Father Joseph Knabenbauer's Commentary on Matthew 28:1-10
Introduction: The Triumph of the Resurrection
"After he had completed the sacraments of the Lord's passion, the Evangelist treats of the triumph of the Lord's resurrection."
St. Thomas [Aquinas]: "From many arguments by which Christ showed Himself alive after His passion, appearing to the disciples for forty days and speaking of the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), Matthew selected only a few, indeed very few, but those which are required and sufficient to demonstrate the truth of the resurrection. And he deemed it unnecessary to prove the resurrection of Christ by more arguments; for the preaching of the apostles and disciples of Christ itself, their intrepid strength, the working of miracles, were the most evident argument of the resurrection of Christ, most clearly exposed to the eyes of all."
For as St. Chrysostom notes: "With what mind could they stand for a dead man, expecting what retribution, what reward, when they saw Him seized while living they fled? And after His death, would they speak boldly for Him if He had not risen? How can these things be thought? For that they neither would nor could feign a resurrection which had not occurred, is hereby manifest. For He had spoken to them many things concerning the resurrection, as they themselves narrated. If therefore He had not risen, it is manifest that they, as deceived, would have departed from His worship; nor would they have wished to spread such an opinion concerning Him, as those who had been deceived by Him and led into extreme dangers for His sake. But that they could not simulate it unless the resurrection were true, needs no declaration; for in what thing would they have had confidence, etc.?"
Mt 28:1: The Timing of the Visit
"The pious women rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56). "But after the Sabbath was past, they bought spices" to anoint the body of Christ, so that they might supply that which on Friday evening, on account of the imminent Sabbath time, they had not been able to complete. Whence on the first day of the week, very early, at break of dawn, they betake themselves to the sepulcher (Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1).
The same time is designated by Matthew (v. 1): "Now in the evening of the Sabbath" (vespere autem sabbati), ὀψὲ (late), "as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week" (quae lucescit in prima sabbati), τῇ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ εἰς μίαν σαββάτων. Supplement with Eusebius (Questions to Marinus 2, Migne PG 22, 941; Catena Aurea, p. 252): ὥρᾳ τῇ ὑποφαινούσῃ καὶ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ ("the hour which was shining forth and dawning into the first day of the week"), which namely was now late and further elapsed from the Sabbath.
For this clause, as Eusebius adds, the Evangelist subjoins as it were interpreting himself what ὀψὲ τῶν σαββάτων signifies. For by that expression is not understood the evening time after the Sabbath day, but the later and late time of the night after the Sabbath; nor is ἑσπέραν (evening) designated by the voice ὀψὲ, nor the time after sunset, but that which is very late. In the same way says Severus of Antioch (in Catena Aurea): ὀψὲ σαββάτων does not signify the evening after sunset, but ὀψέ designates τὸ βράδιον καὶ πολὺ διεστηκός ("the late and much distant time"), and Matthew in the following member interprets himself.
St. Jerome, however, in the Letter to Hedibia (Ep. 120, 4, Migne PL 22, 988) writes: "It seems to me that the Evangelist, who composed the Gospel in the Hebrew tongue, said not so much 'vespere' (evening) as 'sero' (late), and he who translated it, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, interpreted it not 'sero' but 'vespere'; therefore he says 'in the evening of the Sabbath' is to be interpreted as 'with the light of the following day now approaching'."
In lexicons, two notions are ascribed to the voice ὀψέ: "late" and "long after." Therefore some simply translate "after the Sabbath" (Lamy, Fillion); others more accurately retain "late" (Schegg, Schanz, Keil, Weiss). Euthymius also explains ὀψὲ as saying τὸ τέλος ("the end") of the Sabbaths, and denoting τὰ τελευταῖα ("the last parts") of those things of which it is said. Theophylact says that expression denotes the same as "very early" in Mark and "very dawn" in Luke. Ammonius expressly states that ὀψὲ and ἑσπέραν differ between themselves: ἑσπέραν is when the sun sets, ὀψὲ δὲ βραδέως ("but opse slowly"); and again, ἑσπέραν is the hour after sunset, ὀψέ δὲ ἡ μετὰ πολὺ τῆς δύσεως ὥρα ("but opse is the hour long after sunset"), therefore long or much after sunset, καὶ καθόλου μετὰ πολὺν χρόνον ("and generally after much time") (apud Wetstein).
