My Walk Through the Book of Matthew by Annette Godtland

He Is Risen (Matthew 28:1-8)

1Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."

8So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

It is a good thing that I am taking the time to study the words of the Bible. Once again, the way I thought of events was different than what is written here. I had always thought of the women showing up to the tomb and the stone was already rolled back. For some reason I thought the stone was rolled back when Jesus was risen, maybe rolled back so Jesus could leave the tomb. I don’t know where I got that impression from, as Jesus wouldn’t need the stone rolled back in order to rise.

But here it sounds like the stone was still in place when the women went to see the tomb, but when they got there, there was a great earthquake and an angel rolled back the stone. The stone was rolled back so the women could enter to see that Jesus was no longer there. The stone was rolled back for the women’s sake, not Jesus’ sake. Jesus had already risen without the stone ever being disturbed.

Actually, that makes much more sense to me. If the stone had already been rolled away when the women arrived, there would have been many more questions about someone else having rolled the stone away and stolen the body. The tomb had been sealed. The soldiers stood guard making sure no one tried entering the tomb. An angel, in the presence of the women and guards, broke the seal and rolled back the stone. Jesus was no longer there. He had risen, and there could be no question that this could be a deception of any kind.

It is interesting that the guards and women both saw the angel, but the guards who were probably trained to face many dangers shook with fear and became like dead men. They fainted? Did they fear for themselves, or were they just in shock at what they saw? What would my reaction be if I neared a grave site and found someone with a countenance like lightning and clothing as white as snow? Why didn’t the women turn around and run?

A question that comes to my mind is why were the women there in the first place? I originally thought they came to minister to the body. But these are the women who were present when the tomb was sealed. They would have known there would be no way for them to enter the tomb to get to the body. I also wondered if maybe they just came to express their grief at the loss of Jesus at His tomb. But as I study the words of the angel, I don’t think that is what they came for either. The angel said he knew they came seeking Jesus. They did not come to care for Jesus’ body, or to console themselves, but to seek Jesus. This makes me believe that they purposely came because Jesus said He would be raised on the third day. I don’t think they forgot about this promise of Jesus’, but came to witness it.

They came seeking Jesus. They came knowing something magnificent would happen. The earthquake and the angel were only a prelude to what they were hoping to find. They came to see more. It was faith that brought them here in the first place. It was faith that kept them from turning and running, or from fainting away like the guards.

They came seeking Jesus, but Jesus was not there. They witnessed the empty tomb, the empty spot where they had laid the body of Jesus. The angel explained to them that Jesus was raised. He reminded them that Jesus foretold that after He was raised, He would go before them to Galilee. The angel instructed the women to spread the good news.

The sheep are being gathered up again. And with fear and great joy, these women are the ones who are spreading the word that will gather them up.