For teachers of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Matthew 28 for April 5, 2026. Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, discussion questions for your group, illustrations you can share, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Can you share a time when you visited a grave — either of a loved one, or perhaps some famous person?”

(In England in 2010, Cheryl & our son Michael & I visited the grave of C.S. Lewis in Oxford, England. It’s in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church in Oxford, which we had gone into, and sat in Lewis’ pew. It was neat to sit right there where Lewis had sat for worship (and complained about the hymns!). Lewis’ grave is shared with his brother Warnie, and it has a quote from Shakespeare, “Men must endure their going hence.”)

You/your group can share your own experiences, and then transition by saying: In today’s lesson from Matthew 28, we’ll see how two of Jesus’ followers went to visit HIS grave — but it went far differently than they expected, as we celebrate this Easter Sunday! 

CONTEXT:

We left off with Matthew 18 in our continuing our study in the Book of Matthew, with a lesson on the importance of forgiving others, as an evidence that we truly understand our own forgiveness. Since it’s Easter Sunday, Lifeway traditionally takes a “break” from the usual lesson sequence, to have a lesson on the resurrection of Jesus, so today we “skip ahead” to Matthew 28, which shares that story.

Matthew 27 tells of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, and it opens with two of the women who had been there at His death, coming back to visit the grave. Would they have a story to tell! And that’s the point of this lesson: ALL of us as Jesus followers have a story to share because of what happened this day!

OUTLINE:

I.   The Resurrection of Jesus (:1-6)

II.  The Immediate Response (:7-10)

III. The Great Commission (:16-20)

TEXT:   Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20

I. The Resurrection of Jesus (:1-6)

:1 “Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.”

Verse 1 begins with the women, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” coming to look at Jesus’ grave. These two had been devoted to Jesus:

— Matthew 27:61 says that when Joseph of Arimathea had buried Jesus, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” (same wording as here, she was “the mother of James and Joseph, 27:56 says) were sitting opposite of Jesus’ grave. So they just “kept watch” for a bit, mourning and sitting by where He lay, as an act of love. 

— They were now following up on this the next morning. Mark 16:1 says they were bringing spices to anoint Jesus’ body. 

ILLUSTRATION

This act of love and mourning on their part reminds me of a story about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. After he was shot, with his life slowing ebbing away, the attending Doctor Leale wrote later, “Laura Keene (British actress who had the lead in the play they were watching at Ford’s Theater that night)  appealed to me to allow her to hold the President’s head. I granted this request, and she sat on the floor of the box and held his head in her lap.” (Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years, p. 711)

Ms. Keene’s act there is something like the love and devotion that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary showed to Jesus here at His tomb. But unlike Lincoln’s death, Jesus’ story would end very differently, as we see in the next verses, where the angel appears to the women with the unexpected announcement.

Verse 2 says there had been a severe earthquake, an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled away the stone and sat on it (which I’ve always felt was a sign of victory: “You think this stone is so powerful? I’m sitting on it, in total disregard of its so-called authority!”) 

Interestingly, :3 says the angel is so intimidating that the Roman guard “shook for fear” and “became like dead men” — but then :5 says: “The angel said to the women …” (who did NOT faint from fear! Maybe it was the fear of his sudden appearance, which the women did not see. Maybe God gave them a special grace. I just think it’s interesting that the men fainted, and the women did not!)

What did the angel say? Several things about his message here:

1. He told them not to be afraid. Fear is evidently a typical human response. But we’ve seen repeatedly in recent weeks that the Lord does not want us to be afraid. The angel, of course, was speaking of their immediate response to the disturbed tomb, and the awesome appearance of the angel. But in a greater sense, the resurrection of Jesus would make this message “do not be afraid” more powerful and more widely applicable than just to these two women. Because Jesus has risen from the grave, followers of Jesus literally need fear nothing!  I think of how bold Peter & John and the Apostles were after Jesus’ resurrection, they did not fear the Jewish authorities. It’s one of the great arguments for the truth of Jesus’ resurrection: what transformed these men from cowards (Peter denying Jesus 3 times) into such bold men, who unafraid of worldly authorities and even death?).

