Matthew 28:9-10 meaning

There is no obvious parallel account of Matthew 28:9-10 in the Gospels. It is possible that Mark 16:9-11 and John 20:11-18 are parallel accounts of this event.

After Matthew recounts the women’s departure from Jesus’s tomb and how they reported to the disciples what they saw and heard (Matthew 28:8), the next thing he narrates is how Jesus met and greeted them (v 9a).

This the first time that the Gospel of Matthew depicts someone encountering Jesus after His death and resurrection. However, when we harmonize this scripture with other Gospel accounts, we learn that this was most likely the second time someone had encountered the risen Lord. The first appearance of Jesus post-resurrection was with Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9, John 20:11-17).

Matthew seems to have skipped this appearance and other events that occurred between the time the women reported to the disciples seeing the angel inside the empty tomb (Matthew 28:8) and the second appearance of Jesus recorded in Matthew 28:9-10.

After describing how the women saw the angel inside Jesus’s empty tomb and heard his message that “Jesus has risen” (Matthew 28:5-7), Matthew writes:

“And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.”
(Matthew 28:8)

Here is a brief list of events that appear to have taken place between the women’s departure in Matthew 28:8 and Jesus’s second resurrection appearance beginning in Matthew 28:9.

1. The Women Report to the Disciples—Luke 24:9-11

The women found the disciples and told them what they saw and what the angel said, but the disciples did not believe them.

2. Peter and John Investigate—Luke 24:12, John 20:3-10

Peter and John went to the tomb to investigate the women’s claims. They found the tomb open and empty. They did not see Jesus or any angels, only His grave clothes. They returned in wonder.

3. Jesus first appears to Mary Magdalene at His Tomb—Mark 16:9, John 20:11-17

Mary Magdalene returned to Jesus’s tomb, but did not see the angel that the women reported, and began to weep. Then two angels appeared and asked her why she was weeping. In her grief she did not recognize them as angels. She answered their question according to her assumption that the religious leaders had nefariously and secretly relocated Jesus’s body. A third person appeared behind Mary Magdalene and asked her why she was weeping. She assumed this person was the gardener and that he may know where they took Jesus’s body. Then this person called her by name, “Mary” and she recognized Him as Jesus.

This was the first recorded appearance of Jesus to a human after He was raised from the dead.

4. Mary Magdalene Tells the Disciples she has seen Jesus Alive—Mark 16:10-11, John  20:18

The disciples were still confused and likely grieving when Mary Magdalene returned and told them she had seen the Lord, but they refused to believe her.

It seems that the women who saw the angel when they visited Jesus’s tomb earlier that morning (Matthew 28:5-8, Mark 16:2-8, Luke 24:1-11) returned to His tomb in response to Mary’s testimony. If so, they came in the hopes that they also might see Jesus alive. Mary Magdalene may have gone with them. If Mary Magdalene did go with them, then she would have gotten to see Jesus at least two times that day.

For a more detailed account of the events pertaining to Jesus’s resurrection, see The Bible Says article: “How can the Biblical Events Concerning Jesus’s Resurrection be Harmonized?—Part 1: The Day Jesus Rose from the Dead.”

This appears to be the point where Matthew resumes his narrative of Jesus’s resurrection.

And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him (v 9).

This was the second recorded appearance of Jesus after His resurrection—but it was the first appearance recorded in Matthew.

The women, whom Jesus met, had responded in faith to the angel’s message that “He has risen” (Matthew 28:5-6). They faithfully carried out the angel’s instruction to “Go quickly and tell His disciples” (Matthew 28:7). And it appears that they alone responded in faith to Mary Magdalene’s testimony that she had seen Jesus alive (Mark 16:10-11).

Now it seems that Jesus was rewarding them for acting on their faith that He was risen indeed.

Matthew does not specify where this appearance took place. But the context of Matthew and the other Gospels make it evident that neither the other disciples or anyone else was present. So, it makes sense that this appearance took place outside of the city—and the most logical place for this meeting was somewhere near Jesus’s tomb.

Matthew writes of this special appearance that Jesus met them and greeted them. The fact that Jesus greeted them suggests that Jesus recognized the women before they recognized Him. This seems to have been a pattern. In several post-resurrection encounters those who knew Him had trouble recognizing Him when they first saw Him, including:

• His first encounter with Mary Magdalene
  (John 20:11-17)

• His fourth recorded encounter on the road to Emmaus
  (Luke 24:13-32)

• His seventh appearance on the Galilean shore
  (John 21:1-23)

Once the women recognized Jesus, they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.

