My take on Matthew 28
There is historical evidence of a great quake during the passover the year Jesus died. There were customs for burials that because of the sabbath, they had to wait until monday to go care for the body in the tomb. When the women arrived the body was not there. Many eye witness accounts from the soldiers said nobody was there to steal the body and there was no way the stone could have been moved. So either they were covering their asses and there's a lie being perpetuated by hundreds of people colluding together for a man who was hated by the general public, or Jesus rose from the dead.
Jesus appeared to his disciples and preached to them, informed them of their futures and gave them their great commission to bear witness of what they had seen so that others may believe and see the kingdom of heaven.
This was the culmination of the promise Jesus gave to his disciples, that he would make them fisher's of men.
The Next reading is Acts 7.
We have posters from all over the world but I believe a good majority of the people here are American. I point this out only because we are seeing a rise in America of joining a lot of the western world in roughly 30% of the population being openly atheist.
Now, America 20 years ago polls stated roughly 5%, now it's at 30%. So, some questions to think about while reading acts 7. In the time Stephen was preaching, at least in the region he was in, Judaism was just part of the culture. Similarly to how for a long time, Christianity was a part of American culture, or if you want to go further back in time, Italy, England, Germany, France, etc.
Every culture seems to go on a path that is, paganism>their deity>Reformation>Schism>Gnosticism>Atheism
We appear in America to be on the Gnosticism part right now, because that's the blending of pagan and deist rituals, and is leading to the rise of atheism.
Look at what Stephen had to deal with from the sanhedrin, who were the leaders of the law at the time, and look at the similarities in how Christians are being treated by our current government.
Now, I am not saying we are being persecuted, per se, but there are similarities, and the book of Acts is the guide for the Church. It explains how we should operate, interact with the public, and such. It is not a direct parallel, but some are there