Scene Changes in Matthew 28

The first section of Matthew 28, usually referred to as a "pericope," contains three scenes separated from one another by the words "and behold." The first scene is in verse 1 where the women leave to go to the tomb. The second scene is found in verses 2 through 8. The setting is at the tomb. When it opens, the women have not yet arrived. It begins with an earthquake and an angel descending from heaven to roll the stone away from the tomb. The guards at the tomb are frozen into inaction at the sight of the angel. When the women arrive, they find that the stone has been rolled away (Mark 16:4). The angel tells them that Jesus is no longer in the tomb but has risen from the dead. By this time, the angel (and another angel; Luke 24:4) is in the tomb (Mark 16:5; Luke 24:3) although Matthew does not specifically record this. But he does imply it when he reports that the angel told the women to come and see the place where Jesus' body had been laid. The angel told them to go and tell his disciples that Jesus had risen. The angel's discourse also contains the scene switch language when he uses "and behold" to separate the empty tomb and a future meeting in Galilee. The second scene ends with the women leaving to tell the disciples.

The third scene in verses 9 and 10 is set back at the area of the garden tomb some time later that day. There is confusion about this because a fifth century scribe did not realize that Hebrew writers often put different events together, and he added the clause, "Now as they were going to report to his disciples." This addition is missing from fourth and fifth century manuscripts of three kinds of text type (Alexandrian, Western, and Caesarean) and is found primarily in manuscripts of the Byzantine text type. Through that manuscript tradition, it is found in the King James and New King James versions of the English Bible. But this addition introduces a contradiction into the text. The other gospels make it clear that the women reported the angel and the empty tomb to the disciples, but not yet an appearance of Jesus (Luke 24:9-10, 23; John 20:2). It was only later that Jesus met with the women. John focuses on Mary Magdalene and tells how Jesus met her outside the tomb (John 20:11-17); Mark's gospel says that she was the first person that Jesus appeared to after his resurrection (Mark 16:9). But Matthew makes it clear in this third scene of verses 9 and 10 that there were also other women to whom Jesus appeared. It would seem that Matthew's third scene is parallel to John's scene of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene. It adds the detail that Mary Magdalene was not alone although Jesus focused on her. Mark's gospel says that when she reported his appearance to the disciples, they would not believe her. That is the question for us today. Do we believe that Jesus has risen from the dead?