What is the main point of Matthew 28:1-10?

That Jesus has risen from the dead, exactly as he said he would, and that the news is meant to be carried. The angel gives the women three things: an announcement ("he has risen"), evidence ("see the place where he was lying"), and a mission ("go quickly and tell"). Jesus then confirms all three in person. The passage presents the Resurrection as a historical event with witnesses, not a private spiritual experience.

Who were the two women at the tomb in Matthew 28?

Mary Magdalene, a follower of Jesus from Galilee whom he had healed (Luke 8:2), and "the other Mary," identified in Matthew 27:56 as the mother of James and Joseph. Both had watched the crucifixion and seen where Jesus was buried (Matthew 27:61). They were the first people to see the empty tomb, the first to hear the news of the Resurrection, and the first to see the risen Jesus.

Why was the stone rolled away if Jesus had already risen?

Not to let Jesus out but to let the witnesses in. In Matthew's account the angel rolls back the stone and then invites the women to "come, see the place where the Lord was lying." The open tomb is evidence, presented so that it can be examined. Later that day, in John's account, Jesus enters a locked room without anyone opening a door; a stone was never going to hold him.

What does Matthew 28 teach us?

That the Resurrection is God's vindication of Jesus and the start of a mission. The chapter opens with the empty tomb (verses 1-10), records the authorities' attempt to explain it away (11-15), and ends with the Great Commission, where the risen Jesus claims all authority and sends his followers to make disciples of all nations, promising to be with them always (16-20). Easter, in Matthew, leads directly to being sent.

Why did Jesus tell the disciples to go to Galilee?

Galilee was where he had called them and where most of his ministry happened. Meeting them there rather than in Jerusalem returns them to the beginning. It was also what he had told them in advance: "after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee" (Matthew 26:32). The Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 takes place on a mountain in Galilee.

Why did the women hold Jesus' feet?

It was an act of worship and a confirmation that he was physically present. Matthew says they "took hold of his feet, and worshiped him" (28:9). Holding his feet shows this was not a vision: he had a body that could be touched. Luke 24:39 and John 20:27 make the same point through other encounters, where Jesus invites his disciples to touch him.

Can I listen to The Resurrection as audio?

Yes! Bible Tea offers The Resurrection as an immersive audio story with professional narration. Download Bible Tea for free on iOS or Android and hear this and 300+ other Bible stories.

The Resurrection of Jesus — Easter Morning

The Passage

Matthew 28:1-10, World English Bible (public domain)

1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. 5 The angel answered the women, "Don't be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. 7 Go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.' Behold, I have told you." 8 They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 9 As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me."

The Story

Matthew 28:1-10 is the Resurrection told from the point of view of the two women who got there first.

Jesus was crucified on Friday and buried before sundown in a rock-cut tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. Matthew alone records what happened next: the chief priests, remembering Jesus' claim that he would rise on the third day, asked Pilate to seal the tomb and post a guard so that the disciples could not steal the body and fake a resurrection (Matthew 27:62-66). The stone was sealed. Soldiers stood in front of it. Saturday was the Sabbath, and nothing moved.

Then, in the gray light before dawn on Sunday, two women walk to the tomb. Mary Magdalene, who had followed Jesus since he freed her from seven demons, and "the other Mary," the mother of James and Joseph, who had stood at a distance and watched him die. Matthew says they came "to see the tomb." They are not expecting anything. They are going to sit with a grave.

The earth shakes. An angel comes down, rolls the stone away, and sits on it. Matthew's description is deliberately overwhelming: a face like lightning, clothing white as snow. The trained Roman guards collapse "like dead men." The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out. He is already gone. It was rolled away to let the women see in.

The angel's first words are the ones angels always say to frightened people: "Don't be afraid." Then the announcement, in three parts. He is not here. He has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where he was lying. Look at the evidence. Then a commission: go quickly and tell the disciples, and tell them he is going ahead of them to Galilee.

The women run. Matthew gives them two emotions at once, "fear and great joy," which is the most honest description of Easter morning anyone has written. And then, on the road, Jesus himself meets them. His greeting is one ordinary Greek word, chairete, the standard hello, which literally means "rejoice." They fall and grab his feet. Matthew includes that detail on purpose: he is not a ghost or a vision; he has feet you can hold.

Jesus repeats the angel's message almost word for word, with one change. The angel said "tell his disciples." Jesus says "tell my brothers." The men who deserted him three nights earlier, who are hiding somewhere in the city, are the first people he calls family after coming back from the dead.

The women become the first witnesses of the Resurrection and the first people sent to preach it. In a culture where a woman's testimony carried little legal weight, that is not a detail anyone inventing the story would have chosen. It is the kind of detail you keep because it is what happened.

What It Means

"Just like he said." The angel does not present the Resurrection as a surprise. Jesus had predicted it at least three times in Matthew (16:21; 17:23; 20:19). The empty tomb is not an inexplicable event; it is a promise kept, and the angel expects the women to remember it.

The evidence comes before the encounter. Look at the empty place first, then go, and Jesus meets you on the way. Matthew's order matters. Faith in this passage begins with something you can see and check, and grows into something you can hold onto.

Fear and joy together are the right response. Matthew does not tidy the women's emotions. Something has happened that breaks every rule they know about death, and it is terrifying and wonderful at the same time. Christianity has never asked people to stop being afraid of that; it asks them to run toward it anyway.

Failure did not disqualify the disciples. "Go tell my brothers." Peter denied him. The rest ran. Jesus' first message to them is not a rebuke but a family word and a meeting point. Galilee, where he first called them, is where he will start over with them.