Catholic Commentary on Matthew 28

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

The Empty Tomb

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week is dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to look at the tomb. There is a violent earthquake: an angel of the Lord descends from heaven, rolls back the stone, and sits on it. His appearance is like lightning, his clothes white as snow. The guards shake and become like dead men. The angel speaks to the women: Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead. They leave quickly with fear and great joy and run to tell his disciples. On the way, Jesus himself meets them. They clasp his feet and worship him. He says: Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. The Resurrection is the most attested and most contested event in history, and the contest has not ended. The guards are paid to say the disciples stole the body. The women are told to go and tell. The two responses to the empty tomb have characterised every generation since.

The Great Commission

The eleven disciples go to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they see him they worship him, but some doubted. The doubt is not edited out. Matthew includes it because the Great Commission is given in the presence of doubt, not in the absence of it. The risen Lord approaches and speaks: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. This is the foundational charter of the Church's missionary activity, built on a Trinitarian foundation. The Catechism states that the missionary mandate is not an option for a spiritual elite but the vocation of the whole Church and of every baptised person (CCC 849). Every Christian is sent. The only question is to whom and in what form.

I Am with You Always

The Gospel of Matthew began with a name: Immanuel, God with us. It ends with a promise that fulfils that name: And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. The presence localised in the carpenter's son in Nazareth, the presence that walked the roads of Galilee and died on a hill outside Jerusalem, is now universalised. He is with every baptised person, in every nation, in every century, to the very end of time. St. Augustine wrote that these final words are not merely a farewell consolation but a theological statement: the mission can only succeed because the one who commands it accompanies it. We go nowhere alone.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, Matthew's Gospel ends not with a theology but with a sending and a promise. You are sent. To your family, your neighbourhood, your workplace, your country. You are sent to make disciples, to baptise, to teach. And the one who sends you goes with you: to the very end of the age, in every nation, in every situation. You are never alone in the mission. Immanuel, God with us, is the beginning and the end of everything Matthew has written.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, risen from the dead, all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to you. Send us in your name to make disciples of all nations. May the Trinitarian name into which we were baptised be the name in which we live and serve and speak. And keep your promise: be with us always, to the very end of the age. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.