As appears in the expression εἰς μίαν σαββάτων ("into the first [day] of the Sabbaths"), σάββατα is often in the plural number the name of the week. And in that signification also Severus takes the voice, explaining ὀψὲ σαββάτων as τὸ βράδιον τῆς ἑβδομάδος ("the late [time] of the week"). But commonly in that place they interpret it "Sabbath," although it is indeed somewhat strange that in this short sentence σάββατα ought to be taken in two notions. But the Sabbath is said more often ἡ ἡμέρα τῶν σαββάτων ("the day of the Sabbaths") (Luke 4:17; Acts 13:14; 16:13), as already in the LXX (Exodus 20:10; 35:3; Numbers 28:9-10; Deuteronomy 5:12; Jeremiah 17:21, etc.); and on the contrary, the week is also designated by the singular number σάββατον (Mark 16:9; Luke 18:12).
Since ὀψὲ σαββάτων here can hardly signify "long after the Sabbath," but ὀψὲ must be retained in the notion of "late," also the day of Sabbath here is considered from the norm of common life, namely from sunrise to the next sunrise, not from the norm of festival days wherein the day is numbered from one evening to the other. Therefore, in the last part of the night which now began to be terminated by light, they came to the sepulcher. And so St. Augustine also explains "in the evening of the Sabbath" (De Consensu Evangelistarum 3, 24, 65). Few understand it otherwise. And St. Bruno indeed understands "evening" of the star which by another name is called Lucifer; indeed Hesperus or Vesper at the end of the day, but Lucifer at the beginning. And Baronius embraced the same acceptance (ad an. 34, n. 167): that the women came to the sepulcher at the rising of the star of that day which dawns on the first of the Sabbath. From recent writers, Ewald and Keim explain it of the evening and the brightness of the starry lights.
Mt 28:2-4: The Earthquake and the Angel
"When the women were coming to the sepulcher, they saw the stone rolled back," concerning which stone while they were going they were solicitous, as is narrated in Mark 16:3-4. Thence it is plain that what Matthew refers (vv. 2-4) happened before the women arrived at the monument. Nor does v. 2 "And behold" (Et ecce) stand in the way, by which particle it is not necessarily indicated (as Cajetan and Maldonatus wish) that this happened while they were approaching, nor what Weiss wishes, "before them," but the thing is only introduced and declared.
"A great earthquake happened." "For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it." These are signs and documents of the resurrection of Christ having been accomplished. Through an earthquake God sometimes wished to insinuate His or the angels' presence, as in the promulgation of the law; for by the motion of the earth is declared the power, glory, magnificence of God the ruler, who shakes the orb by His nod (cf. Psalm 67:8-9; 97:7ff.; 98:1; 113:6-7; Joel 3:16, etc.). Therefore by this motion the advent of the angel is indicated in a solemn manner as of a celestial messenger. Just as a man is wont to be permeated with a certain holy fear when a celestial appearance is made, so it is fitting that the inanimate creature also in its own way feel and manifest the presence of celestial virtue. And this is here the more congruous because the guards were to be instructed concerning the miracle made from heaven. Moreover, just as when the Lord was dying on the cross, so also by His resurrection having been accomplished, it befitted that by a motion of the earth be indicated the power of Christ who breaks the gates of hell and renews the orb of the lands.
Moreover, it was quite fitting for an angel to be the first witness and messenger of the resurrection; for by angels also His conception and nativity were first announced; angels ministered to Him in the desert; an angel strengthened Him in the agony; now also an angel marks the glory of the triumphant One (St. Jerome); just as afterwards His ascension into heaven is announced by angels, by whom finally His other glorious advent also will be manifested, "since in the voice of an archangel and in the trumpet of God He shall descend from heaven" (1 Thessalonians 4:15, Jans).
The angel rolled back the stone so that the sepulcher be known to be empty to all, and consequently Christ to have risen from the dead. Christ indeed had risen before the angel descended. Just as indeed He was born with the cloisters of the Virgin kept intact, so also He rose with the seals of the monument kept intact (Euthymius). He went out, as St. Thomas says, "just as from a closed womb, so from a sealed sepulcher," which sentiment all ancient authors teach, Maldonatus rightly affirms.
But the angel sits upon the stone as an assertor and teacher of faith in the resurrection of Christ, as a master of the celestial school upon the rock, so that he might give firmness of faith to believers (St. Paschasius). He sits so that by sitting he might figure that Christ, the author of death having been overcome, has now ascended the seat of perpetual kingdom (Bede).
The angel appears as celestial citizens are wont, in clarity of light. For God is light, and it befits those who stand nearest to God to manifest themselves surrounded by light. Verse 3: "And his appearance" (aspectus eius), his apparition, was shining and splendid "as lightning," and his clothing "as snow," so that by habit and countenance itself he might signify that he was announcing the glory of the resurrection, he who both was terrible for condemning the reprobate and was kind and bland for consoling the elect (Bede).
