November 25th, 2023

You made it! This Sunday is entitled, quite famously I might add, the ‘Last Sunday of the Church Year’. And with this writing are finishing our look at what is infamously known as the Gospel according to Matthew.

For the last three weeks, the Gospel Reading has been from what is known as the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew [with this Sunday’s text being Matthew 25:31-46]. With a slightly different pace on this website, our reading is the last few verses of the entire account, what is typically called Matthew 28:11-20. At the end of the previous week’s translation, Jesus had just appeared to the two women who were going away from the empty tomb. And now we hear what happens after that.

These last few verses of this account contain some very familiar things that have happened, but they may be translated below in an unfamiliar way, since the translation below is quite literal. Please feel free to look at other bibles to help with your understanding of the text. This is an important amount of information. As was mentioned with last week’s writing, this is the Jesus—the Savior—who is STILL alive today. And here is an attempt at a somewhat-literal translation of the end of this gospel account:

Now going, they [the women], behold, some of the custodian, having gone into the city, they announced to the arch-priests all the things having happened.

And having been assembled with the elders, and consultation having taken, silver, enough, they gave to the soldiers, saying, “Tell that the disciples of him, in night having come, they stole him, we sleeping. And if it is heard, this, before the governor, we ourselves will persuade him, and you, non-anxious, we will make.” Now the ones, having taken the silver, they did as they were taught. And it was spread throughout, the word, this, among Jews, until the today—day.

Now the eleven disciples went into the Galilee, into the mountain of which he appointed them, the Jesus, and having seen him, they worshipped, now the ones doubted. And having approached, the Jesus, he spoke to them, saying, “It was given to me, all authority in heaven and upon the earth. Therefore, having gone, disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all things whatever I commanded you; and, behold, I myself with you, am, all the days, until the completion of the age.

You may have noticed a contrast between the above two events, that of the enemies of the gospel, that their story was taught to others, and that story has continued ‘until the today—day’. And then there is the teachings of Jesus that will continue, and that he will continue with them ‘all the days, until the completion of the age’. Those two groups are not unlike the two groups of people that are presented within the gospel reading for this Sunday, that of Jesus separating the sheep from the goats. Both groups have a story to tell. And both stories focus on Jesus. But both groups end up in significantly different places.

Non-Christians are also taught. And those who do the teaching of the non-Christians may promise that, because of this teaching, they will be ‘non-anxious’. But such a small perspective on life does not match how this world came into being and, even more importantly, how the world was saved with such a significant action from God.
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Thanks be to God for the Gospel according to Matthew! From beginning to end, Jesus is portrayed as a very special man, a God-man. His genealogy is laid out. His special birth and the giving of his special name are mentioned. He travels. He does some miracles, but they are certainly not the focus. He does speak a lot of words. And as he guides those words, he is guided by his heavenly Father to make a sacrifice in the place for the sins of all.

It is amazing that words about that God-man Jesus are written down in basically all the major languages of the world. That makes sense since the eleven were told to disciple all the nations. And thanks be to God that we are included in that as well.