulers in Jerusalem. That results in his torturous crucifixion by the Romans as an insurrectionary. In Jesus' exorcisms, moreover, God is winning the struggle with Satan and the demonic "unclean spirits" that have taken possession of the people like an occupying Roman legion. Surprisingly, however, a conflict between Jesus and the very disciples he designates as representative of the renewed people of Israel also develops in the course of the story. Although Jesus teaches them the mystery of the kingdom, they persistently fail to understand what he is teaching and doing — that the "kingdom of heaven/god" is already here (in their hearts and minds), but not yet (among the people and society) — so much so that by the end they betray, deny, and desert him. By contrast with the misunderstanding and faithless disciples, women, who play an increasingly prominent role in Mark's story, serve as models of faithfulness. The Gospel story unfolds in an escalating series of steps. After Jesus' baptism by John, he proclaims the kingdom of God and manifests its miraculous power in the village gatherings of Galilee as the renewal of Israel, over against the Jerusalem priestly establishment and its representatives, the scribes and the Pharisees (chs 1-3). In the first long speech of the Gospel, Jesus then teaches the mysterious plan of the MARK
73kingdom in parables to his disciples and others in the movement (4.134). Jesus continues his program of the renewal of Israel in a sustained program of sea crossings, exorcisms, healings, and wilderness feedings reminiscent of the activities of Moses and Elijah (the great prophets of the past who, respectively, founded and renewed Israel), along with continuing disputes with the scribes and Pharisees (4.35-8.21). In the next step of the story, one framed by healings of blind men that highlights the disciples' misunderstanding, Jesus repeatedly makes that, besides being a new prophet equal in significance to Moses and Elijah in his restoration of covenantal Israel, it is necessary that he carry out the agenda of a martyr-messiah of Israel who must be condemned by the rulers, be killed, and rise again (8.22-10.52). After his dramatic messianic entry into Jerusalem and his provocative prophetic condemnation of the Temple, Jesus confronts the Jerusalem priestly establishment and their representatives (chs 11-12). In a second major speech, Jesus warns the disciples about fanatical misinterpretation of the coming political struggles (ch 13). In the final section of the Gospel, following Jesus' last meal with the disciples and his betrayal and arrest by the rulers' posse, he is accused of treason, blashpemy, and insurrection, condemned, and turned over to Pilate, the Roman governor, who orders him executed by crucifixion (chs 14-15). The Gospel then ends abruptly with the story of the empty tomb and the women's fear (16.1-8). Because the Gospel presents a sustained narrative of escalating conflicts, it should be read as a whole so components are understood in their connection with the overall story. The Gospel of Mark presents Jesus' preaching and manifestation of the kingdom of God as a decisive development in the history of Israel, not as the beginning of a new religion. Indeed, in this story religion is inseparable from the social, political, economic, even the physiological aspects of life. Throughout the Gospel, Jesus is portrayed and presented in terms of popular Israelite memories of the great prophets, especially Moses, who had led Israel's Exodus from subjection to alien rule in Egypt; Elijah, who had led the renewal of Israel in resistance to oppressive monarchs; and Jeremiah, who proclaimed God's judgment on the Temple and the rulers based there. At the beginning, in the middle, and especially toward the end, Mark also presents Jesus as a specially designated son of God, or king. Jesus, however, turns out to MARK
74be a messiah (anointed one) who is also a martyr, in contrast to the disciples' expectations. And Jesus as both prophet and martyr-messiah is pointedly distinguished from the expectations of elite, scribal culture (see esp. 9.11-13; 12-35-37). Although the Gospel is anonymous, an ancient tradition ascribes it to John Mark (mentioned in Acts 12.12; 15.37), who is supposed to have composed it at Rome as a summary of Peter's preaching (see
1Pet 5.13). Modern scholars, however, find little evidence to support this tradition. Mark is by far the shortest of the four canonical Gospels and is generally thought to be the earliest, and to have been used in the composition of both Matthew and Luke. Because of the vague and indefinite references to the destruction of Jerusalem in Mark
13(contrast Mt 22.7; Lk 19.43), the Gospel is thought to have been composed just prior to the widespread Jewish popular revolt that began in
66CE and the Roman reconquest and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in
70CE. The language of the Gospel is that of common spoken Greek. Its style features rapid sequences of brief and vivid concrete episodes linked simply by "and" or "and immediately," often deleted in translation for less awkward reading in English. The narrative often shifts from the past tense into the present tense, enlivening the action. The contents of the Gospel consist mostly of stories about Jesus' actions and disputes with scribes and Pharisees, including some of Jesus' sayings, with two speeches (one mostly of parables) that interrupt the rapid flow of episodes. Mark appears to have drawn upon a rich variety of oral traditions of Jesus' actions and teachings, including chains of miracle stories, sets of parables, and stories of controversies with the Pharisees. The overall narrative weaves several sequences of episodes together into a complex plot with several interrelated themes and conflicts. In the earliest manuscripts, Mark ends abruptly at 16.8. This (apparently original) open ending invites the reader to continue the story of Jesus and the kingdom. In some later manuscripts Mark's story was "completed" with resurrection appearances of amalgamated elements from the other canonical Gospels, to make it conform to their common pattern. MARK 75