By the earthquake and celestial appearance like lightning, supreme terror is struck into the soldiers. Verse 4: "And for fear of him the guards of the sepulcher were terrified, and became as dead men." For if a celestial appearance is wont from the beginning to bring a certain holy fear to the pious (cf. Isaiah 6:5; Hebrews [Ezekiel] 2:1; Daniel 7:15; Luke 1:30), it will be consequent that the soldiers were struck with much greater terror, by that reason also that they might learn by experience that all those things were done by a higher virtue.
From the narration of the Synoptics it is clear that when the women came to the sepulcher, the guards were no longer present, which at the same time is an argument that those things which are here narrated (vv. 2-4) happened before. They ask therefore at what hour Christ rose. And Euthymius indeed says: "All unanimously, the holy Fathers and doctors, say the time of His resurrection to have been around the first cockcrow, which now prefaced the light of the Lord's day." Suarez, however, says three celebrated opinions are found (l.c. disp. 46, s. 2, n. 2): the first denies that anything can be affirmed certainly in this matter; the second, that Christ rose the first hour after midnight; the third, which he says is truer, that He rose in the dawn itself, a little after the beginning of the light of the Lord's day, of which sentiment he recounts many patrons. Benedict XIV proposes the same (cap. 8, n. 27). "He rose before the light," says St. Gregory (Hom. in Evang. 21, 7, Migne PL 76, 1173).
From the narration of others it is clear that when the women were approaching the monument, the angel was no longer sitting upon the stone, but two angels were seen by them after they entered into the open monument (Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4). From John 20:1-2, however, we learn that Mary Magdalene, as soon as she saw the stone taken away from the monument, before angels were seen by the women, ran to Peter and John and announced that the Lord had been taken from the monument. All these things omitted, St. Matthew briefly refers those things by which the resurrection was made known to the women.
Mt 28:5-7: The Angel's Message
Verse 5: "But the angel answering, said to the women: 'Do not fear you.'" He says "you" with emphasis; and that "you" carries much honor, and shows that those who had undertaken so great a deed would suffer extremes unless they repented; "for it is not yours," he says, "to fear, but of those who crucified Him" (St. Chrysostom). "Let them fear, in these let dread persevere, in whom unbelief remains" (St. Jerome).
"For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified." Nor does he blush, says St. Chrysostom, to call Him "crucified"; for this is the head and sum of goods; the cross indeed to others was ignominy, but to Christ glory, by which both His charity toward men and power against demons and death was declared (Jansenius), and the sum of His obedience toward the good pleasure of the Father. "He is not here, for He has risen, as He said," thus gently reproving them that they are not mindful of His prediction, as is explained more fully in Luke 24:5: "Why do you seek the living with the dead? Remember how He spoke to you," etc. And he adds whereby he may prove the announcement and whereby they may persuade themselves of the truth: "Come and see the place where the Lord had been laid." Therefore he had removed the stone so that from this also they might take an argument (St. Chrysostom), that they might believe the sepulcher empty (St. Jerome).
To the mourning disciples he commands to bring the news of joy, already exhibiting in himself the office of him whose messenger he is. For just as Christ rising is wholly intent on imparting consolation and joy to His mourners, so also His angel. Verse 7: "And going quickly, tell His disciples that He has risen," by which news it is at the same time declared that the Lord is borne toward the disciples with pristine love, nor does He persecute them because in the time of the passion they were scandalized in themselves. "And behold, He goes before you into Galilee; there you will see Him." He orders them to call to memory what Christ had said to them on the last Thursday evening (26:32), which since it was said to the disciples alone, can be an argument to them that the women were truly instructed and sent by a celestial messenger.
"Happy women," exclaims Bede, "who taught by an angelic oracle merited to announce the triumph of the resurrection to the world, and to preach the empire of death destroyed, which Eve, seduced by the serpent's breath, induced." They become therefore, as St. Paschasius notes, "evangelists," so that by a woman first the faith of the resurrection be announced in the world, by which first perfidy entered into the world. At the same time they receive the reward of that love and sedulous solicitude concerning Christ.
Moreover, that the disciples are ordered to betake themselves into Galilee should be considered a relief to them; for after those things which they had experienced in the city in the last days, and on account of the hatred of the Pharisees and priests, it could not but be grateful to them to leave Judea. Moreover, Galilee was their homeland (St. Bruno); there Christ chose them, there He taught the greatest part of them, there He exercised a greater and longer preaching of public life, there the disciples could dwell with greater quiet and security, there also Christ had a greater number of the faithful to whom He would deign to manifest Himself (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:6: "He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at once"). Moreover, by the fact that He goes before them (concerning the voice and notion of προάγειν see on 2:9), He lifts up their spirits, so that they are ordered to tend thither not as those who are to expect, but as those who are expected (Jansenius).