It’s like the song says: “Because He Lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone …”. That is exactly true. Because Jesus rose from the grave, those words “do not be afraid” gained all power, for millions of followers of the risen Christ. 

ILLUSTRATION

Dr. Younghoon Kim has the world’s highest I.Q. and he recently proclaimed to the world that “Jesus Christ is God.” Recently he wrote on Twitter:

“I am receiving death threats for preaching Jesus Christ. But I will not live in fear. God is with me, and He is my protector. No threat can silence the truth. No fear can overcome faith. I will keep speaking the name of Jesus Christ.” (X post, March 22, 2026)

Dr. Kim is receiving death threats for his faith in Christ, but he will not back down. He said he will not live in fear. Because Christ is risen, His believers do not need to fear anything.

DISCUSSION/APPLICATION: to help your group apply this you might ask them:

??? “What are some things we might tend to fear, and how does the Resurrection of Jesus help us to confront that fear?” ???

(— For example, if we are afraid of death, Jesus’ resurrection tells us we don’t need to fear, because death will only usher us into eternal life in glory with Christ!

— Or another example: perhaps we fear losing our health, or our material possessions. But because of the resurrection of Christ, we know we have a new perfect body awaiting us with Him, and “an inheritance imperishable” stored up in heaven (I Peter 1:4).

And so on. You/your group can share your examples and How Christ’s resurrection gives us hope in every situation.)

2. In :6 he says: “He has risen, just as He said …”. These words “JUST AS HE SAID” are important. Jesus’ resurrection didn’t “just happen.” As powerful as that is, it is even more powerful and impactful because it was PROPHESIED BEFOREHAND that it would happen! How was this prophesied beforehand? In two ways:

— Old Testament Scriptures, like Psalm 16:10, “You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay;” Hosea 6:2, ““He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day,” and the example of Jonah, which Jesus Himself referenced.

— JESUS HIMSELF: How many times in the Gospels had Jesus told His disciples that He would rise from the dead? But they just didn’t “get it.”

– We studied a couple of weeks ago in Matthew 16:21 where, after Peter confesses Jesus is the Christ, “From that time [a]Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”

– He does it again after the Transfiguration (17:22-23); After Mark’s version of the Transfiguration, he writes: “As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. (And then Mark 9:10 which says the disciples discussed with one another “what rising from the dead meant”)

– Again in Matthew 20:“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”

– Matthew 26:32 (in between the Lord’s Supper and the Gethsemane) “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

So at least these FOUR TIMES in Matthew (and in the other Gospels at these times as well) Jesus tells His disciples that He will rise again from the dead.

ILLUSTRATION: you might use the illustration of how in pool, or playing “HORSE” in basketball, you have to “call it” — you have to say, in advance, the actual shot you are going to make, so they know that what you did wasn’t a lucky accident. You have to “call it.” 

Well, Jesus definitely “called” His resurrection didn’t He? It wasn’t just something that “happened to happen,” He “called it.” He announced it before hand. He rose again “JUST AS HE SAID” — giving all the more power and authority to who He is and what He did! (And it’s interesting that the JEWS took His words seriously: they guarded the tomb because they remembered He said He’d rise again! But His own disciples just didn’t get it!)

3. He added “Come see the place where He was lying.” There was an empty tomb there, which testified to Jesus’ resurrection. And there still is! 

We talked about visiting graves of famous people earlier, but we don’t visit the grave of Jesus — only the EMPTY TOMB! Because He rose from the dead. 

ILLUSTRATION

Joe McKeever, well-known for his cartoons in the Baptist Press, writes: “When my friends Jim and Darlene Graham were in Istanbul, their tour group was showing them relics of Mohammed–a hank of hair and part of his sandal. 

At the conclusion, the guide said, “Now, you Christians–where are your Jesus’ relics?” 

