8 - Matthew 28.16–20: the presence of the risen Jesus

Summary

The final words of the First Gospel are a promise uttered by the risen Jesus to ‘the Eleven’:

καί ἰδοὺ ἐγὠ μεθ' ύμων εἰμι πάσας τἀς ἡμέρας ἕως της συντελείς του αἰωνος

They conclude Matthew's account in 28.16–20 of Jesus' post-Easter appearance to his disciples on a Galilean mountain. This carefully crafted climax brings together several major strands of the story, including: mountain as a locus of christological significance; the manner and meaning of the risen Jesus' appearance; the disciples' obedience, worship and doubt; Jesus' claim to reception of divine authority; making disciples as a universal commission; baptism in the triadic name as ritual initiation into the community; the centrality of Jesus' ἐντολαί for the community; and the promise of his risen, continuous presence with his commissioned disciples.

Thus it is claimed that the last pericope of Matthew contains in nuce the essence of the Gospel; it provides the ‘abstract’ for Matthew's ‘dissertation’, but more, it is, in rhetorical and theological terms, both a digest and telos of the work. Michel's assertion that the conclusion ‘is the key to the understanding of the whole book’ has some merit.