Matthew 28:16

“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.”

I have often wondered why Jesus chose a mountain in Galilee as the place to reveal himself once again to them as the Risen Lord.  We know that Galilee was home to Jesus and to the eleven disciples.  They were all strangers in Jerusalem where they were generally despised. I could be that Jesus wanted to speak to them as a group in Galilee, their home turf. Furthermore, there, on the hilltop, they were not hounded by the Jewish authorities.  They were alone with Jesus.  No matter what, it was there that Jesus gave the Great Commission – to take the Gospel to the whole world.

As we consider this meeting in Galilee, we recall the powerful prophecy of Isaiah who, I suppose startled all by prophesying that Galilee will be place of honor in the spread of the good news. We hear the words of prophecy, that of Isaiah, as he began in Isaiah 9, “There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan.”  (My bold.)

I find it helpful to recall that Galilee was the northernmost province of Palestine.  It is the only province of Jewish Palestine that bordered non-Jews, unlike Judea, with Jerusalem as the capital, that had no meaningful interaction with non-Jews at all.  Generally speaking, the Judean Jews looked upon the Galilean Jews as somewhat corrupted by their living with non-Jewish neighbors. The prophecies saw Galilee as the door to the Gentile world.

Is that not a good reason for God to choose that hill in “Galilee of the nations,” to commission his disciples to take the Gospel to all peoples?  I think so. This scene does not indicate that the disciples turned their backs on Judah.  The story has them returning to hostile Jerusalem after this meeting in Galilee.

However, one thing is clear – Jesus’ intention is to send his disciples and all who will follow into the whole world, regardless of whether they are Jews or Gentile believers.  Matthew the former tax collector for the Romans rejoiced in that fact.