Father Knabenbauer: Commentary on Matthew 28:8–15
Mt 28:8 And they went out quickly from the tomb…
The heavenly appearance, suited to the place, filled them with a certain holy fear, but at the same time brought them joy, and far greater joy. With hurried steps they hasten to announce such glad tidings to the disciples. [Matt 28:8] And they went out quickly from the tomb. Although Matthew made no mention of their having entered the tomb, by now saying that they went out, he shows that they had first entered. Euthymius [Zigabenus] notes how accurately his brief narrative agrees with what Mark 16:5 and Luke 24:3 record. With fear and great joy. “Great” refers only to joy, as is clear from the Greek. Running to announce to his disciples.
What follows in v. 9, And behold, Jesus met them, etc., I do not think happened immediately after this first departure from the tomb. For those two disciples going to Emmaus, in the afternoon, know nothing except that the women had gone to the tomb and had said that they had seen a vision of angels. From this it seems to follow that Christ had not yet appeared to those women when they first returned from the tomb. For it can hardly be supposed either that the women spoke of the vision of angels but kept silent about the appearance of the Lord himself, or that the two disciples considered the women’s report not even worth mentioning, as being far removed from truth, and therefore dismissed it. Since St. Matthew briefly sets forth certain proofs of the resurrection, he can in no way be understood to mean that the events he narrates followed one another without any interval of time. Nor does this follow from the phrase et ecce (“and behold”), as has often been noted; nor is it required for the force of the proof that Christ appeared to them immediately at dawn. If this appearance is referred to a later time, it is also easily explained how what is found in Mark 16:8 is true: they fled from the tomb and said nothing to anyone.
Mt 28:9–10 Jesus, however, who in rising is wholly intent on comforting His own, addresses them gently: Hail (χαίρετε), and what He expresses in word, He also pours into their hearts. What a reward for the pious and faithful women who had steadfastly remained at the crucifixion! But they approached and held His feet and worshiped Him. They do not doubt, they do not hesitate, as some of the disciples did [v. 17; Mark 16:14], nor does Christ need to prove to them in various ways that He who was crucified has truly risen [cf. Luke 24:38–41]. With what love do they immediately recognize Him, just as John did later [John 21:7]! How much consolation and joy they experienced in exchange for the grief and sorrow to which they were subject on Good Friday is more easily grasped by pious reflection than by words. Moreover, they are honored by Jesus in that He sends them as messengers of His resurrection to the disciples. [Matt 28:10] Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go, tell My brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.” This message sent to the disciples should also serve as proof to them that Jesus in no way resents their flight and cowardice at the time of the Passion, when none of them except John was present at the cross or concerned about His burial. And by first showing Himself to the pious women and wishing to inform the disciples through them, He also brings to the disciples’ remembrance the women’s fidelity and constancy.
Moreover, the risen Jesus embraces His own with even greater affection. Never before had He addressed the disciples with the title by which He now commands them to be greeted: My brothers. By this single word they are made certain of how dear they are to Christ and with what dignity He bestows upon them. While living in mortal flesh, He had called them friends; now, established in His glory, He calls them brothers. For He considers this a part of His glory: to be the firstborn among many brothers [Rom 8:29]. St. Jerome notes that by this appearance and message, a reward is bestowed upon the women for their zeal: those who sought so earnestly, who ran so eagerly, deserved to meet the risen Lord and first hear “Hail.” At the same time, St. Hilary, Jerome, Bede, and Euthymius teach that in this greeting and mission of the women, it is indicated that the time has now come when the curse brought in through a woman is removed. Thus St. Hilary: In that the little women first see the Lord, are greeted, fall at His knees, and are commanded to announce to the apostles, the order is reversed for the sake of the principal cause, so that because death began through this sex, the glory, sight, fruit, and news of the resurrection should first be restored to them. Or, as others say, so that the curse of Eve the woman might be overturned in women. Moreover, Christ willed to honor the sex that had been disgraced by the serpent’s deception, and because woman once became man’s minister of sorrow, now women become men’s ministers of joy [Euthymius]. Furthermore, it befitted Christ’s kindness that those who had mourned with a lament as for an only begotten, and grieved as is customary at the death of a firstborn [Zech 12:10], should also be the first to receive consolation and the first to rejoice with the risen Jesus.
