What jumps out next in this reading is a phrase used referring to the 11 disciples: “some doubted.” This brief phrase is one of the most strikingly human moments in the Gospel of Matthew. The disciples have reached Galilee, the place Jesus instructed them to go, and when they see the risen Jesus, they worship him. Yet Matthew adds that “some doubted.” Even in the presence of the resurrected Jesus himself, faith and uncertainty exist side by side.
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This is Part 2 of the series The Great Commission, Doubt, and Post-Colonialism
(Read this series from its beginning here.)
The Greek behind our Engish translations here can suggest hesitation, wavering, or uncertainty. Rather than being the enemy of faith, the word communicates honesty. The disciples are not rejecting Jesus; rather, they are struggling to comprehend the overwhelming reality before them. And yet, they are still included among the 11. They are not rejected for their doubt. Their uncertainty is not a deal breaker. Matthew presents resurrection faith not as instant certainty, but as something emerging through awe, fear, and wonder. And this gives me hope that, today, for those who are inspired to follow the ethical teachings found in the Jesus story yet who remain uncertain about some of the supernatural claims of the Jesus story, there is still room.
This phrase, “some doubted,” also gives authenticity to the Gospel narrative. Matthew does not portray the disciples as flawless heroes with unshakable confidence. Instead, they are ordinary people trying to grasp an extraordinary event. Their doubt becomes part of the story of discipleship itself.
Importantly, Jesus does not rebuke or exclude the doubters. Immediately afterward, he commissions all of them to go into the world and make disciples. In Matthew, then, mission does not wait for perfect certainty. The risen Jesus sends questioning followers who still are inspired by the ethics of love and justice he taught them into the world anyway.
Before we consider a healthier alternative interpretation of Matthew’s great commission, I want to take a moment to address the way the “Great Commission” of Matthew has proven vulnerable to abuse and discuss how colonizers used it as a key text to justify their atrocities.
The “Great Commission” has often been interpreted as a call to spread the message of Jesus to all nations. Within the history of European colonialism, however, this passage was frequently distorted into a theological justification for conquest, cultural domination, and forced assimilation. Colonial powers often merged Christian mission with imperial expansion, treating the command to “make disciples of all nations” as permission to control lands and peoples rather than serve them.
During the colonial era, missionaries sometimes traveled alongside armies, traders, and empire builders. Indigenous cultures, languages, and spiritual traditions were frequently dismissed and erased as inferior or “uncivilized.” In many places across Africa, Asia, and the Americas, conversion to Christianity became tied to abandoning local identity. Schools and churches established by colonial governments often prohibited native languages and practices, teaching instead that European culture was synonymous with Christianity itself. The gospel became entangled with Whiteness, nationalism, and empire. (This stands in stark contrast with the lessons we gleaned from the Pentecost stories in Acts last week.)
Again, there is a healthier alternative interpretative lense for Matthew’s Great Commission. We’ll consider that in Part 3.
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