Resurrection in Matthew (27:62-28:20)


Every Gospel starts with the women coming to the tomb (28:1) Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the sepulcher. In Mark 16:1, Luke 24:1, John 20:1 this sequence is perfectly logical since the prior scene is the burial of Jesus…transitional between death and resurrection. However, Matthew puts the inserted story of the guard at the sepulcher between the burial and the next morning arrival of the women. We could skip this insertion of 4 verses 27:62-66, but elements of it recur in 28:2-4, 11-15 so the other option is to begin the resurrection story of Matthew in 27:62.


Matthew’s resurrection narrative has 5 elements:

  1. 27:57-61: Burial by Joseph of Arimathea

  2. 27:62-66: Chief priests and Pharisees place guards at tomb

  3. 28:1-10: Women come to sepulcher, angel appears, frightens guards..they are to tell the disciples Jesus is risen, and Jesus appears to the women

  4. 28:11-15: Guards bribed by chief priests and assembled elders to lie that the disciples stole the body

  5. 28:16-20: Appearance of Jesus to the eleven disciples and his commissioning them to go to all nations.


Elements 1, 3, 5 are favorable accounts of Jesus, his friends, the disciples, and the start of the mission after his death but the scenes 2 and 4 are the hostile Jewish authorities and Roman guards.


The infancy narrative also has 5 motifs with similar structure to this.


  1. 1:18-25 revelation by an angel of the Lord to Joseph about Jesus’ conception, instructing him to recognize Jesus as his son.

  2. 2:1-12: the magi come from the East to worship the king of the Jews, only to encounter a hostile Herod with the chief priests and scribes. The magi worship Jesus.

  3. 2:13-15: Revelation by the angel of the Lord to Joseph to take the child and his mother to Egypt and preserve the child’s life.

  4. 2:16-18 Herod kills the male children of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill Jesus.

  5. 2:19-23: Revelation by the angel of the Lord to Joseph that those who sought the child’s life are dead and he should return to Nazareth.


Again scenes 1,3,5 are positive, 2 and 4 are negative.


At the birth Herod the secular ruler worked with chief priests and Pharisees to prevent his career, and at the end of the Gospel the chief priests and Pharisees work with Pilate to prevent a legacy for his ministry. God will frustrate the might of these men and at the end of the resurrection story as in the infancy narrative, Jesus emerges triumphant, a lesson of encouragement for the readers of Matthew’s gospel and for us.


Irony: 3 times Jesus predicted his death and resurrection (Matt 16:21, 17:22, 20:17) and instead of the disciples understanding this passage suggests that the chief priests understood. At the Sanhedrin trial the charge was blasphemy and now the point is the veracity of the resurrection claim.


It is likely that the Pharisees are named explicitly in Matthew because by the time this gospel is written they are the opposing Jewish leadership, despite the fact that the Pharisees play almost no role in the Matthean passion narrative. Hence we might imagine that the Pharisees were the skeptics about the resurrection of Jesus and gave rise to this writing from a polemical or apologetical tone.


28:1-10

Women at the tomb, angel and Jesus’ own revelation


Matthew is very distinct here. “as soon as the Sabbath is over (about 6 pm on Saturday) Mary x2 go to see the tomb [Mark, John, Luke place this about dawn, “the sun had risen” in Mark, but it was dark in John]. Since the guards are at the tomb we have no mention of spices to anoint the body. When the women arrive they see a series of marvelous events: there is an earthquake, the rocks are split, the tombs were opened; many bodies of the saints were raised…” Matthew wants to signal that Jesus death and resurrection have cosmic importance!


[Remember in the infancy narrative as the King of the Jews was born a star appeared in the East].


Matthew has an angel descend and roll away the stone, picking up an apocalyptic theme from Daniel (Dan 7:9 cf Mt 17:2).


The Gospel of Peter places the resurrection at this moment.


In Matthew and the other 3 gospels there is no claim for when the resurrection occurred, for this mystical event is beyond space and time and cannot be seen, documented, for photographed in language. The point is to show the empty tomb.


These women respond to the messenger like most OT accounts of angelic announcements…an encouragement for the Christian readers when receiving and sharing the good news of the risen Lord. They are being invited to go quickly with reverential fear and great joy!


Then Jesus appears to them (look at 1 Cor 15:5).


Their response is worship! The way we should all respond to the presence of the Lord.

There is no mention of not touching him here as there is in John.


3. 28:11-15 Matthew returns to the story of the guard.

The chief priests do not repent and believe! There is a vivid contrast throughout this scene. The authorities are telling the guards to lie, whereas the disciples are to go and tell the world whatever he has commanded. The plot, bribe, deliberate falsehood and promise to placate is a reflection of prejudice of early Christians toward Jewish hostilities. There are other sources of information that support the hostile tensions among Jews, Pharisees and Sadducees, Essenes, etc. Christians may learn that hostile apologetics on either side is futile and does little to further the religious cause that one deems right.


4. 28:16-20 Appearance of Jesus to disciples on mountain in Galilee


Final scene shifts from Jerusalem to Galilee, of the Gentiles (land where Jesus began his ministry, 4:18)…like in Mark, Jesus goes before them into Galilee. Both the angel and Jesus tells them he will see them in Galilee. The mountain reference may intend the place where he taught the Sermon on the Mount (5:1) and where he was transfigured before Peter, James and john (17:1). Again this is a Mosaic image: on the Mount Moses encountered God, received the law, and on a mountain, Jesus taught them a “new law” you have heard it said, but I say unto you….and here they worship him. Just as the magi did in the birth narrative. Matthew includes the observation that some doubted, but Jesus still comes and doubting or not, they worshiped him, and he responded to them.


If some resurrection stories point back to show us the risen one is the crucified one, they also point forward to the mission that the resurrection must produce, reflecting an insistence on sharing it with others. We might call these aspects the church founding appearances. (Mark 16:14-15, Matt Luke John …such appearances makes these witnesses Apostles!]


Matt 28:19-20 “All authority or power in heaven and on earth has been given to me; go therefore…. (Dan 7:14) so that all nations and languages would serve him. The eschatological and apocalyptic atmosphere is a transmission scene. The authority of the church is delegated from Jesus who has been elevated and has authority on heaven and on earth. The Apostles are not longer to wait but to go out and proclaim the gospel to all nations, accomplished by baptism (Acts 2:38; 10:48, 1 Cor 6:11) in the name of Jesus, but it is Matthew that became the catechism of the Christian church: 28:19 baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.


Matthew’s gospel dates about 80 AD (about 45-50 years after death of Jesus) it is already a Trinitarian formula: the Father and the Holy Spirit are part of all the work Jesus did and that continues as God works in believers and in the church. By the time the Apostles Creed is adopted (100 years later) three divine agents are named with distinctive functions but as one God.


Ongoing work of God in the world through the church is linked to the last verse, Behold I am with you all days to the end of time. (28:20) // Matt 1:23 “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they will name him Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.”