Mt 28:11–15: The Perversity of the Sanhedrists
Now follows the testimony to the resurrection given by enemies, and therefore least of all suspect [Albertus Magnus]. How greatly the leaders of the people resist the known truth and stifle truth with falsehood is evident from this narrative. At the same time, it illustrates how true that saying of Jesus is: If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead [Luke 16:31]. Since Matthew intended his book for the Jews, he was persuaded by many reasons to lay bare this perversity of the people’s leaders openly.
Matt 28:11 While they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city. (τινες, i.e., two or four from the band of guards who were keeping watch at that time; cf. Acts 12:4). Since it says while they were going, some conclude that the guards, hidden in the hedges, saw and heard from those hiding places all that the angel said to the women [Cornelius a Lapide], but this is improbable. For by the earthquake and the angel’s appearance they were rendered as dead from fear, a phrase that utterly excludes that hiding behind hedges to observe what might happen next. But when they recovered from that stupor, it becomes absolutely certain from the nature of the event and human instinct that they fled with the utmost haste from that terrifying place. Since the guards had been sent neither by the governor nor by the cohort’s tribune, but by the priests, to whom the governor had handed over the whole matter [27:65], they report and announced to the chief priests all things that had happened.
Into what distress the priests were thrown is clear. For the unanimous testimony of the guards could not be rejected; it could be shown by no means that they had failed in their duty. They greatly feared that what had happened at the tomb would be spread among the people, that faith in Christ’s resurrection would be widely disseminated, and thus the last error would become worse than the first. Moreover, by sending the guards, they themselves had caused witnesses to the miracle to arise, making it utterly incredible that the body had been secretly taken away by the disciples. In this situation, the leaders of the people manifest the full perversity and iniquity of their hearts. Those who had previously attributed Christ’s miracles and the clearest works of God to the prince of demons still did not shrink from crushing divine testimony with a most shameful lie. [Matt 28:12] And having assembled with the elders, they took counsel and gave a large sum of money to the soldiers (ἀργύρια ἱκανά, i.e., as much as was necessary to win the soldiers over to their side, persuading them to spread the lie without fear). Those who had bought the blood of the living and crucified One now tried again to suppress the news of the resurrection with money [St. John Chrysostom]. [Matt 28:13] Saying, “Say that his disciples came by night and stole him while we were sleeping.”
The evangelist thus reveals that such a plan was devised by the supreme religious magistracy of the Jews, and that the soldiers were corrupted with a large sum of money and led into a shameful lie. What could more clearly demonstrate by such perversity how inexcusable they were and how far they were from the kingdom of God? That the tomb was found empty could not be suppressed by silence; it had to become known everywhere quickly. Therefore, the only concern of those wicked men could be that the guards say they had slept. Perhaps because it seemed too ridiculous to them to guard a crucified corpse for the sake of the priests, and that, having awakened from a long sleep, they saw the tomb empty, it would necessarily have to be concluded that the disciples, taking advantage of the sleep, had stolen the body. As things stood, by this one path the priests could somehow extricate themselves from the tight spot they had prepared for themselves by their own zeal, if they refused to confess the truth. They did this with great cunning, but at the same time it is true what St. Augustine says: O unhappy cunning! You produce sleeping witnesses; truly you yourself have fallen asleep who, by investigating such things, have lost your way [on Ps 63, n. 15; PL 36, 768].
And lest the soldiers hesitate or suspect that they would be lying to their own detriment, they prudently add, [Matt 28:14] And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. (ἐπὶ τοῦ ἡγεμόνος; most manuscripts have ὑπό, which seems to have been introduced by correction) “before the governor,” i.e., if the rumor of this matter reaches the governor. Therefore, in a general sense, Maldonatus, Schanz, Fillion, Passaglia, and others say: if the matter is brought before the governor as judge, if a judicial inquiry is instituted. Cajetan, Lamy, Keil, Weiss, however, think “is heard” does not refer to a judicial action. They say with emphasis: We—namely, men of noble standing and great influence with the procurator—we, by whom you were sent and for whose benefit you kept watch, we will appease him and make him favorable to you, and we will keep you blameless. This was indeed well suited to make the soldiers promise themselves impunity, even if they said they had slept. For if those very men, whose chief interest it was that they should keep watch and to whose loss they confessed they had given way to sleep, were to assert to the procurator that the soldiers were free from all guilt and would intercede for them, there was nothing to fear. With this hope held out, the soldiers, enticed by a large sum of money, could be induced and drawn to lie without much difficulty.