Someone in the back of the group said, ‘As for his hair, it’s still on His head. He’s still alive!”  (Joe McKeever, Facebook post 4/03/23)

This is not an insignificant thing. This is one of the primary things that separates Jesus from every other world religious figure: He rose from the dead. This was God’s distinguishing mark upon His Son. So often people will shrug and say things like “with all the different religions, how can you tell which one is right?” as if there were no way to know. But there IS a way you can tell: God raised His Son from the dead.  Romans 1:4 says He was “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.” The resurrection was God’s powerful way of proclaiming, that of all the so-called gods and religious figures of all time, “THIS ONE is My Beloved Son! I raised Him from the dead.” 

II. The Immediate Response (:7-10)

“7 “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus *said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

So after the angel shared the good news of Jesus’ resurrection with them, he told them to go and tell Jesus’ disciples, and that they were to meet Him in Galilee. I don’t how much prodding they needed — it says “they left the tomb quickly” and “ran to report it” to His disciples. Of course, they “ran” because they were so excited to share this new. We can imagine how they felt, as we’ve all had good news to share before. 

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Can you share a time when you had such good news that you made a big fuss telling people about it?”

(For example, after the birth of one of our babies, I remember I was so excited I just told people on the street as I passed: “We just had a baby today!” It was ridiculous, really, but it was because I was so excited about it!)

You/your group can share your own stories like that. And then say, This is how the ladies were here. They RAN to share this good news about Jesus!

But :9 says their trip was interrupted: by Jesus Himself! “And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them”! I love their RESPONSE OF WORSHIP in the second part of :9:

“they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” 

The description of their response includes two things:

— They “took hold of His feet.” This is a humbling act. Remember, in those days, the feet were considered to be the most undesirable part of the body. They wore sandals — as they trudged through sand and dirt and mire — this is why servants would wash their feet as they entered a home. But these women “took hold of His feet” — they humbled themselves to take the least prominent part of His body. (Kind of reminds me of John the Baptist’s statement in Matthew 3:11: “I am not fit to remove His sandals.” I’m not worthy to take the dirtiest shoe off His feet.) This is the kind of humility we should have towards the Lord. We humble ourselves before Him.

— “And worshiped Him.” “Worship” here is the Greek “proskuneo.” This common word for worship is very picturesque:“Pros” = “against,” and “kuon,” is actually from “dog” — and it conveys the picture of a dog licking the hand of his master! It can be roughly translated “kissing towards.” “Proskunesis” actually became a technical word in the ancient Eastern part of the word, for bowing down before a King or Emperor, and kissing their ring, or kissing their feet. It is the worship expected for a great King or ruler. And that is fitting for the way we should respond to Jesus: we should bow before Him and worship Him the way we would worship before a King. HE IS THE KING! He is the Ruler of the Universe. He created it all, He redeemed us, He rose from the dead, and He sits on the throne of the Universe. “Jesus is King” is becoming a popular expression these days, and He certainly is — and we should worship Him the way we would worship a King. He is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” (Rev. 19:16)

And then notice what Jesus said to them:

— “Do not be afraid” — there it is AGAIN! How many times does He have to tell us?!

— And He reiterated the message of the angel, for His disciples to go and meet Him in Galilee. BUT notice just how He expressed it: He said, “take word to my BRETHREN …”. How amazing that Jesus would call them (and us!) “My brethren.” Not “My slaves,” or “My followers,” but “My brethren.” 

It’s like Hebrews 2:17, “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things.” Romans 8:16 says “the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” and Jesus said “Whoever does the will of My Father is my brother …”. So scripture makes it clear, that by His grace, we are God’s children, and Jesus’ brothers and sisters, and as we talked about in Matthew 17, we will share in His glory! Don’t take that too far; we are not “little gods,” as some heretics teach, but it is an unfathomable privilege that God has so adopted us into His family! And Jesus calls them — and us — His “brothers”! Just another foretaste of the glory to come!

