Matthew 28

¹¹ While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. ¹² And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers ¹³ and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. ¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It is interesting how different denominations seem to like different Bible verses. Presbyterians really like the verses that talk about covenants. Wesleyan Holiness folk like verses that talk about sanctification. Episcopalians like verses that talk about justice. Reformed Baptists like Romans 9. And Southern Baptists really like John 3:16 and Matthew 28:16–20, or the great salvation verse and The Great Commission verses that establish the missionary mandate of the church.

And it is interesting how human beings can treasure something so much that we miss some obvious and surprising realities that sit right next to the things we treasure.

For example, has it occurred to you that Matthew 28, the last chapter of the book of Matthew, actually contains twoproclamation commissions? And that they are back-to-back? It is true! Just before The Great Commission that ends Matthew’s gospel, there is another commission to go and spread a message. But this first commission is the antithesis of The Great Commission. In fact, we will call in The Shameful Commission.

The Shameful Commission.

By “Shameful Commission” I mean the commission from the chief priests and elders to the guards at the tomb to spread disinformation about the body of Jesus.

¹¹ While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. ¹² And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers ¹³ and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

The guards and the chief priests and elders now find themselves in a most awkward position. Even though the guard had been posted at the tomb, the body of Jesus was gone. This was, for Jesus’ followers, good news. It was anything but for the guards, priests, and elders.

What to do with this turn of events? Tellingly, money is introduced into these events once again. The soldiers are given “a sufficient sum of money.” Sufficient for what? Sufficient to buy their silence about what had actually happened.

Craig Keener writes:

Like Judas (26:15), the guards act partly on mercenary motives; the bribe and the potential penalty they face for allowing Jesus’ body to disappear ensures their cooperation. (The officials’ promise to protect the guards from Pilate may involve more bribery; despite Roman policy, Pilate is known to have been susceptible to this form of persuasion.)[1]

Then, The Shameful Commission. They are instructed to tell people that the disciples stole Jesus’ body by night “while we were asleep.” This, of course, would raise very obvious questions from the discerning listener. “Why were you asleep? How was that huge stone rolled away so quietly that it did not wake you?” Furthermore, Stanley Hauerwas points out:

They are clearly becoming desperate, because this is not a convincing story. If the guards were asleep, how would they know that the body was stolen or that the body had been stolen by his disciples?[2]

Yes, these are awkward questions, but, given the circumstances, what were those who were trying to conceal the truth to do? “Repent,” would be one answer, but that does not happen. Instead, we get further conspiracy.

“So they took the money and did as they were directed.” What a pitiful sentence. Behold the shame of man!

This is why we should see this commission as “shameful.” It is a tainted commission. It is tainted by fear, sin, dishonesty, injustice, bribery, greed, and deceit.

Let us consider further the nature of The Shameful Commission.

• It was a commission that involved a monetary bribe to conceal the truth.
• It was a commission to tell a lie.
• It was a commission to publish the news that Jesus was still dead and the disciples were criminals.
• It was a commission that promised political protection should the truth come out.
• It was a commission to spread bad news.
• It was a commission that gave no hope.

In principle, this brings to mind the so-called Unholy Trinity of the book of Revelation 13, the members of which are Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. The principle being that the devil can only mimic in the dark what the Lord does in the light. In Revelation, he has his Unholy Trinity. Here, he has his Shameful Commission.

It is not the only way that the devil offers his diabolical alternatives to the things of God. Randy Johnson has pointed to J.O. Sander’s list of examples of the devil’s imitations.

• He has his own church – “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9).
• He has his own ministers – “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough” (2 Corinthians 11:4).
• He has his own sacrificial system – “No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons” (1 Corinthians 10:20).
• He has his own communion service – “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:21).
• He has his own throne – “And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority” (Revelation 13:2).
• He employs false teachers – “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1).
• His ministers proclaim his own gospel – “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6-9).[3]

How chilling! How absurd! How blasphemous!

The devil cannot create. The devil can only pervert. And with this Shameful Commission, we see this truth revealed in stunning depravity.

The Great Commission.

Yet the devil’s perversions are pale and pitiful things before the Lord’s great acts. The Great Commission is one of those great acts! Here, the Lord sends His followers out into the world as heralds of good news! Watch:

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What a beautiful contrast this is to The Shameful Commission. Here, the risen Christ commissions His followers—then and now—to take the good news to the nations. We do so under and with the authority of Jesus Christ. We are called to make “disciples,” not merely converts to a new idea. We are called, in other words, to make Jesus-followers, apprentices of Jesus. And the church is called to baptize these Jesus-followers in the name of our Triune God. What is more, we are called to call the nations to obedience to the way of Jesus, again, not merely to an idea about Jesus.

The commission comes with a final promise: the presence of Jesus. We do not go out on our own. We go out in the name of and with the presence of Jesus!

Some have questioned whether or not the Commission is applicable to our day, to Christians today. It is simply hard to imagine how it could not be, and that for an obvious reason: Part of the Great Commission is teaching the nations “to observe all that I have commanded you.” But the Great Commission itself is part of what Christ has commanded us. So this too must be obeyed! Saying that The Great Commission is not applicable to the church today creates a very real absurdity. It would be as if Jesus said: “Go into the whole world and teach the new disciples to obey everything that I commanded you to do…except this commandment…which is the only way you went to them in the first place! So do not tell them to do the one thing that enabled you to go to them to tell them to obey all that I commanded you!”

No, that is absurd. The gospel is to be shared by the church until Jesus returns.

Let us consider the nature of this Great Commission and how it contrasts with The Shameful Commission.

• It was a commission that needed no monetary motivation.
• It was a commission to tell the simple truth.
• It was a commission to publish the good news that the crucified Christ is alive and is coming again.
• It was a commission of joy, not of fear.
• It was a commission of revelation, not of concealment.
• It was a commission to spread the good news.

Once again, the devil’s imitations and mockeries look weak and silly before the reality of God’s great works.

The Great Commission is a call to a great privilege, to a great adventure! The church is the primary way that the good news gets to the nations! We are called to call! We are called to call upon the nations to come to King Jesus. We are heralds, town criers. And what we herald is good news that the nations desperately need to hear!

Church, take the gospel to the nations! Do not, even passively, participate in the silencing of the good news. Rather, let it go forth from our own lips, and let there be no confusion about our message: Jesus is alive! Jesus reigns! Jesus is coming again! Come to Jesus now!

 

[1] Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (IVP Bible Background Commentary Set) (p. 124). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

[2] Hauerwas, Stanley. Matthew. (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006), p.247.

[3] https://www.theriverchurch.cc/revelation/revelation-lesson-13/