1Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky and came and rolled away the stone from the door and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. 5The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. 6He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. 7Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”
8They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 9As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!”
They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
10Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”
11Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city and told the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12When they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers, 13saying, “Say that his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. 14If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry.” 15So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today.
16But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 17When they saw him, they bowed down to him; but some doubted. 18Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
At the time of Jesus, baptism referred to a variety of ritual washings with water (Heb 6:2), all of which were important cleansing rituals within Judaism. For example, a high priest was installed in office by ritual bathing before being anointed and clothed with symbolic garments (Exod 29:4; Lev 8:6). Gentile proselytes to Judaism underwent a ceremonial bath (Heb 9:10). The Essenes immersed their bodies in daily rites of ceremonial cleansing. Those coming into the temple to worship underwent a ritual bath, as evidenced by the large number of mikveh (ritual bathing pools) found near the southern steps of the temple. When John came baptizing people once for their repentance of sins (Mark 1:4-5), he was thought to be usurping the prerogative of the Christ or Elijah or the prophet (John 1:25). Those who were baptized by John were identified with a remnant of Israel who had given credible testimony of their willingness to receive Messiah on His terms of repentance (Matt 3:1-10). The Pharisees promoted the elders' tradition of washing cups, pitchers and pots; and not eating without first washing their hands in a special way, both activities being referred to by the Greek word “baptizo” (Mark 7:3-8; Luke 11:38). Jesus' baptism was "to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15) in the sense of meeting the legal requirement of a priest as He entered upon His public ministry. It also identified Jesus with John's followers and message. In Matthew 4:17, the message he began to preach was the same as that of John, in Matthew 3:2. Jesus' disciples were baptizing those who were willing to follow Jesus (John 4:1-2). Later, Christian baptism identified a believer with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection (Rom 6:3-4), and is the first step of discipleship (Matt 28:19; see also Acts 2:37-42; 8:34-39; 9:18-19; 10:47-48; 16:15, 33).