Read Matthew 28:16-20
This is our final reading from Matthew, and it is a very short but very dense passage. We are going to work our way through it carefully line by line.
v16:
Why do you think Jesus has them meet him on a mountain? (Can you think of other events in Matthew's gospel that took place on mountains? Or other key events in the story of the bible?)
v17:
What is the significance of Jesus's closest disciples worshipping him? And why would some doubt (or hesitate) on this point?
v18:
How does Jesus respond to their worship (however hesitant)?
What has changed about him now that He has been raised again?
Read Daniel 7:13-14
How does Jesus fulfil this ancient prophesy in his resurrection?
v19-20a:
Jesus' commission to his disciples begins with the word 'therefore' - how does this commission connect to the authority of the resurrected Jesus?
Jesus and his eleven disciples are all Jewish. What is significant about the call to "make disciples of all nations"? And how does this relate to Daniel 7:13-14?
How do the two activities 'baptising' and 'teaching' encapsulate the process of 'making disciples'?
Why must disciples be baptised in the name of the Trinity?
What were the 'commands' of Jesus that his disciples must be taught to obey?
As those who inherit this commission as Jesus followers in the wake of the first eleven, how do we join in the work of making disciples? (Be as practical as you can in your answers!)
v20b:
How did the presence of Jesus, "always, to the very end of the age," impact on the disciple-making efforts of the first Christians?
And how does it impact on you? Share some stories of this in your own walk with Jesus.
N.T. Wright writes:
But Jesus never leaves people simply with a list of commands to keep. The three instructions he has given are held in place by the promises at the beginning and end of the passage. The reason we are to do these things is because he already possesses all authority; the promise which sustains us in the task is that he is with us always and for ever. He is, as we have said, the Emmanuel. God-with-us turns into Jesus-with-us. There is no greater personal promise than that.
Spend some time praying for one another, and for our church, that we would be disciples who are devoted to the work of making disciples, under the authority of our Lord and God Jesus, filled with His Presence by His Spirit.