Among the Roman nobility themselves, it was no longer unusual to be corrupted by gifts and money. It is known that certain nobles, for whom wealth was more important than what is good and honorable, as Sallust says [Jug. 8], inflamed Jugurtha’s not insignificant spirit by promising, saying that in Rome everything was for sale. It is equally well known that Jugurtha, upon leaving Rome, is reported to have said that the city was for sale if it could find a buyer [1.35]. Cicero also bitterly complains that this evil of greed has invaded the republic [De Off. 2.21]. Since this evil was spreading widely everywhere, who could doubt that the soldiers, attracted by money and secure in impunity, would easily lie? St. Chrysostom aptly notes that the priests were caught by their own actions: for if they had not gone to Pilate nor asked for a guard, they could more easily have impudently asserted these things; but now it is not so, for they did everything as if they had wanted to sew their own mouths shut.
Matt 28:15 Therefore the soldiers, having received the money, did as they were instructed. It is no wonder if the soldiers were corrupted for money, since even one of His disciples was corrupted [Sirach 10:9; There is nothing more wicked than the lover of money; St. Thomas]. And this story has been spread abroad among the Jews to this day. Understand this story as that which the soldiers were ordered to spread: that the disciples stole the body of Jesus by night. Since it says among the Jews, the opinion of some is improbable, namely that what was spread was the very fact that had been narrated, i.e., that the soldiers, corrupted by money, lied about the theft perpetrated by the disciples. The former understanding is rightly by far the most common, both among the ancients and among modern scholars. And St. Justin indeed reproaches the Jews: You have appointed chosen men and sent them throughout the whole world to proclaim that a certain impious and lawless sect was raised up by a certain Jesus the Galilean, and that when he was crucified by us, his disciples stole him by night from the tomb, and now they deceive men by saying that he has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven [Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 108; cf. ch. 17; PG 6, 727, 314; cf. Tertullian, Against Marcion 3.23; Eusebius, on Isa 18:1].
Rationalists object that what is narrated here is utterly improbable, for Roman military discipline was very strict, and it could not have happened that the procurator did not punish soldiers who, by their own most foolish lie, deprived themselves of every excuse. But these critics do not notice what St. Thomas already wisely observes: it must be said that the governor did not care much, and the priests knew that he would not punish the soldiers unless they complained. For since the soldiers, sent by the priests, were keeping watch for the priests’ cause and benefit, certainly there was no reason for the procurator to investigate the matter as long as those very men, whose interests were at stake, brought nothing to his attention. Nor should it be supposed that a Roman procurator was so deferential toward the Jews that, on account of a popular rumor, he would immediately institute an inquiry if the soldiers had done anything against the Jews. Finally, does it not already clearly appear from 27:65 that Pilate was already weary of the whole matter concerning Jesus’ condemnation and death? Moreover, the priests knew very well why it was highly advisable not to accuse the soldiers of negligence. For if they had accused them, the soldiers would have publicly exposed what they had witnessed, and nothing could be brought against their unanimous testimony; indeed, the priests’ own assertion that Jesus had said, “After three days I will rise,” would have added weight to the soldiers’ account. The priests, therefore, did what the situation demanded: if they did not wish to submit to the truth, it was the only thing they could do to extricate themselves in whatever way possible from the pit they had dug for themselves. The news of Jesus’ resurrection was soon spreading through the city and region; therefore, something had to be set against this news by those who, it was equally well known, had been most anxious about guarding the tomb lest such a rumor arise. Thus, the truth of the narrative is vainly attacked from internal arguments.
CONTINUE
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