Matthew 28:9-10
Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’
There is a sense in which Matthew is, if not “fixing,” at least “improving” on Mark’s story. Mark, you may recall, was the earliest of the four gospels written and was the primary source for both Matthew and Luke. Moreover, of those two later gospels, Matthew is the one that hews closest to Mark’s story. For where Luke takes greater liberty in adapting Mark’s stories and adding his own sources, Matthew follows Mark, particularly when it comes to the Passion, quite closely, adding his own material to be sure (his gospel is nearly twice the length of Mark’s) but often repeating large portions of Mark nearly verbatim or with only minor changes.
This is true for the beginning of the resurrection story as well, much the same with minor adjustments. Women – two in Matthew rather than the three in Mark – come to the tomb, are greeted by a messenger with the news of Jesus’ resurrection, and are sent to tell the disciples. Matthew, as usual, adapts the story to his literary and theological purposes. He reports an earthquake and has the angel roll back the sealed tomb and sit upon it, terrifying the guards Matthew reports were there. All of these distinct details reflect the particular confession of faith about God’s work in Jesus that Matthew wanted to make.
But the more significant changes start here. Actually, they start just a verse earlier. For whereas Mark describes the women fleeing the tomb in terror, amazement, and silence, Matthew reports that they left with “fear and great joy.” Not only that, but they are now also greeted by Jesus, who meets them with a message strikingly similar to that of the angelic messenger It’s almost as if Matthew wants to make sure his readers understand that the women at the tomb did not fail. They received news from the angel, yes, but then had it reaffirmed by Jesus himself and this added encouragement propelled them to success.
Perhaps Matthew did not understand Mark’s hope that, by leaving the story open-ended and by having these first witnesses fail, we would encourage the early Christians reading his gospel to pick up the task of sharing the good news themselves. Or perhaps Matthew simply wanted to fill in the story – after all, someone had to have told this news or there would be no Christian church. Or perhaps Matthew had another source – and therefore knew more than Mark – that told of Jesus’ appearance to these women.
We just don’t know. What we do know is that when the Lord appears to these women he greets them with the same words of courage and invitation. “Do not fear…. Go and tell….” And in doing so he makes them not just the first witnesses of his resurrection but also commissions them as the first preachers of the gospel, the ones who shared the good news with the disciples and commanded them in Jesus’ name to go to Galilee that they might also see him.
Think about it: Two Marys become two witnesses become our first two preachers of the Easter story. That’s a cool addition.
Prayer: Dear God, you have called women and men from the beginning of the Church to share in proclaiming the good news. Let us receive with gratitude and joy the gifts for proclamation and leadership of all of your children. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: Mural of two women at the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter morning, Fresco in St. Sernin Basilica, Toulouse, France (c.1180)
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