And the angel answering said to the women, Fear not *ye*, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one.
The soldiers guarding the tomb lie on the ground like dead men, and heaven's first word on resurrection morning is a word against fear. Why does one event floor trained troops and calm two frightened women?
Three groups meet the same event, and it lands differently on each.
This Gospel sets out in a few words how Jesus' resurrection — and what came with it, or rather after it — touched different people: the women, the soldiers, the Jews. As to the first, it is comfort and grace; they are the messengers of the good news to the disciples. The soldiers are alarmed and like dead men. That is what happens when God shows His power and steps in... With the Jews it is deliberate hardness of heart. They seek to destroy the testimony they could not deny... The women have direct communication from God by means of the angel. We see, as in so many cases, that love to the Saviour for His own sake brings us into the place where we receive the communications of His grace.
The angel turns from the fallen guard to two weak women.
That guard had every reason to shake and fall in fear. It stood for a world determined to be rid of Jesus — a world that thought it had got its way... But close at hand in that memorable hour were two weak women, and to them the angel turned with words of cheer. There was nothing in the power of God to make them afraid; there was every reason why they should rejoice. They represented, not the world that hated Jesus, but those whom He had chosen out of it, and who loved Him because He first loved them.
This is not a call to feel braver. The angel points to what the empty tomb has settled.
"Do not be afraid" is the message of the angel to the women. This, indeed, is the good news from the empty tomb. There is no cause to fear, absolutely none, for those who have believed on the Lord and are His own. All darkness, all uncertainty, all doubt and fear are at an end. The whole sin question has been righteously dealt with. The empty tomb, the glorious victory over death, and the grave are the everlasting witnesses.
The same word touches the rest of life too:
Now what is the great thought in resurrection? The dispelling of everything that would bring in fear. Fear must go, for "fear has to do with punishment" (1 John 4:18)... Dear friend, have you learnt the value of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus? Then God has brought you into an atmosphere where fear does not exist.
The angel already knows what their hearts are set on, and that is the reason he gives them for calm.
The angel says, "Do not be afraid." This is the very testimony that the Spirit of God brings out. It dries up the fears of the heart and banishes all misgivings. "I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified." I know where your heart's affections are, I know the one you are looking for, you have no cause to be afraid.
Others can see who you are looking for.
It is a fine thing for those who look on to say, "We know you seek Jesus." What do you think the world says about you and me behind our backs? Do you seek Jesus? It is a fine thing, that. What you want is Jesus. You are all right if you are seeking Jesus.
The angel names Him as the crucified one, and that word explains why they came looking.
But why did they seek Him? And why do we seek Him? The angel supplied the answer: "you seek Jesus who was crucified." That is why. We should never have sought Him if He had not been crucified. His crucifixion was the expression and the measure of His love to us.
The angel speaks of the crucifixion as past. Turpin shows what that settles:
Think of the comfort connected with that... Think how it declared that everything was done, the ransom paid, justice satisfied, the believer free. Every fear, every misgiving, every question that Satan could stir up to trouble the poor heart was now silenced and settled for ever. They do not speak of Him now as crucified — He "was crucified."
- Two effects. One power left the guards like dead men and brought comfort to the women. Resurrection terrifies those set against Christ and reassures those who love Him.
- Fear not. Heaven's first word that morning removes fear. It stands on solid ground: the whole sin question has been righteously dealt with.
- I know. The angel reads their hearts before he gives his news. Love for the Saviour puts a person where God's messages of grace arrive.
- You seek Jesus. The test is simple and public enough that onlookers can name it — what you want is Jesus.
- Who was crucified. Past, not present: the ransom paid, justice satisfied, the believer free. And the cross is the reason anyone seeks Him at all.
He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Women come to the grave expecting to care for a body. Instead an angel meets them with news and an invitation. The angel's words are short, but each one lands. The tomb is empty. The rising happened just as He promised. And he invites the women to look at the spot themselves.
An angel comes down and rolls the stone away. But one commentator warns that none of this is what brought the Lord out of the grave.
The Lord was not in the tomb on this last occasion, and the angel, coming down and rolling away the stone, had nothing directly to do with the Lord's rising. He needed no such help. God raised Him, and He Himself rose — taking up His life as He had laid it down. Such is the teaching of Scripture about the resurrection. The angel did this to turn people's attention to God's act in raising Jesus. It also swept aside the lies and arguments of His enemies.
So why move the stone at all?
The two disciples reach the tomb and find it empty. An angel had come down and rolled the stone away from the door. To let the Lord out? Far from it! It was to let you and me look in and see an empty tomb. Then we can know that we have a risen, victorious, triumphant Saviour. He has taken the sting from death and robbed the grave of its victory.
The angel does not simply report an event. He ties it back to a promise the Lord had already made.
He had told them that He would rise again. He had now done it. That confirmed all His words and proved He was worthy of their fullest confidence. We too can let our fears go and put our confidence in Him again. His own words tell us that not one small stroke of His word will fail. He is risen — that is the pledge. Death mocks what people claim and brings their words and works to nothing. But our Saviour lives as Victor over death. He will bring about everything the prophets said about Him and everything He has said about us.
The same writer takes the angel's sentence apart clause by clause, and finds a portrait of Christ in it.
See how the glorious worth of our Lord comes out in the angel's words. YOU SEEK JESUS — His personal preciousness. WHO WAS CRUCIFIED — His matchless love. HE IS RISEN — His glorious power. AS HE SAID — His absolute trustworthiness.
The angel does not ask the women to trust a report from a distance. He brings them right up to the evidence.
I suppose the angel took them by the hand and led them to the door of the tomb. They are to face not death but an empty tomb, the witness of resurrection. How people shrink from this! I have seen believer after believer who, when death came into view, was quite upset. Why? Because they have not stayed with this chapter and heard the words, "Come, see the place where He lay." And what is there to see? Death annulled. That is the point. A risen Christ is to fill the horizon of our souls with peace.
Their looking had a purpose beyond their own comfort, and the stakes of what they saw could not be higher.
They were to be witnesses of this great event to the disciples. So they had to see the empty tomb with their own eyes. At the angel's invitation, they did. One man claimed, with great arrogance, that the Lord did not rise from the dead, and that His body still lies somewhere near Calvary. His own death has since ended his blasphemies. If that is so, the Christian faith is a delusion and a trap, and all those who have fallen asleep in the joy of it have perished. "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).
The angel's choice of tense is worth noticing, and it sets the direction for anyone who wants to find Him now.
Notice how the angel speaks: not "where the Lord lies." Do we take in that He is not here? Then we will want to know Him where He is. How good it is to keep company with Mary Magdalene. His absence made her a mourner. It made the world an empty place for her. She wept, "because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." He was the great Object of her affections, and losing Him left her desolate. Thank God, we feel His absence from the world. But Scripture teaches us that we have not lost Him. We have gained Him in another place.
- Not here — No one rolled the stone back to release Him. He had already risen. The tomb was opened so that people could look in.
- Risen — God raised Him, and He took up His life again Himself. The angel's part was to point to that act and silence the arguments of enemies.
- As promised — The rising confirms His word. So we can trust everything the prophets said about Him and everything He said about us.
- Come, see — The angel led the women to the evidence so they could be witnesses. There they saw death annulled and a risen Christ filling the horizon with peace.
- Not lost — The past tense sends the heart onward. He is absent from here, but not lost. We seek Him where He now is.
And go quickly and say to his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goes before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him. Behold, I have told you.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.