Previously the women had believed and worshipped Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. They had known Jesus well and served with Him from their time together in Galilee, supporting His ministry in various ways, including financially (Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:41, Luke 8:2-3). These women were with Him at His cross when He suffered and died (Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40, Luke 23:49, John 19:25b). They saw where He was buried and made plans to prepare His body for burial (Matthew 27:61, Mark 15:47, Luke 23:55-56).

Now that they were seeing Jesus alive again with their own eyes, they worshiped Him. The women’s prior belief in Jesus and His divine identity was instantly affirmed by the visible, empirical, and irrefutable evidence of His resurrection from the dead.

The women’s worship of Jesus was the appropriate response when He met and greeted them. Matthew wrote that they took hold of His feet when the women came up to Him. This indicated that they threw themselves on the ground in worship. Their posture was most likely face downward, hugging His feet.

This posture was an act of total reverence and genuine love.

Laying on the ground at someone’s feet was no mere act of reverence in the ancient world. It was the display of absolute submission. Their worshipping at Jesus’s feet was an act of complete surrender to His lordship. These women were showing Jesus that they were fully devoted to Him.

But there was more to the women’s worship of Jesus than devotion and submission. They were also showing their love for Him. They took hold of His feet—as if hugging His ankles. This was an act of love.

These women loved Jesus—both as a human and as God.

Their love for Jesus as God was displayed in their worship of Him and the way they had followed Jesus with their lives and supported His ministry. Jesus had rescued them from the hopelessness in their lives. His teachings were words of eternal life (John 6:68). And these women had ministered to and served with their Messiah since His days in Galilee (Luke 8:3). During their work together, their respect for Jesus and His mission likely grew over time.

As a human, Jesus was also their friend.

They were devastated with grief when Jesus, their rabbi and friend, was condemned, tortured, and crucified to death. Their sorrows were on multiple levels.

On the one hand, His followers were grieved and confused when Jesus suffered and died because they did not understand that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things for the salvation of themselves and of Israel (Luke 18:34). They were also grieved because their friend was unjustly and cruelly humiliated and murdered. The past three days had been one of terrible loss and bewilderment for these women.

Their encounter with the angel that morning reversed their sorrow into hope and joy (Matthew 28:8)—as Jesus had predicted (John 16:20-22). When the women heard that Mary Magdalene had actually seen Jesus (Mark 16:10, John 20:18) it probably further encouraged their hearts. While the other disciples continued to doubt Mary Magdalene, these women seem to have believed her since they eagerly went to seek Jesus for themselves.

When Jesus greeted them, it thrilled their hearts with immense joy to finally see what the angel and Mary Magdalene had told them—that Jesus, their Messiah and friend, was truly alive again.

At this point in the commentary, it is appropriate to consider another aspect concerning the women taking hold of Jesus’s feet.

According to John, it seems when Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus, she hugged Him tightly, as if to keep Him close by so that He would never leave her again. As she was doing this, “Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father…’” (John 20:17a).

Matthew does not record Jesus saying anything like this to these women as they responded in a similar way to seeing Him alive again. Matthew only writes:

Then Jesus said to them (the women), “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me” (v 10).

If John’s account of Jesus saying to Mary Magdalene, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father” was significant to understanding Jesus’s resurrection, it would seem that Matthew would have included it.

However, since John describes himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and tends to look at things through a more relational lens, it seems likely that John is recording an intimate and even humorous moment that further elevates Jesus’s humanity. Even though Jesus has defeated death, He is still as human as before. Even though Jesus now has authority over all things, He still has a personal, one-on-one relationship with Mary. It seems Jesus is rewarding Mary’s devotion. Not only was she so devoted that she was persistently present, she also appears to have been Jesus’s top financial supporter (Luke 8:2-3).

Jesus will ascend to heaven forty days after He rose from the grave (Acts 1:3, 9). It seems that Jesus is playfully saying to Mary, “I am not ascending for a few more days, so you can let go of Me” because she was, in her exuberance, clinging to Him so tightly. This appears to be an intimate moment between Mary Magdalene, who has devoted her life and finances to her savior, and Jesus who loves her.

This illustration of relational intimacy may be an example of what John had in mind when he recorded Jesus’s prayer, where He said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). The term “eternal life” refers to the greatest possible fulfillment in life. The greatest possible fulfillment in life comes from relationally knowing God and from relationally knowing Jesus Christ.

