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Matthew 28:8-10
The narrative follows their hurried departure, adds Jesus’ brief appearance as confirmation, and repeats the travel-and-tell direction toward Galilee.
Meaning in context
The narrative follows their hurried departure, adds Jesus’ brief appearance as confirmation, and repeats the travel-and-tell direction toward Galilee.
Section 2 of 5
Jesus meets the women on the road
The narrative follows their hurried departure, adds Jesus’ brief appearance as confirmation, and repeats the travel-and-tell direction toward Galilee.
Movement
Messiah and kingdom fulfillment
Artifact
Kingdom teaching and fulfillment
Biblical Timeline
Jesus' Ministry
Matthew context: AD 29 - AD 33
Biblical Timeline
Jesus' Ministry
Matthew context
Jesus' Ministry / AD 29 - AD 33
Matthew context is set in Jesus' ministry, where Jesus' public ministry, teaching, signs, death, and resurrection.
Scripture Text
Thesis
The narrative follows their hurried departure, adds Jesus’ brief appearance as confirmation, and repeats the travel-and-tell direction toward Galilee.
Verse by Verse
Leaving the tomb with mixed emotions The women depart “quickly,” showing urgency. They carry two strong feelings at once: fear and “great joy.” Their immediate purpose is practical: they run to bring word to Jesus’ disciples, turning the tomb encounter into a message to be delivered.
Jesus meets them and they respond While they are on the way to tell the disciples, Jesus unexpectedly meets them. His greeting (“Rejoice!”) interrupts their run with a direct encounter. The women approach, take hold of his feet, and worship him, treating him as present, tangible, and worthy of honor.
Jesus steadies them and assigns a message Jesus addresses their fear directly: “Don’t be afraid.” He then gives them a specific instruction to deliver: tell “my brothers” to go into Galilee. The promise attached to the instruction is that “there they will see me,” making Galilee the next appointed meeting point.
Literary Context
This scene follows the discovery of the empty tomb and the angelic instruction to report to Jesus’ disciples (immediately prior to v. 8). It functions as a quick confirmation of the message the women are carrying: the risen Jesus personally appears in the middle of their mission. The passage also advances the narrative toward the next location, Galilee, which becomes the setting for the remaining resurrection appearance and closing commission in the chapter (later in Matthew 28:16–20). The logic is simple: receive news, run to report it, meet Jesus, receive clarified instructions.
Historical Context
Matthew’s ending is set in Roman-ruled Judea and nearby Galilee, with Jerusalem as the center of temple life and of the events surrounding Jesus’ execution. Travel between Jerusalem and Galilee was common, but it still meant a substantial journey north. Socially, women often served as key participants in mourning and burial practices, and they could be first on the scene at a tomb. Publicly announcing extraordinary claims could create risk, so the mix of fear and urgency fits the setting. The shift from Jerusalem toward Galilee also reflects different regional centers of activity within first-century Jewish life.
Theological Significance
Questions
Keep Studying
Matthew presents the women as the first carriers of the resurrection message. They leave the tomb quickly, holding fear and “great joy” together, and they run to report to the disciples (explicit in v. 8). The story stresses movement: from tomb, to road, toward the disciples, and then toward Galilee (explicit in vv. 8, 10).
Jesus’ appearance on the road functions as confirmation and reinforcement of what the women are already doing. He meets them unexpectedly and greets them (“Rejoice!”), then addresses their fear (“Don’t be afraid”) (explicit in vv. 9–10). The women respond with physical contact—grasping his feet—and with worship, showing him as present and worthy of honor (explicit in v. 9).
What Jesus’ “Rejoice!” is doing. Some readers hear it mainly as a normal greeting that also comforts and steadies them. Others take it as more like a direct summons to shift from fear to joy. Both readings fit the immediate context because it is followed by “Don’t be afraid,” and because the women already have “great joy” (vv. 8–10).
What “worshiped him” means in this moment. Some argue the act signals recognition of Jesus with the kind of honor due to God. Others say the word can also refer to deep reverence or homage toward an exalted figure, and that the narrative emphasis here is on their submission and recognition of his risen authority. The text itself reports the action without pausing to define its full implications (v. 9).
Who “my brothers” refers to. Many read this as referring to the disciples as a group (the people the women were already running to tell). Others think it could include a wider circle of followers beyond the core disciples. The immediate narrative link to “his disciples” in vv. 8–9 makes the narrower reference the most straightforward, even if not necessarily exclusive.
Why the disagreement exists The passage uses brief, vivid phrases that can carry more than one nuance (“Rejoice,” “worshiped,” “my brothers”). Matthew also narrates quickly: he reports actions and words without adding explanatory commentary, so interpreters infer meaning from the surrounding scene.
What this passage clearly contributes This scene adds a second witness to the empty-tomb message: Jesus himself meets the women while they are obeying the instruction to report (vv. 8–9). It portrays the risen Jesus as bodily present (they grasp his feet) and as someone who receives worship (v. 9). It also establishes Galilee as the next appointed meeting place and keeps the resurrection narrative moving toward Matthew 28:16–20 (v. 10).
jesus (Iēsous)