The Bible Book

274

F

or the 40 days following

His resurrection, Jesus

spends time with His

disciples, teaching them about

the significance of His death and

resurrection, and preparing them

for the future. On the evening of

His resurrection, He had told

them, “As the Father has sent

me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

Although they have spent three

years traveling with Jesus, only

now do they begin to appreciate

what He is asking them to do. In

the past, He had sent them out to

neighboring villages and towns

to tell people about the kingdom of

God that would soon be arriving

through Jesus (Luke 9:1–6). Now,

IN BRIEF

PA S SAGE

Matthew 28:16–20

THEME

Spreading the good news

SETTING

c. 29 ce Around Galilee

and Judea, during the

40 days following Jesus’s

resurrection.

KEY FIGURES

Jesus The risen Jesus,

who is both familiar and

unfamiliar to His disciples.

He is often recognized by

His actions or His words, or

when He performs miracles.

Peter A member of Jesus’s

inner circle of disciples and

often a spokesman for the

other disciples.

The other disciples The

remaining 10 disciples.

GO AND MAKE

DISCIPLES

OF ALL

NATIONS

MATTHEW 28:19, THE GREAT COMMISSION

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275

See also: The Calling of the Disciples 200–03 ■ Peter’s Denial 256–57 ■

The Road to Emmaus 272–73 ■ The Word Spreads 288–89

however, He is sending them out

on a permanent mission that would

last the rest of their lives. Jesus

understands that it will take some

persuasion to transform the fearful

disciples into bold ambassadors for

His message and tells them that

the Holy Spirit will support them.

Inspiration at Galilee

At the end of the Passover festival,

the disciples return to Galilee,

where they had first met Jesus,

and had been called to follow Him.

Peter decides to go fishing and

several disciples accompany him.

They catch nothing all night, but

as morning breaks, they turn

toward the shore and see a man

on the beach. He calls out to them,

“Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they reply. He tells them to

throw the net out to the right of the

boat. Miraculously, when they do

so, the net fills with so many fish

that it nearly breaks. One of the

disciples exclaims, “It is the Lord!”

Peter immediately jumps out of the

boat and wades to the shore, and

the other disciples follow in the

vessel, towing the net full of fish.

On the shore, Jesus has already

prepared a “fire of burning coals”

with fish and bread on it. He

asks them to bring a few more

fish and they all sit down to eat

breakfast together.

After breakfast, Jesus turns to

Peter and asks him, “Do you truly

love me?” Peter says that he does.

Then Jesus says, “Feed my lambs.”

Twice more, Jesus repeats the ❯❯

THE GOSPELS

The Ascension

Forty days after Jesus’s

resurrection, He summons

His disciples to a hillside

near Bethany, just outside

Jerusalem. As He blesses

and commissions them, He

is “taken up before their very

eyes” and hidden from sight

by a cloud (Acts 1:9). His

ascension is the end of His

earthly ministry; Christians

understand that He now

ministers in God’s presence,

praying for His disciples to

receive His Spirit and go out

and gather more followers.

Aspects of the ascension are

familiar. The hill is a reminder

of the mountain where Moses

received God’s Law, the cloud

is a visible image of God’s

presence during the Exodus

journey from Egypt, and

Heaven was long perceived

as a physical realm above

the Earth. Theologically, the

significance of such imagery is

to emphasize Jesus’s divinity.

The Ascension of Christ (1884)

painted by the Polish artist Jan

Matejko shows Christ in a cloud

known as an “aureola,” often used

by artists to depict God or Christ.

The risen Christ appearing to His

disciples in the 40 days before His

ascension is depicted on a colorful,

carved wooden frieze in the Cathedral

of Notre Dame, Paris, France.

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