And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!"

 

 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.  His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.  And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.  

 

But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.  Behold, I have told you."  So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!"  So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.  Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."

 

- Matthew 28:1-10 

 

Yesterday we read that, at the time of Christ's death on the Cross, many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.  This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him.  When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.  And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.  On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.'  Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead.'  So the last deception will be worse than the first."  Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how."  So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

 

  Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.  His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.  And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.   My study Bible comments that this earthquake is a sign of Christ's great victory over death, and that it foreshadows the general resurrection of all humanity.  It asks us to note that the angel does not roll back the stone to let the Lord out, for in His glory, Christ could pass through solid rock (see John 20:19).  It rather allows the witnesses to see that He has already risen.  

But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.  Behold, I have told you."  So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.  My study Bible tells us that these women are the first witnesses of the supreme event in all history:  the Resurrection of Christ and the destruction of death.  It notes that the angel refers to Christ as the One who was crucified, teaching us that we should not shy away from Christ's death, but to glory in the Cross (1 Corinthians 2:2; Galatians 6:14), the weapon which Christ used to destroy death and the trophy of His victory.  In the liturgical services of Pascha/Easter in the Orthodox Church, this hymn is sung hundreds of times:  "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life."  St. Paul declares, "If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile" (1 Corinthians 15:17).  

And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!"  So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.  Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."  This greeting, literally translated as "Rejoice!" is the same one given to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel (Luke 1:26-28).  It remains a common formal greeting in the Greek language.

 

 Here is an interesting thing, that as Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to see the tomb, behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.  His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.  And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.  Well, just upon Christ's death on the Cross, we witness some similar-sounding things.  In Wednesday's reading, immediately upon being told that Christ yielded up His spirit, then, behold, the text says, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.  In today's reading, we get a similar kind of of event in which the elements of the earth respond, there is a great earthquake.  This corresponds to the angel of the Lord descending from heaven, rolling back the stone, and sitting upon it.  There are other startling earthly elements in this description of the angel, his countenance is like lightning, his clothing as white as snow.  These elements of flashing light (like lightning) and bright white clothing have been given to us also at the Transfiguration, in which we were given a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven as we're told that Jesus was transfigured before the disciples, that His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:1-2).  Here is the annunciation of the great news of Christ's victory over death, but -- if we can even imagine it, it is so much more than that.  For this victory over death is a victory given to us.  This ushering in of the manifestation of the Kingdom, is one in which we're invited to share in this glory, giving us a glimpse of what now becomes possible for humankind in terms of that victory over death.  The news is shared that Christ is risen.  These two women run out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy; and they ran to bring His disciples word.  Here is another startling anomaly; the women are given to both fear and great joy side by side.   We might pause to wonder how both of these things can exist in people at the same time, but with Christ -- and in this realm of the Kingdom -- all bets are off; the normal limitations of earthly life don't apply anymore, and paradox may abound, for it is in paradox where we find the divine, where we can approach works of the Lord which inspire both fear and great joy.  As they run to tell the disciples this great news, Christ Himself greets them:  "Rejoice!"  But here, Jesus casts out their fear.  He echoes the angel's message, and as He has said repeatedly to the disciples, tells them, "Do not be afraid" (Matthew 14:27; 17:7).  These women, now participating in the reality of the Kingdom, are elevated with a new mission:  "Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."  Because of this mission of being sent to the "brethren" with the good news of Christ's Resurrection and His appearance to them, Mary Magdalene is known as the "apostle to the apostles" in the Church, and is also known by the title "equal to the apostles."  Simply being a witness, and touching the Christ, has elevated her to this position, and so we may also see it as a portent of what is to come when all those who join the Resurrection may come to embrace the Christ the Bridegroom.  In a homily on this passage, St. John Chrysostom speaks eloquently to us all:  "Some among you may desire to be like these faithful women. You too may wish to take hold of the feet of Jesus. You can, even now. You can embrace not only his feet but also his hands and even his sacred head. You too can today receive these awesome mysteries with a pure conscience. You can embrace him not only in this life but also even more fully on that day when you shall see him coming with unspeakable glory, with a multitude of the angels. If you are so disposed, along with him, to be compassionate, you shall hear not only these words, 'All hail!' [Rejoice!] but also those others: 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world'."