Mary had come to know Jesus through a walk of faith. She believed Jesus and followed Him. She believed the angel and did as he said. When Mary apparently hugged Jesus so tightly He could not move, He did not express exasperation. Rather, He told her, “You can ease up, I am not going anywhere for a while.” It is a touching moment that gives each believer a picture of how we can interact with Jesus spiritually.

In Revelation, Jesus exhorts each believer to hear His voice and invite Him in to have an intimate conversation, as one would have over a meal (Revelation 3:20). This is the way to gain true and lasting riches (Revelation 3:18). Scripture honors the memory of Mary Magdalene with this record of faithfulness. It is worth reminding that Mary had a wicked and twisted past that she had overcome through faith and devotion to Christ (Luke 8:2).

Each of us can live in intimate relationship with Jesus by faith. It is in this way that we gain the greatest possible benefit from living on this earth. It is inferred in Revelation 3:17-20 that living in spiritual intimacy with Jesus is the path to gain true and lasting riches and honor, from God rather than from the world.

It is all the more remarkable to consider this intimate and personal moment with a formerly demon-possessed woman when we reflect that while Jesus’s body lay in the grave for three days He was the centerpiece of a complete reordering of the cosmos.

For instance, Hebrews describes a priestly duty Jesus performed in heaven,

“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
(Hebrews 9:11-12)

• Jesus is the perfect and “great high priest who has passed through the heavens” (Hebrews 4:14). His priesthood is eternal (Hebrews 7:26). He is a sinless high priest (Hebrews 7:26).

• Jesus is the perfect and eternal sacrifice (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 9:26, 10:1-4, 10:10-14).

• The true temple is in heaven. The earthly temple, altar, etc. are manmade copies of the heavenly tabernacle (Hebrews 8:1-5, 9:23-24).

We will see in Matthew 28:18 that Jesus asserts that “all authority” had already been granted Him prior to ascending to heaven in Acts 1:9. So it seems reasonable to infer that:

• All sins were placed on Jesus while He was on the cross (Colossians 2:14),
• Jesus entered the Holy Place in heaven with Himself as the perfect sacrifice, making atonement for the sins of the world (Hebrews 9), and
• While in heaven, Jesus was granted all authority and was seated with His Father on His throne of authority (Matthew 28:18, Revelation 3:21).

What Matthew did record Jesus as saying to the women when He met and greeted them was as follows:

Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

Jesus reassured His friends that they had nothing to fear when He said: Do not be afraid.

One thing Jesus may have been trying to accomplish by telling them Do not be afraid was to comfort their nerves. Seeing their friend, who was dead, now alive and standing before them, would have been shocking. As good as it was, it was a lot for their hearts and minds to process. Seeing Him may have been startling, so He reassured them.

Another thing Jesus may have meant by this expression was that the painful ordeal of the cross and His death was finished. Jesus was no longer dead. He was and is forever alive. And as Jesus told His disciples, “because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19b). Therefore, they did not need to be afraid anymore.

It is possible that Jesus meant both these things.

The next thing Jesus said to the women was, “go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

Jesus refers to His disciples as My brethren. This is a more intimate term. Family is more permanent than a teacher-student relationship. It suggests an unbreakable bond. By calling His runaway disciples who abandoned Him in His time of danger My Brethren, Jesus demonstrates His incredible forgiveness of them (Matthew 26:56).

It is also an expression that humbles Jesus as a servant leader and elevates His disciples and puts them into a familial category. Previously, Jesus had elevated His disciples to the status of “friends” (John 15:15). Now, He takes this even further and calls them, My brethren.

Jesus is not only our Creator (Colossians 1:16-17) as well as the head of the body of Christ and the husband of that body (Ephesians 5:30-32). He is also our older brother. All these human relationships provide a picture of how we can relate to the Triune God.

Jesus made clear that it was not only the disciples that could share this intimate fellowship of being a brother. During His ministry, Jesus taught “whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50).

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, describes Jesus as “the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

The author of Hebrews says that “the reason [why Jesus] is not ashamed to call [His followers] brethren” is because “He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father” (Hebrews 2:11).

Jesus repeated the instruction the angel had given them to tell His disciples to go to Galilee. This was the third time the disciples either were instructed or were to be given word to meet Jesus in Galilee.

