And as they went to bring his disciples word, behold also, Jesus met them, saying, Hail! And they coming up took him by the feet, and did him homage.
The women leave the empty tomb with a message to carry. On the road the risen Christ Himself meets them. His first word and their rush to His feet raise two questions: what does that word mean, and why may they hold Him?
The word behind "Greetings!" (the older translation reads "All hail") is the everyday Greek word for rejoice, and He had heard it before under very different circumstances.
But, wonder of wonders, we find the same word again in the very next chapter of Matthew: chapter 28, the Resurrection chapter. Perhaps the very first word our Saviour spoke after His resurrection was this very word, Chaire: "Rejoice!" Twice during that terrible time before His death He had listened to that word in mockery. Now it is the first, or almost the first, word He uses when He meets His own, alive from among the dead.
For women who had watched Him die, the sound of that voice carried more than politeness.
What is the meaning of "All hail"? I could not put it into words exactly; but for these lovers of Christ, whose hearts had been broken by the thought that they had lost their blessed Lord, suddenly to hear His gracious voice greeting them was joy indeed. To them it was surely "Welcome." That is the idea. It said to them in effect: every difficulty is over, the darkness has gone, all is bright and clear.
He met them while they were on their errand.
We cannot say that faith marked what they did, or an intelligent grasp of the Lord's often-repeated statement about His resurrection. But their loving care for the body of the Lord, held in check by respect for the Sabbath day, came from a love that would spend and be spent for Him. Nothing less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself could satisfy their hearts. This was a true and intense desire, and the Lord met it while they were going to bring the disciples word, as the angel had ordered. There was not one of those beloved women to whom the Lord did not reveal Himself before doing so to anyone else. Let us take it to heart: our faithful Lord will meet everyone who is truly seeking Him. As it is written, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."
A creature loyal to God refuses worship. He does not.
Again we find Him accepting worship, which no creature true to God could do (see Revelation 19:10) — much less Jesus if He were only Man. His very perfection as Man would refuse it. He was truly David's Son, the King of Israel, but He was also David's Lord. He was truly Man. He was also truly God, and so we see Him receiving worship without question.
The change in them was immediate, and it happened at the tomb where their hopes had died.
Their perplexity gave place to worship, and their desolate hearts were filled with gladness.
On the same morning, Mary Magdalene is told not to cling to Him. Here, no such word is spoken. The difference is explained by what each Gospel is showing.
In Matthew the risen Lord takes up again His relations with the Jewish remnant, and gives these women, as a sample of that remnant, the enjoyment of His presence on earth. For this reason Matthew has no ascension scene at the end, and no mention of the fact at all. It would spoil the perfection of the picture, which shows us the Lord present with His own until the close of the age. John, on the other hand, corrects Jewish feeling at once and announces new relations. Ascension to the Father takes the place of all expectations for the nations on the earth.
Commentators differ over whether Matthew and John describe two separate meetings or one. Kelly treats them as distinct incidents very close together; another writer harmonises them as a single scene reported from two sides:
She fell at His feet and touched them, and as she was holding them the Lord spoke the words found in John's Gospel. The taking hold of the feet is reported in Matthew, and the words He spoke in John. This is one of the beautiful evidences of the divine authorship of the Gospel records.
Since Matthew keeps Him on earth with His people, the scene at His feet points forward.
Why does He not tell them not to touch Him? Because here He is the risen King, alive from the dead, standing on earth among an earthly people who love Him and worship Him. It is a miniature picture of His coming earthly kingdom.
- Rejoice — His first resurrection word is the ordinary word for "rejoice." Days earlier mockers threw it at Him. Now He gives it back to His own as a welcome.
- Sought — He met them on the road while they obeyed; the Lord meets everyone who truly seeks Him with all their heart.
- Worshipped — He accepts worship that no creature loyal to God would accept. He is David's Son and also David's Lord.
- Touched — Matthew shows the King present with His people on earth, so they may hold Him. John turns instead to His ascension to the Father.
- Coming — that grip on His feet is a small picture of the day when He stands on earth among a people who love and worship Him.