And how certainly all these things are said, the angel asserts, adding: ἰδοὺ εἶπον ὑμῖν ("Behold, I have said to you"). These things therefore are undoubtedly true; hold firmly these things which have been said. In the same sense "Behold, I have foretold to you" is to be explained; for "to foretell" is used even among profane writers in the notion of gravely warning, inculcating, commanding, which signification is apt here.
Mt 28:8: The Women's Reaction
The celestial appearance affected them with a certain holy fear, but at the same time brought joy, and that far greater, to them; with hastened step they hurry to announce such fortunate things to the disciples. Verse 8: "And they went out quickly from the monument" (although Matthew made no mention that they entered into the monument, yet now saying they went out, he shows they first entered, Euthymius). "Behold how accurately his brief narration agrees with those things which are in Mark 16:5 and Luke 24:3." "With fear and great joy"—"great" refers only to joy, as is plain from the Greek—"running to tell His disciples."
Mt 28:9-10: Jesus Meets the Women
What follows (v. 9): "And behold, Jesus met them," etc., I do not think happened immediately after this first departure from the sepulcher. For those two disciples going into Emmaus after noon know nothing else than that the women had been to the monument and had said they saw a vision of angels, whence it seems to follow that Christ had not yet appeared to those women when they returned from the sepulcher the first time. For it can hardly be assumed either that the women narrated indeed concerning the vision of angels but were silent concerning the appearance of the Lord Himself, or that the two disciples considered that narration of the women not worthy even of mention as being most alien from truth and despised it.
Since St. Matthew briefly proposes certain arguments of the resurrection, it can by no means be considered that he wishes to say those things which he narrates followed each other with no interval of time. Nor does this follow from the mode of speaking "and behold," as has often been noted, nor is it required for the force of proof that Christ appeared to them immediately at break of dawn. If this appearance is referred to a later time, also it is easily explained how what is held in Mark 16:8 is true: "They fled from the monument and said nothing to anyone."
But Jesus, rising, is wholly intent on consoling His own; He addresses them blandly: "Hail!" (χαίρετε), and what He expresses by word He also infuses into their minds. What a reward for the pious and faithful women who had constantly stood by the Crucified! "But they approached and held His feet, and adored Him." They do not doubt, they do not hesitate as some of the disciples (v. 17; Mark 16:14), nor does Christ need to prove to them in various ways that He is truly He who was crucified and risen (cf. Luke 24:38, 41); by what love they immediately recognize Him, as afterwards John (John 21:7). How much consolation and joy they experienced for the sorrow and sadness to which they were subject on Friday, is easier to touch by pious consideration than by words.
But by Jesus they are honored also by the fact that He sends them as messengers of His resurrection to the disciples. Verse 10: "Then said Jesus to them: 'Do not fear; go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee; there they will see Me.'" This message sent to the disciples ought to be a document to them that Jesus in no way bears it ill that they fled and were ignoble in the time of the passion, when from them no one except John was present at the cross or solicitous about the burial. Moreover, that He showed Himself first to the pious women and through them wishes to render the disciples certain, recalls also to the memory of the disciples the fidelity and constancy of the women.
But Jesus rising embraces His own with greater affection of love; never before had He addressed the disciples by that name by which now He orders them to be greeted by His salutary name: "My brethren." By this voice alone they are rendered certain how dear they are to Christ and with what dignity they are gifted by Him. While dwelling in mortal flesh He had called them "friends"; constituted in His glory, He calls them "brethren," for He considers this part of His glory, that He be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).
By this appearance and message, St. Jerome notes, "a reward of diligence is deferred to the women," who thus sought, who thus ran, merited to have the Lord rising meet them and first to hear "Hail." At the same time in this salutation and mission of the women it is indicated that now the time has come when the curse brought in by a woman is removed (St. Hilary, Jerome, Bede, Euthymius teach). Thus St. Hilary: "But that little women first see the Lord, are greeted, fall to the knees, are ordered to announce to the apostles, is the order rendered contrary to the cause of the principal [sin], so that because death was begun by this sex, to it first the glory and sight and fruit and message of the resurrection be rendered." Or as others say, "that the curse of Eve the woman be subverted in the women."
Christ wished also to honor the genus which had been made infamous by the serpent's seduction, and because formerly a woman was made to man a minister of sorrow, now women become to men ministers of joy (Euthymius). Moreover, it befitted the kindness of Christ that those who had wept with a lament as over an only-begotten and had grieved as is wont to be grieved in the death of a firstborn (Zechariah 12:10), should also first receive consolation and first rejoice with Jesus rising.
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