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Bible chapter guide
Matthew 28
At dawn on the first day of the week the women find the stone rolled away and an angel saying, 'He is not here: for he is risen.' The risen Jesus meets them; the guards are paid to lie; and on a mountain in Galilee Jesus sends the eleven to make disciples of all nations.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
As the first day of the week dawns, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to look at the tomb. There is a great earthquake, and an angel of the Lord comes down, rolls back the stone and sits on it, while the guards shake with fear and become like dead men. The angel sends the women to tell the disciples, and on the way Jesus himself meets them, and they take hold of his feet and worship him. The guards report to the chief priests, who pay them to say the disciples stole the body, and on a mountain in Galilee Jesus sends the eleven to make disciples of all nations, promising to be with them always.
What the lab shows, and where to look
The Holy Week lab ends at the tomb, and has only this one stop for the chapter. Saturday shows the stone sealed and a guard keeping watch, Matthew's detail from the end of chapter 27. 'Easter dawn' shows the stone rolled away and the tomb open; the lab follows what all four Gospels share, so the messenger appears only as a soft light inside, and Matthew's earthquake and his angel sitting on the stone are not shown. The women are stylized. The meeting on the road, the bribed guards and the mountain in Galilee have no scene.
- The tomb and the resurrection morning · Holy Week in Jerusalem
- The tomb and the resurrection morning: Easter dawn · Holy Week in Jerusalem
Questions people ask
Was there one angel at the tomb or two?
Matthew tells of an angel who rolled back the stone and sat on it; Mark of a young man in white sitting inside; Luke of two men in dazzling clothes; John of two angels whom Mary Magdalene saw later. Each writer tells what he chose to focus on, and mentioning one does not deny a second.
What kind of stone closed Jesus' tomb?
Matthew calls it a great stone rolled against the door (27:60), and the angel rolls it back. Round rolling stones set in a channel are known from the period, but rarely: of some 900 tombs of the time around Jerusalem, Amos Kloner counted only four, all belonging to wealthy or royal families. That would fit a rich man like Joseph of Arimathea, though most tombs were closed with a squared block, and the Greek verb for 'roll' can be used of moving one. The lab shows a rolling stone.
Which mountain in Galilee did the disciples go to?
Matthew says only that the eleven went "into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them" (28:16). He does not name it, and no early tradition fixes it; later writers have suggested Mount Tabor, the hills above the Sea of Galilee and others. The text does not say.
See it in the Labs
- Holy Week in JerusalemThe tomb and the resurrection morning · Holy Week in JerusalemOpen
- Holy Week in JerusalemThe tomb and the resurrection morning: Easter dawn · Holy Week in JerusalemOpen
Also in this chapter
How sure can we be?
- Plausible
Still dark, or sunrise?: John says Mary Magdalene came while it was still dark; Matthew as the day was dawning; Mark very early, when the sun had risen. A natural reading is that the women set out in the dark and reached the tomb as the sun came up.
- Plausible
One messenger or two?: Mark tells of a young man in white sitting inside; Matthew of an angel who rolled back the stone and sat on it; Luke of two men in dazzling clothes; John of two angels whom Mary saw later. Each writer tells what he chose to focus on; mentioning one does not deny a second.