Then Jesus says to them, Fear not; go, bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me.
The women went to the tomb to mourn, and the risen Lord met them on the road with a message that changes what they are to Him. Two things stand out: the name He gives His scattered followers, and the place He names for the meeting.
One writer traces the moment from the empty tomb to the greeting on the road.
They must have trembled with great excitement, but their joy was greater still. The angel's message had at last brought back to them the Lord's words about His resurrection on the third day. So they ran to bring the news to the disciples. As they hurried on, eager to carry out the command, Jesus met them. He greeted them with the word Chairete — "Oh, the joy!" or "Rejoice!" He was full of joy, and in His grace He revealed Himself to these devoted women... Worshipping, they fall at His feet. He Himself assures them, "Do not be afraid," and repeats the angel's message.
He does not say "my disciples." One writer weighs the single word He changed.
The Lord confirms the angel's instructions. But by changing one word He adds a link of precious intimacy. No one could have known that link before the cross. It is no longer "my disciples" but "my brothers." They were still disciples, of course. But He was about to declare the Father's Name to them, as Psalm 22:22 had foretold, and from then on to become the Leader of their praises.
These were the same men who had run away days earlier.
His brothers! Who were they? Those who had abandoned Him in the garden, and Peter, who had denied Him in the high priest's house... What grace the words "My brothers" speak of! Nothing they had done had checked the outflow of His love to them. The eleven had deserted Him in the garden, yet He was not ashamed to own them as His brothers. Men are sometimes ashamed of their nationality or their relatives. If someone has disgraced his family, his very name may be banned from being mentioned in company. But the Lord was not ashamed to own the tie between Him and them.
The meeting point He names is not the religious capital.
The disciples were to leave Jerusalem, the place of organised religion. They were to go down to Galilee, a despised place outside Judea.
One writer ties this appointment to what Matthew's book is about — and to what is missing from it.
The Jews and Jerusalem have rejected the Messiah. He now shows that when He is raised from among the dead, He will still recognise the "poor of the flock" in Galilee... This is no doubt why we have no ascension in Matthew. It is also why the angel sent the disciples word to meet Jesus in Galilee. Our Lord later confirmed that word, and the disciples acted on it. Here Jesus as Messiah has died for that "nation." On the ground of His work He is now able to recognise relationship with the faithful few who remain. In keeping with this, He lets the women hold Him by the feet and worship Him.
The wording of the errand has been read as opening the appointment to more than the apostles.
The message was not to "the apostles" but to "my brothers." It occurs to me that this invitation gathered a good many together. It was not merely that the apostles were to go and see Him there, but the brothers. Affection for Christ will always carry the true heart to the spot where He is, and He cares for nothing else. We set great store by intelligence, because it makes something of us... but depend upon it, it is affection He values.
One writer draws the practical lesson from the promise that they will see Him there.
In principle, the "meeting-place" assumes that you fall in with the Lord's appointment. The place is not of your own choosing. You go there to be with Him, since He has said, "There they will see me." You go there in humble dependence on the Holy Spirit. He has come here below to take the things of Christ and reveal them to us.
Faith acted first, and the reward followed.
Though filled with the conflicting emotions of fear and joy, the women received the angel's word with faith, and so they set out in obedience. The obedience of faith was quickly rewarded by an appearance of the risen Lord Himself, and this brought them to His feet as worshippers and sent them on their way as messengers of the Lord, and not merely of the angel.
- Fear first. Before He gives an errand, He removes the terror. The risen Lord meets the women with a greeting of joy and tells them not to be afraid.
- Brothers, not disciples. One changed word lifts them from followers to family, tied by Psalm 22 to His declaring the Father's Name.
- Grace, not merit. The men called "my brothers" are the very men who deserted Him; He was not ashamed to own the tie.
- Galilee, not Jerusalem. He names a despised place outside the religious capital. There the Messiah still owns the faithful few.
- Affection finds Him. The invitation went to "brothers," not officials. Love, not cleverness, carries a heart to the place where He said He would be seen.