Reading the account of the crucifixion at a time other than Easter, is particularly moving. This story is not for a specific holiday. It's everyday. Christ's sacrifice and the salvation He brings are daily offerings. How often I overlook and forget what He's done in the midst of all that I need to get done. I'm grateful that we will be reading the gospel story three more times in Mark, Luke and John. After reading the Old Testament buildup and then reading the fulfillment of so many prophecies, I need more time to soak in the "good news."
There are different responses to the good news of Jesus' appearance in chapter 28. The women are "deep in wonder and full of joy" (28:8). Some of the disciples worshiped him "the moment they saw him" (28:17). "Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally" (28:17). I'm grateful that Matthew recorded these variances. To me, it illustrates that not everyone needed to have the same response. Jesus went right ahead giving them all the same charge, what we commonly call the Great Commission. He was "undeterred" by the lack of unity in their initial behaviors and authorized them all to go out and promised all of them that He would be with them "day after day, right up to the end of the age."
Jesus wasn't holding their cowardly abandonment of him against them. (And they all ran away when He was arrested.) And now, He isn't chiding them for their worship or for holding back. He knew their future - that most of them would go on to sacrifice their lives to spread the Gospel. He saw their impending suffering and knew that they would eventually get the significance of all He had said and done.
So, right now, when He could have said "I told you so" or given a smart-aleck response to the pain they had caused Him, Jesus replies with a statement of belief in them. Not because of who they are, but because of Who He is and His plan to love the world through them.
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