The first time His disciples were instructed to meet Jesus in Galilee was by Jesus Himself as they travelled from their Passover Seder to the Garden of Gethsemane,

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, “I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.” But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.’”
(Matthew 26:31-32—See also Mark 14:27-28)

When Jesus said this to His disciples the first time, He was trying to prepare them for what was to come—His betrayal, condemnation, crucifixion, and death. But more specifically He was trying to prepare them for their negative reaction to those events. He predicted they would abandon Him that night, but Jesus wanted them to know that their falling away was not going to be final. He still had plans for them. Which is why He said, “after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee” (Matthew 26:23).

This is a remarkable statement that not only predicted His resurrection but also informed His disciples what to do once He has raised from the dead, which was see Him in Galilee.

However, at the time, the disciples seem to have overlooked both the prediction about His resurrection and the instruction to see Him in Galilee. They focused exclusively on Jesus’s prediction that they would fall away that very night, and took issue with it (Matthew 26:33-35).

The second time His disciples were given word to see Jesus in Galilee was from the women who repeated the message the angel gave them at the empty tomb.

“Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”
(Matthew 28:7—See also Mark 16:7, Luke 24:6)

The women “reported all these things” (Luke 24:9) that they saw and heard, including giving this instruction for the disciples to head to Galilee, after they joyfully returned from the tomb. But the disciples ignored this instruction along with many of the other wonderful things the women said (Luke 24:11).

Now, as Jesus personally met and greeted the group of women, He instructed them to take word to His brethren to leave for Galilee because there they would see Him and be given further instruction. Once the women delivered Jesus’s message, it would have been the third time the disciples had been given this instruction.

The Bible does not specify why Jesus wanted to see His disciples in Galilee and not Jerusalem or somewhere else. It only tells us that He repeatedly instructed them to leave for Galilee. There are several reasons why Jesus may have desired His disciples to leave Jerusalem for Galilee:

• Galilee was where Jesus’s Messianic ministry began to take off and was headquartered.
  Perhaps He wanted to take His disciples back to the beginning, before they embarked on this new and much longer stage of their discipleship after His ascension. By relocating to Galilee, perhaps the disciples would be more able to effectively recall the things He had previously taught them, since He would commission them to teach His commands to all nations (Matthew 28:18-20)

• Galilee was a more practical locale than Jerusalem.
  It would be easier for Jesus to personally invest in His disciples in Galilee than in the bustling city during the short remainder of time they had together, since Jesus was to ascend after forty days (Acts 1:3). Any sightings of Jesus in Jerusalem would have drawn much attention, especially in the wake of His resurrection. Galilee could provide a haven for Jesus to lay low with His disciples as He prepared them for their next mission.

• Jesus commanded His Disciples to go to Galilee as a test of faith.
  The disciples had all abandoned Jesus when He was arrested (Matthew 26:56). Nevertheless, Jesus still had great plans to use them in the establishment of His kingdom. But the disciples also needed to choose this for themselves.
  
  By instructing them to return to Galilee before they saw Him it gave them an opportunity to follow Him by faith and renew their faith in Him. God veils His presence such that humans can either choose to see Him everywhere, as in Psalm 19, or choose not to see Him, as in Romans 1:19-22. We gain the greatest possible benefit in life when we follow God by faith (John 20:29).
  
  If this was a test of faith, it took the disciples a considerable period of time before they finally passed. They were still hiding in Jerusalem the first evening and had trouble believing what they were seeing when they first saw Him raised from the dead (Luke 24:33-44, John 20:19-23). They finally did go to Galilee but only after being told three times.

Jesus could have had some, all, or none of these reasons for why He commanded His disciples to leave for Galilee after His resurrection. He likely had other reasons in mind, including specific reasons for each disciple.

Neither Matthew, nor the other Gospels explicitly describe the scene when the women delivered His message to the disciples. But Matthew later indicates that they were obedient to Jesus’s command (Matthew 28:16). The next verse indicates the women’s obedience when it says, “while they were on their way” (Matthew 28:11). This expression means while they were carrying out Jesus’s instructions.

Presumably, most if not all of the disciples continued to dismiss the women’s claims that they saw Jesus alive. What is clear is that the disciples did not immediately heed Jesus’s instructions for them. The disciples seem to have been bothered by these reports and continued to discuss them throughout the day (Luke 24:22-24). Later that evening, Jesus meets most of His eleven disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:33-43, John 20:19-24).

Eventually the disciples do leave for Galilee where they see Jesus at the mountain He had designated (Matthew 28:16). It was there that Jesus gave them the Great Commission (Matthew 28:17-20).