After the Sabbath, as the first day of the
week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 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. 3 His
appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For
fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the
angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for
Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised,
as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 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.” 8
So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell
his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And
they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then
Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to
Galilee; there they will see me.”
Matthew 28:1-10 is the story of the
discovery of the empty tomb. The story has its source in Mark. As we read this
account, most scholars will say that Matthew seems motivated by arguments
against the resurrection of Jesus by Jewish authorities in the latter part of
the first century. As Matthew begins, he tells us that on the first day of the
week, Sunday, at dawn, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” (Mark says this was
Mary the mother of James) went to see the tomb. Mark also tells us that the
women come to bring spices and ointment to tend the body of Jesus. In Matthew,
the women do not expect to have the ability to enter the tomb. They are simply
going to visit the tomb. Jesus had to be entombed on Friday because it was
against Jewish law to leave the body of a person who had been executed outside
overnight.[1]
The women have to wait until Sunday to tend the body, not because it is
prohibited to tend dead bodies on the Sabbath,[2]
but because doing the work of rolling the stone away from the tomb is
prohibited. Additionally, any person who goes to the tomb and is exposed to a
dead body will be made ritually impure for seven days afterward.[3]
This means that any man who might come with them on Sunday would render himself
ritually impure for the rest of the Passover holiday. Typically, one would give
up his state of ritual purity only for the death of one of his nearest kin.[4]
Because the women themselves are not entitled to perform Passover sacrifices,
becoming ritually impure is less of an issue for them. As Matthew continues, an
earthquake (often the bringer of divine events in the Bible, even as in
27:51-54) occurs due to an angel of the Lord (unique to Matthew), descending
from heaven, coming to the tomb and rolling back the stone. Archeology has
confirmed an earthquake in the general area of Jerusalem sometime between 26
and 36 AD.[5] In
the biblical tradition, earthquakes marked momentous events or, in some cases
(e.g., the earthquake in the reign of King Uzziah, Amos 1:1; Zechariah 14:5)
became momentous events themselves by which other events were marked.
Earthquakes were above all else theophanic accompaniments, as the famous story
of the Lord's appearance to Elijah in I Kings 19 vividly illustrated.
Earthquakes could accompany a divine appearance for woe as well as for weal, as
references in both testaments make clear (e.g., Isaiah 29:6; Revelation 6:12,
8:5, 11:13, 19; 16:18). The preponderance of New Testament references to
earthquakes in the book of Revelation points to their apocalyptic nature, which
is probably also the primary significance of Matthew's mention of an earthquake
in the context of Jesus' resurrection. As Matthew continues, the angel sat on
the stone. The appearance of the angel was like lightning. His clothing was
white as snow. In a story unique to Matthew, the guards shook and became like
dead men at these events. Such a response of human fright is unique in the
Bible. The appearance of death with the guards will contrast sharply with the
living Jesus. The guards will become a key to the apologetic theme in Matthew. However,
as is typical of the appearance of an angel in the Bible, the angel said to the
women that they should not be afraid. The angel knows they are looking for
Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here. God has raised him. The angel invites
them to see where he was. Then, they are to go quickly and tell the disciples
that God has raised him from the dead, and he is going ahead of them to
Galilee. They will see him there. We should remember that an angel announced
the birth of Jesus as well in 1:20, 2:13, 19. With no indication that the women
accept the invitation of the angel, the two women left the tomb quickly, with
fear, and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Matthew is different from
Mark here, who said the women were too afraid to tell anyone.
Suddenly, Jesus met the women. Barth
will emphasize throughout the appearance tradition that Jesus comes to the
followers of Jesus. They do not look for him.[6] He
simply says, “Greetings.” They came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped
him. This suggests the physical nature of the resurrection, which would be
consistent with the Jewish view of the union of soul and body as over against
the Greek notion of the possibility of a disembodied soul. Then, Jesus said to
them not to be afraid. They are to tell his brothers to go to Galilee. They
will see him there.
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