The Appearances and the Great Commission

Luke tells that on the day the tomb was found empty two disciples, one of them named Cleopas, were walking to the village of Emmaus. A stranger joined them and explained from Moses and the prophets that the Christ had to suffer. At table he took bread, gave thanks and broke it; they recognised Jesus, and he vanished. They hurried back to Jerusalem and were told, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” (Luke 24:13–35). While they were speaking Jesus stood among them. He showed them his hands and feet and ate a piece of fish in front of them. He said that repentance and forgiveness of sins were to be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:36–47).

John sets a meeting on the same evening behind locked doors. Jesus showed the disciples his hands and his side and said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” (John 20:19–23). Thomas was absent and said that he would not believe unless he touched the wounds. Eight days later Jesus came again and offered them to him, and Thomas answered, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:24–29).

Two accounts are set in Galilee. In John, seven disciples fishing on the Sea of Galilee see Jesus on the shore at daybreak and haul in a great catch at his word. After breakfast he asks Peter three times whether he loves him, and three times charges him to feed his lambs and tend his sheep (John 21:1–17). In Matthew the eleven go to a mountain in Galilee. They worship him, though not without doubt. He says: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” and promises to be with them always (Matthew 28:16–20).

Paul’s list is usually dated earliest. Writing in the 50s, he names appearances to Cephas, to the twelve, to more than five hundred at once, most of them still alive, to James, to all the apostles and last to himself (1 Corinthians 15:5–8). The appearance to Peter alone is mentioned by Paul and by Luke, and neither narrates it (Luke 24:34). The closing verses of Mark in most Bibles add a short summary: to Mary Magdalene, to two walking in the country, to the eleven at table (Mark 16:9–14). Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest manuscripts, does not have these verses (Codex Sinaiticus Mark 16:8).

The command in Matthew, later called the Great Commission, sets out what Acts shows the first Christians doing: baptising those who accepted their message, and carrying it beyond Israel (Acts 2:38–41; 10:44–48). The Didache, an early church manual, already directs that baptism be given “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Didache 7).