By Peter Amsterdam
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Throughout His ministry, Jesus foretold His death and His resurrection. We read in the Gospel of Mark that Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31). Although Jesus’ words seem quite clear to us now, the events that transpired show that the disciples didn’t fully understand what He had meant.
Each of the four Gospels tells of the women who came to Jesus’ tomb early on Sunday morning. The Gospel of Luke explains that earlier, after the women saw the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed, “they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). The Gospel of Mark says that “when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him” (Mark 16:1). Once the Sabbath day ended (at sunset on Saturday), the shops would reopen and the women would be able to purchase the spices needed to anoint Jesus’ body.
All four Gospels tells us that the large stone which covered the entrance to the tomb where Jesus had been laid on Friday was rolled away. The book of Matthew provides additional detail:
Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men (Matthew 28:2–4).
Only the Gospel of Matthew mentions the earthquake occurring at that time. He indicates that the reason there was an earthquake was because an angel of the Lord came from heaven and rolled away the stone.
Besides the stone being rolled back, each of the Gospels tells of the presence of heavenly beings near the tomb. While the Gospel of Matthew speaks of the angel of the Lord, the Gospel of Luke says: “When they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel” (Luke 24:3–4).
The Gospel of Matthew tells us that those who were guarding the tomb saw the angel of the Lord, “And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men” (Matthew 28:2–4). The guards who were there to guard the dead man (Jesus) themselves became like corpses in the presence of the angel. In contrast, the One who had died was now risen.
We read in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that the angel (or angels) spoke to the women and instructed them not to be afraid. They then told them the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead.
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:5–6). (See also Mark 16:5–6; Luke 24:5–8.)
We are told that the women remembered Jesus’ words about His crucifixion and His rising on the third day. They went back and told the apostles, who, we are told, “did not believe them” (Luke 24:8–11).
In the Gospel of John, the account centers on Mary Magdalene. Upon seeing that the stone had been taken away from the entrance to the tomb, the first thing Mary Magdalene did was to run to town to tell Peter and the other disciple (probably John) that someone had taken Jesus’ body out of the tomb. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:1–2).
When Peter came to the tomb, he “saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (John 20:3–10).
The disciples then went back to their homes. Once they had left, Mary, who stood weeping outside the tomb, stooped to look inside the tomb. “And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him’” (John 20:11–13).
Each of the four Gospels (as well as the book of Acts) gives an account of Jesus’ appearances to His disciples—both women and men—after His resurrection. In Matthew’s account, when some of the women disciples went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body, they found the tomb empty. They were met by an angel who instructed them to go to the apostles and tell them that Jesus was alive and that He was going to Galilee, where they would see Him (Matthew 28:6–7).
After the angel had instructed them to tell the disciples that Jesus was alive, the women “departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples” (Matthew 28:8). That the women departed with fear indicates that they were in awe of having been visited by a heavenly visitor.
Having seen an angel and received a message to give to the disciples, the women were then met on the road by the resurrected Jesus Himself.
And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Matthew 28:9–10).
It’s hard to imagine the joy and wonderment they felt at seeing the risen Jesus. In falling at His feet and worshiping Him, they showed that they understood that He was more than a mere man. It also shows that Jesus’ risen body was a real body; this wasn’t just a vision or an apparition. The women understood that He was divine.
Jesus repeated the angel’s command, Don’t be afraid, and also repeated the instructions that they should “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
In the Gospel of Matthew, the women were present at all of the important events of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They were at the cross when He died, they were the first ones at His tomb, and they were the first to see the risen Lord.
While the women were on their way to tell the disciples to go to Galilee as they were instructed to do in the account in the Gospel of Matthew, some of the guards entered the city and told the chief priests what had happened (Matthew 28:11). Normally the guards would go to their own officers to report events which had occurred, but Pontius Pilate had put the Roman guards at the disposal of the Jewish leadership, to whom they now reported (Matthew 27:64–65). Perhaps the guards were somewhat relieved that they didn’t have to report to their Roman superiors, as they would have to confess that they had not prevented the removal of a body from a tomb that was under their watch.
Upon hearing from the guards, the chief priests and elders decided that the best course of action was to bribe the guards so that they would lie about what had happened. We read that “they gave the soldiers a large sum of money,” and in accepting the bribe, the soldiers agreed to lie about what had happened (Matthew 28:12–14). Sleeping while on guard duty was a major dereliction of duty in the Roman army, so telling their superiors that the disciples came during the night while they slept and stole him away was quite risky, though for the large sum of money they were offered, they apparently decided it was worth the risk. “So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day” (Matthew 28:15).
At the time the Gospel of Matthew was written (probably sometime after AD 70), the false story that the disciples had come in the night and stolen His body from the tomb while the guards slept would have been circulating for about 35 years. Despite attempts to conceal Jesus’ resurrection, over two thousand years later, more than two billion people celebrate Easter each year the world over.
Originally published June 2022. Adapted and republished March 2026. Read by Jon Marc.
