Matthew 28:1-17

1 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary

Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

After the Sabbath, on Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead. This fact led to

the disciples and early Christians meeting together weekly on “the first day of the

week” (see Mark 16:9; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). They broke bread (perhaps

meaning they celebrated the Lord’s Supper) and perhaps received a collection

and probably heard the scriptures read (probably including the Old Testament,

gospel portions, and letters from the apostles) and taught or discussed the

scriptures. The women went to care for the entombed body of Jesus, not because

they expected to see Him raised from the dead.

2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the

Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and

sat on it.

The earthquake was explained by the coming of the angel to roll away the stone

door in front of the tomb. The angel then sat on the stone, remaining at the tomb

entrance. The angel did not come to let Jesus out of the tomb (as Jesus had the

stone rolled away for Lazarus to come out of the tomb alive when He called

Lazarus to come out). Jesus passed through the stone walls, for the women found

the tomb empty and they did not see Jesus walk out of the tomb when the angel

rolled away the stone. Jesus later passed through walls or a closed door to appear

to His disciples who were fearfully hiding in a locked room (see John 20:19).

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

The angel appeared to both the guards and the women. The women were not

confused about where Jesus was buried or the location of His tomb (see Matthew

27:61). The guards reacted with fear, similar to the guards’ terrified response

when Jesus died on the cross and there was an earthquake (see Matthew 27:54).

The Bible says we can entertain angels unawares (see Hebrews 13:2). In the case

of Jesus’ resurrection, both guards and women were aware of the angel coming to

the tomb and they were overwhelmed at his appearing.

4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.

The Roman guards had both a physical and mental reaction to the angel. Rather than bravely stand their ground as they had been taught and challenge the angel

over his actions, they shook with fear and fell to the ground. Perhaps they had

also learned from the guards at the crucifixion (or were the same guards) that

Jesus was the Son of God, so they expected immediate execution from an angry

God at the hands of the angel. The guards fell unconscious and the women

witnessed their response.

5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you

are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

The angel disregarded the guards, and sought to comfort the women who had

come to honor Jesus by caring for his dead body according to their burial

practices. The angel reinforced the fact that Jesus had indeed been crucified; that

in fact He had died and had been buried at that exact location where he appeared.

The women were right to come there looking for Jesus, but they were not

accurate in their thinking because they expected to find Jesus still dead.

6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the

place where he lay.

The angel corrected their thinking and invited them to become witnesses

regarding the empty tomb. He declared they would not find Jesus’ body because

Jesus had been raised (though at one time Jesus had been laid in the empty

tomb, in which no other body had ever been laid). Jesus’ resurrection had

occurred sometime prior that day, prior to the opening of the tomb by the angel

and the earthquake. The angel’s perfect timing made it possible for the women to

see the guards guarding the tomb, experience the earthquake, and see the stone

rolled away before they entered the tomb. There could be no confusion or doubt

about someone having come to the tomb earlier to remove Jesus’ body.

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the

dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see

him.’ This is my message for you.”

After the women saw where Jesus had been laid and the angel once again

emphasized that Jesus had been dead and had been raised from the dead, the

angel told them that Jesus also had the ability to travel to Galilee (He had not just

been resuscitated, which would have required months of rehabilitation). Jesus

would later need to demonstrate His fully human resurrected powers by

appearing to them in a locked room to convince them that He was alive and well

and that they should travel to Galilee to see Him again.

8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell

his disciples.

The women believed the angel because he was no ordinary man and miracles

accompanied his appearing. They saw the guards fall in fear. They saw the empty tomb. They felt the earthquake and the earthquake’s perfect timing. They saw the

angel roll the stone away without the help of other angels or people. Presumably,

the disciples felt the great earthquake where they were in hiding, and the women

could explain the cause of the earthquake. The two women could give good and

sufficient reasons for the disciples to believe that Jesus had been raised from the

dead, but the disciples were foolish and slow to believe (see Luke 24:25-26).

9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to

him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

The Bible teaches the need for two witnesses in case of a trial. Two witnesses to

an event should be believed in they are know to be trustworthy. The Hebrews

knew that witnesses would be held accountable by God for bearing false witness

or lying. In addition to the events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection, both the angel

and the living, resurrected Lord Jesus bore witness to the fact that Jesus had

been raised from the dead. At this point in time, the women worshiped Jesus as

would all those in the early Christian church. Jesus received their worship as was

He right as the Son of God. Angels and the apostles (no matter what miracles they

worked) always refused the worship of others, saying only God deserved to be

worshiped. Jesus did not refuse to be worshiped. He willingly received the

worship of others as God.

