Grow Guide | April 16, 2023

Remember These Things

2nd Sunday of Easter

Matthew 28:16-20

Connecting Questions

What was your favorite part of the recent Easter holiday? What was challenging?

Name a time when you experienced doubt in your faith. What was it like? How did it help your faith grow?

Context

This Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of the Easter season, and we continue with the theme “Remember These Things. ” What are the most important parts of the stories of Holy Week and Easter? When we remember these stories, how are we transformed? And now that we’ve experienced the resurrection, what’s next?

This week we focus on the last five verses of the book of Matthew, immediately following Jesus’ resurrection, when Jesus gives The Great Commission to his disciples along with words of comfort. This Sunday’s reading connects to the Holy Week and Easter Sunday readings. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he commands his disciples to share this life-changing news with the world—baptizing, making disciples, and teaching others to obey his teachings.  

Look at the Book

• Read Matthew 28:16-20. What stands out to you in this text today?

  • The disciples join Jesus on a mountain in today’s reading. Where else does a mountain setting appear in Matthew? (In other Biblical stories?)

  • Look closely at vs. 17. What does this tell us about the relationship between worship and doubt?

    • How does Jesus treat the disciples’ doubting?

    • Are we able to worship even when we doubt? Have you experienced this?

  • How do you think the disciples felt during this commissioning from Jesus, after they abandoned him at the cross?

    • When have you felt unworthy to be a disciple?

    • What does Jesus’ embrace of the disciples in this moment tell us about our own discipleship?

  • How is this call to share the gospel to “all nations” radical?

    • How can we read this text in a way that is respectful to other faiths and religions?

  • If the world obeyed Jesus’ teachings in the book of Matthew (like the Sermon on the Mount), how would the world change?

    • The disciples are told to share Jesus’ teachings through words and through the ways they live. How are we sharing Jesus’ teachings through our lives? As a congregation?

  • What is Jesus’ final promise in the book of Matthew?

    • When have you experienced Jesus’ presence profoundly?

Taking it Home

This week, notice when you struggle with not having all the answers, and/or with doubt. Remember the disciples were in the same spot as you when Jesus trusted them with The Great Commission, and they fulfilled it! 

Revisit the Sermon on the Mount this week (Matthew chapters 5-7). How might these teachings of Jesus transform your life?