III. The Great Commission (:16-20)

:16 “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The “But” that starts :16 refers to the story in between our two Lifeway “focus passages,” in :11-15, which tells the story of the Roman soldiers, who were paid by the Jews to say that someone stole Jesus’ body while they were asleep. So “But” (as opposed to the Roman soldiers deception) Jesus’ eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to meet Him. It doesn’t say WHAT mountain, just “the mountain that Jesus had designated.”

On that mountain Jesus said to them: :18 “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

“Authority” is “exousia,” which means authority, right, domain, power. And notice it is “ALL” authority! Jesus has all power, all authority. There is no name, no authority, no power higher than His. As Philippians 2:9-10 says, God “highly exalted Him, and bestowed upon Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow …”.

There is no greater authority.

There is no higher name.

There is no stronger power.

There is no better word.

We can serve the Lord Jesus with all confidence. “All authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to Him — and we are His disciples! We should be as bold and powerful as Peter and the disciples in Acts, in carrying out His orders.

ILLUSTRATION

In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan began his circumnavigation of the globe. His sailors were “governed by the Consulado del Mare, the Spanish maritime code that had been in existence — and in force — for several centuries before it was formally completed in 1494. The code described approved methods for hiring and paying sailors, and spelled out the ordinary seaman’s exhausting chores … In addition, a sailor was bound to go wherever the captain ordered even ‘to the end of the world.’ So, under the Consulado, Magellan had the right to take his crew wherever he wished, all the way to the Spice Islands and even beyond.”  (Laurence Bergreen, Over the Edge of the World, p. 116)

This is the authority which Jesus has over us, to command us however He wishes. And so what does this Risen Lord, with all authority, tell us to do? We see here in this “Great Commission,” in which He famously gives us ONE imperative, with THREE participles which tell us how to fulfill that command. 

— The IMPERATIVE: “Make Disciples”

Significantly, the imperative here is NOT “GO,” as many think it to be. The imperative/command in Greek is “make disciples. This is our main business as Christians and churches. Also significantly, Jesus didn’t say “make converts”: get people to raise their hand or sign a card. He said make “disciples”: make followers who are truly “denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following Him” as He taught in Matthew 16. 

Then He gave us three participles which describe how we are to carry out this command:

1) The first participle is “Going …”. This goes along with what He said about making disciples “of ALL nations”!

His disciples were not just to stay where they were; they were to actively take the message to the world. And they DID:

Church history and tradition tells us the apostles died thus:

— Peter: Crucified upside down in Rome.

— Andrew: Crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece.

— James (Son of Zebedee): Beheaded in Jerusalem.

— John: Died of natural causes in Ephesus (modern Turkey).

— Philip: Crucified in Hierapolis, Asia Minor.

— Bartholomew: Flayed alive and beheaded in Armenia.

— Matthew: Killed by a sword or spear in Ethiopia.

— Thomas: Speared to death in India.

— James (Son of Alphaeus): Stoned and clubbed to death in Jerusalem.

— Jude/Thaddeus: Killed with arrows or axes in Persia.

— Simon the Zealot: Martyred in Persia.

NOTICE HOW MANY OF THESE WERE IN FOREIGN FIELDS!

They didn’t stay where they were. They took the gospel to all nations.

Here’s an application: WE ARE NOT TO STAY WHERE WE ARE EITHER! We too are to take the message of Jesus to our “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8).  As missions advocates teach us, we can support missions by 1) giving, 2) praying, and 3) going. And don’t write off #3 too quickly. If we travel for any other purpose, we should be willing to travel to share Christ. (And don’t forget: “going” can mean go across the street, or across the hallway at work. You can do it right where you are.) Missions should be at the heart of every Christian church, and of every Christian personally. 

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION???

“What are some ways that we personally, and that our church as a body, have been/are involved in obeying the Great Commission and taking the gospel to the nations?”