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers

to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

This was the second time that the women were told not to be afraid. Though

Jesus is the Son of God, He called His disciples “brothers” (see also Hebrews

2:11). He reaffirmed what the angel told the women, again we have two witnesses

to the command because the command was given to them twice by two different

persons. Obedience to this command would become a test for the disciples, and

they failed the test by remaining in the locked room until Jesus appeared to them

to convince them He was raised from the dead—which also gives us more good

reasons to believe that the facts presented regarding Jesus’ resurrection are true.

11 While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and

told the chief priests everything that had happened.

The women went to reveal the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to His disciples as

He commanded. The guards went to reveal the “bad news” (from their

perspective) to the people responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion and death. They felt

the earthquake, and presumably so did the chief priests and the Roman

authorities, for the earthquake was great. The guards saw the angel and the

empty tomb, and they reported all of this to the religious authorities.

12 After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan

to give a large sum of money to the soldiers,

The elders of the people were convinced by the facts the soldiers presented to

them, but just as they had lied and borne false witness to crucify Jesus, one who

was innocent, so they implicated the guards in bearing false witness again

regarding His resurrection. To avoid being held responsible for the death of the

Son of God, and for other reasons, they bribed the soldiers (another crime by

religious leaders) to join in their lying schemes.

13 telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole

him away while we were asleep.’

The lie that the religious leaders devised is highly implausible. The disciples’

hopes were crushed. They went into hiding. They would not venture out of

hiding, but the women did go to Jesus’ grave. They were hiding in fear that they

would be found and crucified too, as rebels, to satisfy the blood lust of the

religious leaders. The women went to embalm Jesus’ body. None of Jesus’

followers had any reason to steal His body or try to concoct a fraud that would

lead to their deaths. All of this is plausible and consistent with the facts of

Scripture. They certainly would not have had the courage to steal Jesus’ body or

fight armed Roman guards, or take the chance of awakening the Roman guards

while they slept as they rolled away a heavy stone. How could the Roman guards

have stayed asleep while a stone was rolled away, especially since they would be

killed for failure to do their duty in securing Jesus’ body (see Acts 16:27)?

14 If this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep

you out of trouble.”

Everyone knew the guards would be punished for failure to do their duty, and the

story would have resulted in their execution, so the religious leaders determined

to achieve their fraud by plotting with the governor or lying to him. The guards

needed the leaders to protect them and explain the disappearance of Jesus’ body

for them. If they had not been bribed, to escape punishment for dereliction of

duty, the guards would have told the truth.

15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this

story is still told among the Jews to this day.

Even today, various atheists and other religious teachers promote the story

concocted by these religious leaders (or some variation of the story) in their

efforts to deny the fact of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. This is another

prophecy that has been fulfilled. For almost 2,000 years since the gospel of

Matthew was written “this story is still told among the Jews to this day.” (I will

not promote any of these books here, but if you want to know an example you can

send an e-mail to me.)

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which

Jesus had directed them.

Matthew wrote a shortened version of Jesus’ resurrection appearances and added

some facts some of the other gospel writers omitted (this is to be expected of any

biographer). From the other gospels we learn that the disciples did not

immediately believe the women and do what Jesus commanded them to do

through the women; however, the eleven did eventually go to Galilee as Jesus had

commanded them and as Matthew reported. They should have immediately

believed and obeyed what Jesus said through the women, but they did not (Jesus

called them foolish).

17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Just as the women worshiped Jesus, some of the disciples also worshiped Jesus

when He appeared to them on the mountain. Rather than doubting His

resurrection (which they had become convinced of by Jesus himself), I believe

that some doubted whether they should worship Jesus as God. Jesus’ response

when He gave them the Great Commission answers the doubt about whether they

should worship Him as God, for Matthew wrote (beginning with verse 18) “And

Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been

given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching

them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with

you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20). Notice: Jesus used

“name” in the singular when speaking of “the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit.” He declared clearly that worshiping Him as God was right and

permissible.

Remain blessed