The Empty Tomb
THE EMPTY TOMB
MATTHEW 28:1-15
Jesus is alive—and he is Lord.
The morning star was rising on the day after the Sabbath when the two Marys visited the tomb. The verb “was” in 28:2 should probably be rendered “had been” (pluperfect): in that case the earthquake was past and the guards had disappeared by the time the women arrived: only the angel of the Lord remained. His words and the empty tomb, accessible now that the stone was rolled back, bore witness to the fact that the body of Jesus was no longer there. It is worth bearing in mind that no New Testament writer tries to describe Jesus’ resurrection or his leaving the tomb. The women are invited to inspect the ledge on which his body had been laid on Friday night and directed to report his resurrection to the disciples. “He is going before you to Galilee” (28:7) repeats Jesus’ own promise before his arrest (26:32). The promise is repeated again by the risen Lord himself when he meets the women leaving the tomb, but whereas the angel had said “tell his disciples” (28:7), the Lord says “tell my brethren” (28:10; cf. John 20:17). Perhaps the word “brethren” is intended to embrace not only the diseiples but the members of our Lord’s own family. They did not believe in him during his ministry, but were numbered among his followers in the days immediately following the ascension (Acts 1:14); to one of them, James, he appears personally in resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7).
The incident of 28:11-15 is proof enough that the guards were not Roman soldiers; no intervention by the chief priests would have kept Roman soldiers out of trouble for such dereliction of duty. The tale they were instructed to tell was feeble enough, but the chief priests “knew what they could get away with” (A. Lunn). If they had thought that some more probable story would hold water, they would not have been reduced to spreading this one. It was still circulating, however, when this Gospel was written, and it may have been responsible for an imperial decree published in Palestine some years earlier, forbidding interference with tombs on pain of death.
“The early Christians did not believe in the resurrection of Christ because they could not find his dead body. They believed because they did find a living Christ” (C.T. Craig).