Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore 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 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:16-20, NIV)
Did you ever notice the end of verse 17, but some doubted?
Some doubted!?
Here they are seeing and talking with Jesus after He came back from the dead, what doubts could they possibly have left?
What does that mean?
The Greek word translated as “doubted” in most English translations is a rare word in the New Testament. It literally means “double.” It means to hesitate, to waiver, to be uncertain.
The only other place this exact word is used is back in Matthew 14:31 (NIV) when Jesus said to Peter as He lifted him out of the water, You of little faith…why did you doubt?
A closely related word is used In James 1:8 (NIV), Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. The preceding verses give an interesting context,
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do (James 1:6-8, NIV).
That sounds an awful lot like James is remembering Peter’s mishap walking on the water doesn’t it?
Doubt therefore, in our text means double-mindedness, it means that some of the disciples were unsure about what to make of this, they were hesitant to accept what they were seeing and hearing.
The next logical question is: what did they doubt? Did they doubt that it was Jesus who was appearing to them? The disciples Jesus appeared to on the Emmaus road did not recognize Him right away. Perhaps this is why Jesus had to come closer to them…so that He would be recognized. Another explanation is that the disciples were having trouble accepting what was happening. While the disciples had seen Jesus raise people from the dead several times, that is very different from coming back from the dead yourself. A third opinion is that they doubted that they were ready to go on without Jesus.
The reality is we don’t know. Matthew does not say. It could be any or all of these or different reasons altogether. The one thing we know is that not all the disciples were at the same place in their faith and understanding. Some of them even after all they had seen and heard and experienced were “double-minded.”
The last inevitable question is: who doubted? Some of the eleven? Many commentators have a lot of trouble believing that. How could any of them doubt after all they had seen? One answer to this is that what is being talked about here is the time Jesus appeared to 500 of His disciples and that it was some of them who doubted. While this idea has merit, Matthew seems to be clearly talking about the eleven; there is no mention of others being there.
Again, Matthew does not give clear answers to these questions. To me the facts he presents are that the eleven disciples went to the mountain in Galilee where Jesus told them to go. Jesus met them there as promised. When they saw Him they worshiped Him but some who were there doubted.
While the doubt of the disciples may be troubling and confusing to us, the response of Jesus to this mix of faith and doubt is what I want to focus on. First, we read that He came to them (verse 18). The word means to come near, to come close, to walk right up to a person. He came near to them.
Who is them? The worshipers? The doubters? Everyone? Again, the text does not explicitly say but the context could certainly support everyone. No mention is made of Jesus excluding some disciples in favor of others. Certainly this would make sense if only the eleven were present.
It is also possible that Jesus was coming near to the ones who doubted. Throughout the gospels we see Jesus drawn to those who needed Him most. As Jesus drew near to Peter when he doubted and called to Him when he was sinking under the waves, it would not surprise me at all if Jesus drew nearest to those who were doubting. This would also make more sense if it was not only the eleven present.
And after He came near to them He commissioned them. He addressed them all equally. He affirmed both the believers and the doubters. He affirmed them saying that All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (verse 18). Jesus had the authority to pick and choose His disciples, and He chose them…all of them. He gave them all the same mission. And He gave all of them the same promise, surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (verse 20). This would have been comforting to all of them, but especially so to those who doubted.
What I want to take notice of in this passage is this:
The humility Jesus exercised in seeing the doubt of some of His disciples. He did not openly rebuke those who doubted or distance Himself from them, rather He came near to them and reassured them.
The grace Jesus extended to those who doubted. He addressed their doubt not by calling it out, but by including them in the commission and promising to be with them.
We’ll dig deeper into this in my next post. Hope to see you back.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 