“Now after the
Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary went to see the tomb. And
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. 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. Then go quickly and tell His
disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you
to Galilee; there you will see Him. See,
I have told you. So they departed
quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His
disciples. 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 28:1-10
(ESV).
It was not yet good light; the dawn was
just breaking and shadows of darkness played about the garden tomb. Sorrow and fear walked with the two women,
Mary Magdalene ‘and the other Mary,’ female disciples of Jesus, last at the
tomb on Friday, first at the tomb on Sunday.
They were afraid. I would have
been too, going early before good day, and then being shaken by a reverberating
earthquake! How strange to be greeted by
such shaking and clattering of the earth.
And fear overtook them again, for seated there upon the great gravestone
was an extraterrestrial being whose garments glowed in the half-light like
lightning. Even the strong, burly Roman
guards lay on the ground, out cold, like dead men!
But when the angel spoke, for by now the
women realized the person meant them only good and not harm, they listened, for
his message reechoed what Jesus Himself had told them before He died: “Fear
not!...He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay.” And with that I can imagine that the
angel stepped aside, inviting Mary Magdalene and Mary to step up to the tomb
and look in. Accounts of the
resurrection in other gospels tell us that the grave clothes lay there on the
rock ledge where the body had been—as though the corpse of Jesus, now alive,
had just escaped from them and left the clothes lying in the tomb. And folded, the napkin, or handkerchief, that
had covered Jesus’ face was placed neatly to the side. With all the excitement of the angel’s
message, the women would not have had time to give more than a precursory
glance into the tomb. But later, they
would remember an important aspect of the neatly-folded napkin: It lay folded in readiness, a sign that the
Master would be back again; He had not gone far away. For Mary Magdalene and Mary, the angel had
directions, an important errand for them to run: “”Go quickly and tell His disciples He has risen from the dead! Tell
them to go to Galilee; there He will meet them!” What joy, what
delight! The Marys did not need their
urns of burial ointment and spices they had so lovingly brought to embalm the
body. No dead body was there to receive
the embalming.
They left the garden grave, excited and exulting
that they had such a message to give to the disciples! And as they rushed through the garden,
behold, Jesus Himself met them and said, “Greetings!” There was no mistaking that voice! No one ever spake like Jesus speaks. They fell to His feet, worshiping Him! But
He, like the angel, had a message for them to bear, “Go! Tell My disciples that I am
alive. I will meet them in Galilee! Do not be afraid!”
