And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
It was the first day of the week after the crucifixion, a day that should have filled hearts with rejoicing but for some was a day of uncertainty, confusion and perplexity. The telling was heard by the eleven and all the rest gathered together in the upper chamber in Jerusalem, where Jesus had spent the last night before His death and where the disciples had spent the Sabbath mourning their Lord. The company was awake at night behind a barred door opened with caution, assembled and excited and relating stirring events, with hope and faith struggling for ascendency in their minds.
Those who brought the report were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them. They had come to the tomb early before light with sweet spices to anoint the body of Jesus and found the heavy stone rolled away and the body gone, leaving the tomb empty. They remembered His words that He would be delivered, crucified, and rise on the third day, which brought His predictions of His resurrection back to mind. Two angels in bright shining white apparel appeared to them, showed them the place where He lay, told them they were seeking Jesus and that He was not there but had risen, and told them to go tell His disciples that He would go before them into Galilee.
The tidings they carried were that a vision of angels had positively affirmed that Christ had risen, that His body was gone, and that they themselves had seen Jesus alive and met and spoken with Him in the garden. They hurried frightened and astonished from the sepulchre to disciples who were mourning and could not be comforted because their Lord had been crucified, and told them all they had seen and heard. The report astonished the disciples, but grief, hopelessness, weak and sunken faith, and expectations unlike the resurrection news kept them from believing; they dismissed the women's words as idle tales and thought the women were mistaken.
Their doubt showed how unsure they were of what resurrection from the dead meant, influenced in part by the Sadducees' teaching. They still rejected even Mary Magdalene's testimony that she had seen and spoken with Jesus, while Peter's ardent and assured testimony of his interview with the risen Lord carried more weight with the brethren and began to revive their faith. Some of the disciples ran hastily with the women to the sepulchre and found truly that Jesus was not there, only His linen clothes, and returned home marveling at what they had seen and at the report.
The women's report was then followed by the joyful tidings of the two travelers returned from Emmaus, who were met by many voices saying the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon, and it belongs with the evidence that Christ had risen, for the disciples later testified that they had seen and spoken with Him. The verse belongs to a chapter teaching that Christ's suffering and death made salvation possible, so that those who repent, are converted, and come to the Father through faith in Christ may receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified through belief of the truth. The chapter teaches that Christ's followers are to carry the gospel as witnesses, first locally and then to all nations, with witness empowered by the Holy Spirit calling people to salvation and spreading the truth.
It was the first day of the week after the crucifixion, a day that should have filled hearts with rejoicing but for some was a day of uncertainty, confusion and perplexity. The telling was heard by the eleven and all the rest gathered together in the upper chamber in Jerusalem, where Jesus had spent the last night before His death and where the disciples had spent the Sabbath mourning their Lord. The company was awake at night behind a barred door opened with caution, assembled and excited and relating stirring events, with hope and faith struggling for ascendency in their minds.
Those who brought the report were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them. They had come to the tomb early before light with sweet spices to anoint the body of Jesus and found the heavy stone rolled away and the body gone, leaving the tomb empty. They remembered His words that He would be delivered, crucified, and rise on the third day, which brought His predictions of His resurrection back to mind. Two angels in bright shining white apparel appeared to them, showed them the place where He lay, told them they were seeking Jesus and that He was not there but had risen, and told them to go tell His disciples that He would go before them into Galilee.
The tidings they carried were that a vision of angels had positively affirmed that Christ had risen, that His body was gone, and that they themselves had seen Jesus alive and met and spoken with Him in the garden. They hurried frightened and astonished from the sepulchre to disciples who were mourning and could not be comforted because their Lord had been crucified, and told them all they had seen and heard. The report astonished the disciples, but grief, hopelessness, weak and sunken faith, and expectations unlike the resurrection news kept them from believing; they dismissed the women's words as idle tales and thought the women were mistaken.
Their doubt showed how unsure they were of what resurrection from the dead meant, influenced in part by the Sadducees' teaching. They still rejected even Mary Magdalene's testimony that she had seen and spoken with Jesus, while Peter's ardent and assured testimony of his interview with the risen Lord carried more weight with the brethren and began to revive their faith. Some of the disciples ran hastily with the women to the sepulchre and found truly that Jesus was not there, only His linen clothes, and returned home marveling at what they had seen and at the report.
The women's report was then followed by the joyful tidings of the two travelers returned from Emmaus, who were met by many voices saying the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon, and it belongs with the evidence that Christ had risen, for the disciples later testified that they had seen and spoken with Him. The verse belongs to a chapter teaching that Christ's suffering and death made salvation possible, so that those who repent, are converted, and come to the Father through faith in Christ may receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified through belief of the truth. The chapter teaches that Christ's followers are to carry the gospel as witnesses, first locally and then to all nations, with witness empowered by the Holy Spirit calling people to salvation and spreading the truth.