'Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into
a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17. And when
they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted.'
--MATT. xxviii. 16, 17.
'After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren
at once.'--1 COR. xv. 4
To infer an historian's ignorance from his silence is a short and
easy, but a rash, method. Matthew has nothing to say of our Lord's
appearances in Jerusalem, except in regard to that of the women in
the early morning of Easter Day. But it does not follow that he was
ignorant of these appearances. Imperfect knowledge may be the
explanation; but the scope and design of his Gospel is much more
likely to be so. It is emphatically the Gospel of the King of
Israel, and it moves, with the exception of the story of the
Passion, wholly within the limits of the Galilean ministry. What
more probable than that the same motive which induced Jesus to
select the mountain which He had appointed as the scene of this
meeting should have induced the Evangelist to pass by all the other
manifestations in order to fix upon this one? It was fitting that in
Galilee, where He had walked in lowly gentleness, 'kindly with His
kind,' He should assume His sovereign authority. It was fitting that
in 'Galilee of the Gentiles,' that outlying and despised province,
half heathen in the eyes of the narrow-minded Pharisaic Jerusalem,
He should proclaim the widening of His kingdom from Israel to all
nations.
If we had Matthew's words only, we should suppose that none but the
eleven were present on this occasion. But it is obviously the same
incident to which Paul refers when he speaks of the appearance to
'five hundred brethren at once.' These were the Galilean disciples
who had been faithful in the days of His lowliness, and were thus
now assembled to hear His proclamation of exaltation. Apparently the
meeting had been arranged beforehand. They came without Him to 'the
mountain where Jesus had appointed.' Probably it was the same spot
on which the so-called Sermon on the Mount, the first proclamation
of the King, had been delivered, and it was naturally chosen to be
the scene of a yet more exalted proclamation. A thousand tender
memories and associations clustered round the spot. So we have to
think of the five hundred gathered in eager expectancy; and we
notice how unlike the manner of His coming is to that of the former
manifestations. _Then_, suddenly, He became visibly present
where a moment before He had been unseen. But _now_ He gradually
approaches, for the doubting and the worshipping took place 'when
they saw Him,' and before 'He came to them.' I suppose we may
conceive of Him as coming down the hill and drawing near to them,
and then, when He stands above them, and yet close to them--else the
five hundred could not have seen Him 'at once'--doubts vanish; and
they listen with silent awe and love. The words are majestic; all is
regal. There is no veiled personality now, as there had been to Mary,
and to the two on the road to Emmaus. There is no greeting now, as
there had been in the upper chamber; no affording of a demonstration
of the reality of His appearance, as there had been to Thomas and to
the others. He stands amongst them as the King, and the music of His
words, deep as the roll of thunder, and sweet as harpers harping with
their harps, makes all comment or paraphrase sound thin and poor. But
yet so many great and precious lessons are hived in the words that we
must reverently ponder them. The material is so abundant that I can
but touch it in the slightest possible fashion. This great utterance
of our Lord's falls into three parts: a great claim, a great commission,
a great promise.