And they remembered his words;
At the empty tomb the angels do not argue the resurrection from the evidence. They send the women back to what Jesus had already said in Galilee — and this one short line raises the question of why His closest followers needed the reminder at all.
Jesus had told them all of this Himself, down to the third day. One writer explains why even faithful hearts are slow here:
But men, and even believers, are slow to value the resurrection. It brings God too near to them. Nothing is more characteristic of Him than raising the dead. And resurrection from among the dead must above all be learned by divine teaching, since only He could reveal it in His grace. It breaks in on the whole course of the world. It shows a power above nature, victorious over Satan, that delivers even from divine judgment. Here it was the Deliverer Himself. He had often told the disciples of it; He had even named the third day. Yet those who were most faithful did not understand at the time. And they did not remember afterwards either — not until it had happened, and heavenly messengers brought His words back to them again.
Three things agreed that morning, and each backed the others:
The Galilean women came to the tomb and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. There they saw two angels. The angels reminded them of what Christ had said in Galilee: that on the third day He would rise again. "And they remembered his words" (Luke 24:8). These words came to them at that moment. They confirmed what the open grave proclaimed and what the angels declared: "He is not here, but has risen."
This short line is typical of Luke. One writer traces the same emphasis through the whole Gospel:
"And they remembered his words." This last point always matters greatly to Luke. He stresses the value of every part of God's word, and above all the words of Jesus.
One writer draws out what memory did to the women that morning — and what it leaves with us:
"And they remembered His words"; and so everything changed for them: they can now put on the garments of praise. It is very blessed to see how they left the tomb at once when they remembered His words... They "returned from the tomb" (v. 9). That is one great change already made. How it shows us the power of the words of Jesus! Now we have them written, praise the Lord! We have them in what is called the "Word of God." We have the very words of Jesus.
The same writer turns the verse around and applies the gloom of that morning to us. Sadness, he argues, often has a traceable cause:
Oh, what a voice all this has for us; for how often do we forget His words and sayings! Is there one here tonight who has forgotten His words? That is why you are sad — full of gloom and hopelessness. You have forgotten the Saviour's words; they have ebbed away out of your hearts. Is it any wonder, then, that your heart is miserable and your soul confused?
Words only come back at the right moment if they went in first. One writer turns that into practical advice for reading:
So if you commit parts of the Bible to memory, you clearly prepare yourself. Help and comfort from the Scriptures will then be there when you most need them. For instance, the verses you read or learned this morning may not have a direct application to you today. Days and weeks may pass; and then in a moment of sharp trial they will come to you, like the arm of a strong man, to lean upon. But they would not come to you like that if you had not previously learned or read them.
- Spoken — Christ had told them plainly of His death and resurrection, and had even named the third day.
- Forgotten — even the most faithful missed it at the time and forgot it afterwards. It took heavenly messengers to bring His words back.
- Recalled — once His words came back, they matched what the empty grave and the angels both said.
- Changed — the women did not stay at the tomb. They left at once and carried the report to the others.
- Stored — words return in the hour of need only if you read and learn them first. Forget them, and gloom fills the space they leave.
and, returning from the sepulchre, related all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
The women who went to the tomb leave it carrying a message. What turned them from the grave, what exactly did they carry, and who was waiting to hear it?
The angels had just reminded them of the words of Jesus. One commentator ties what they did next to that moment of remembering:
"And they remembered His words"; and so everything was changed for them: they can now put on the garments of praise. It is very blessed to see how they left the tomb at once when they remembered His words. They returned from the tomb. How it shows us the power of the words of Jesus! Now we have them written, praise the Lord! We have them in what is called the "Word of God." We have the very words of Jesus.
The same writer notes what had gone wrong before that moment — the words had been given, and lost:
Their hearts had been leaky vessels as to those words. His words had dropped through those poor leaky vessels and were gone. They had forgotten them. For the Lord had often spoken of it. There was plenty of testimony that He would be killed by men, by His own people, and raised up again the third day. But they had forgotten it all. And how often it is so with you and me; we have forgotten His words.
The phrase covers more than an empty grave. It holds three kinds of evidence — and it still met unbelief:
The women returned and told all these things to the eleven. That is, they gave them the evidence of the angels, of the Lord's own words, and of their own eyes: the body was not in the tomb. Yet they did not believe. The modern sceptic might call these things "idle tales;" well, that was just how they appeared to the disciples.
They carried the news before they had grasped it. One writer draws out how the Lord valued that limited but real devotion:
There was no real faith in the resurrection. But there was enough to fill their hearts and send them to tell the disciples what they had seen and heard. These faithful women, faithful even if ignorant, were not forgotten by the Lord. The service of those whom the Lord sent may have overshadowed them. Yet His ways are grace, and He has kept the memory of them, and of their early seeking of the Lord.
Luke names two audiences: the eleven apostles, and a much wider circle. The same writer notes how loosely Luke sums the whole scene up:
Verse 12 is also given as a confirming fact. It comes after the very vague general statement about all the women telling the apostles and all the rest. They were about one hundred and twenty, men and women. These preparatory facts are really almost introductory to the account of the journey to Emmaus.
Luke gives no timetable. He does not say which woman spoke to whom, or when.
One writer looks at the errand the angel gave these women:
It has been observed that women were employed as the first heralds to announce the Lord's resurrection. Granted... We know that the women were commissioned by the angel to advise the eleven of the empty tomb. We know that they discharged their mission faithfully.
- Remembered. The angels gave them nothing new — only the words of Jesus they already had and had let slip. Recovered words turned mourners into messengers.
- Returned. The moment His words came back, they stopped lingering at the grave. Faith does not stay where Christ no longer is.
- Reported. They carried three strands of evidence to the eleven: what angels said, what Jesus had said, and what their own eyes saw.
- Refused. The fullest evidence still sounded like idle tales. Unbelief is not cured by more facts.
- Remembered by God. These women were faithful, even though they did not understand. The Lord did not forget them. He kept the record of their early seeking of Him.
Now it was Mary of Magdala, and Johanna, and Mary the [mother] of James, and the others with them, who told these things to the apostles.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.