2) The second participle: “Baptizing them”

As you may know, this Greek Bible word “Baptizo” literally means “to dip.” It was used in ancient Greek literature of a ship that was sunk, or a piece of clothing that was immersed in dye. It means to put under the water. Baptism does not save us, but rather it is the outward sign of the inward commitment of a believer to the Lord, and a picture of His cleansing of their heart. As we see here, it is the FIRST ACT OF OBEDIENCE that Jesus asks us to make as His followers: “Make disciples, baptizing them …”. Look at the Book of Acts; when people were saved, they were baptized. So when we truly give our lives to Christ, we should be baptized: by immersion (which is what the word means), following our profession of faith in Christ, as a symbol only (it does not save) and “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” — the Triune God, as Jesus commands here. Encourage your group members, if they have not been scripturally baptized, with all 4 of these elements, they should talk to the pastor today and commit to do it. 

ILLUSTRATION: 

Adoniram Judson was the first American overseas missionary in the 1700s, who, while reading the Greek Testament on his way to India, converted to baptism by immersion:

“To believe in Christ is necessary to salvation; and to be baptized is the instituted method of professing our belief. It is, therefore, not only an infinitely important question to all men, whether they believe in Christ; but it is also a very important question to all Christians, whether they have been baptized.” (Judson, p. 95). 

Judson went on to say, “If you love Christ, you cannot consider this question unimportant.”  

3) The third participle: “Teaching them”

Notice some specifics of Jesus’ command to “teach” them: 

— “ALL that I commanded you” — we aren’t to teach “some” of what He taught the disciples, but ALL of His commandments. We find these of course in the four Gospels themselves, and then in the Apostles’ explanations and applications of His commands in the letters of the New Testament. Let’s teach it all! (This is one of the reasons I love the “Explore the Bible” series; over time it takes us through all of God’s word.)

— “to OBSERVE all that I commanded you”!

We aren’t just to teach people the “content” of Jesus’ words; we are teach them to OBEY it; to DO it!  Just learning or even memorizing the whole New Testament is not enough. We have to DO it! And Jesus has instructed us to teach others to DO it! 

(This is a good word for us as Sunday School teachers! Don’t just teach your class Bible “facts.” You can teach your group all about Bible history, and geography, and ancient customs, until they are experts in the field. But if you don’t teach them to DO what Jesus said, you have failed in your mission! We are to teach our people to DO what Jesus said. This is why I always suggest APPLICATIONS for each lesson. We need to know how to apply His word to our lives today. If we don’t, we’ve missed the point. 

Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7, that the one who hears His words “and acts upon them” may be compared to a wise man who built his house upon the rock. Coming to Sunday School or church and hearing the word or just learning facts is NOT “building our house upon the rock.” Only learning to DO what He said, is “building our house upon the rock.” So every week, we need to ask yourselves and and your class, How do we apply this? What can we do to live this out in our lives today? 

ILLUSTRATION

Harry Truman was once asked about his religious beliefs. He said he grew up going to the Presbyterian church, but was now a Baptist. He said he was only a “reasonably good Baptist as the term was understood in Grandview” (Missouri where he grew up) but, he said: “I am by religion like everything else. I think there’s more in acting than in talking.’’ (David McCullough, Truman, p. 83)

That’s exactly what Jesus is telling us here, too. Don’t just be “talking disciples” — we all know people who are always talking about religion. But, Jesus said, like Harry Truman, I want you to be “ACTING disciples”: “teach them to DO all that I command you.” And that goes for this “Great Commission,” too, by the way. Don’t let it be something we just “talk about” in Sunday School — but something we DO, as individuals, and as a church! If we don’t, James 1 says, we’re just deceiving ourselves. 

And then Jesus closes with the final word of assurance: “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Just like David could “walk through the valley of the shadow of death, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME,” so the same Jesus who was David’s Shepherd, will walk with us. We are not fulfilling this Commission alone, but with HIS power and presence with us, through His Holy Spirit. 

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