"What the Angels Said"

So Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women went and told the eleven what they had seen, what the angels had said, and what they remembered.

[1] “Angel from resurrection of Christ in the Serbian Orthodox monastery church of Mileseva, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN

Luke 24:1-12

April 20, 2025

Dr. Todd R. Wright

Friday afternoon the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee stood at a distance and watched their Lord breathe his last.

When Joseph of Arimathea claimed the body, took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb, the women were there. They saw the tomb, and how his body was laid, before going to the market to prepare spices and ointments.

They would have tended to the body then, but it was the sabbath.

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Can you imagine the waiting, the tears, the anxious restlessness?

This was their Lord, their friend. They were grieving and carrying out the traditional steps of caring for the body was a chance to lose themselves in doing their expected duty, to show their love for him in a tangible way, to say one last goodbye. But they had to wait.

And while they waited, I suspect they remembered everything they’d witnessed at the end:

every hammer strike, every mocking act by the crowd, every last word from Jesus;

the soldiers casting lots for his clothes, the criminals’ exchange, the sudden darkness at noon;

the centurion proclaiming Jesus’ innocence – too late; the crowds shuffling off wailing – too late, the lifeless body of the Lord of life.

Waiting is hard. Waiting and grieving and remembering is excruciating.

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But when the light dawned on the first day of the week, the waiting was over.

They returned to where they had seen him buried, ready to do their work.

In their haste they had forgotten that the stone would still be rolled across the entrance.

But they found the stone rolled away.

They crept in carrying the spices they had prepared.

But they did not find the body.

It was perplexing, bewildering, shocking – corpses do not wander away!

While they stewed over the situation, a pair of men in dazzling clothes appeared.

And do you know what they said?

They said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Why do we …? If the women had not been so dazzled, they might have answered, we look for Jesus in this tomb because he was dead. We saw him die with our own eyes. We saw his corpse carried here. Dead is dead … and no amount of tears can change that.

But the men (let’s be honest, they were angels), weren’t done talking. They said, “He is not here, he has risen! Remember …”

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Do you remember what Jesus said?

He made predictions to those who followed him three times. Each one as grim and final and heart breaking as the rest. He would be rejected, mocked, flogged, and crucified.

Oh, they remembered!

They remembered it like a punch in the gut.

How the idea of anyone harming their Lord angered them.

How it broke their hearts to imagine an end to his life-giving ministry.

How they refused to believe it could ever happen.

But there was more. Jesus also said he would be raised on the third day.

They had forgotten … or ignored it as an impossibility!

They had seen parents and husbands and babies die. Animals and crops and dreams too.

They had grieved them all.

Dead is dead and there is no bringing lifeless things back to life

But now they remembered his words … and his absolute confidence as he said them.

As if suffering and humiliation and death were necessary, but not the whole story.

As if risen life was just the next step, after death, in some grand plan.

As if they could trust him and just wait three days brimming with expectation.

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They remembered … and they believed!

Scholars tell us “The Greek term for “remember” here — mimnesko — means more than just mere recollection; it means something more like ‘to bring past actions to bear on the present, with new power and insight.’ The same underlying word appears in Mary’s Magnificat with reference to God helping Israel ‘in remembrance of God’s mercy,’ and also in the crucified thief’s plea, ‘Jesus, remember me’. It’s a tangible, consequential kind of recalling that is at the same time a form of action — and for the women at the tomb, it carries the force of [both] an epiphany and a commission.”[2]

So Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women went and told the eleven what they had seen, what the angels had said, and what they remembered.

But they did not believe them.

They dismissed their testimony as an idle tale, fake news, wishful thinking!

How frustrating that must have been for the women! (And maybe for the angels.)

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Chelsey Harmon writes about this disappointing response, trying to find some silver lining:

“First of all,” she muses, “there’s the good news that it doesn’t matter if we believe it or not:

Christ is risen from the dead!”

“Second,” she continues, “though the apostles do not believe them, what the women know and share cannot be taken away from them.”

“Third, we see how the same Spirit that was at work to resurrect Jesus from the grave, that same Spirit who helped the women believe and trust what they remembered from Jesus’ words, that same Spirit will [work] persistently and patiently.”[3]

I think she’s right. Both in her insights and their implications.

We’ve had some time to get over the shock of this resurrection news. We’ve had the chance to remember Jesus’ words. We’ve had the opportunity for the Spirit to do its work through the angels’ words or the whispers of ordinary saints; through countless Easter services and Sunday school classes and readings of the Bible; through hymns and artwork and any other means the Spirit can use.

The key is this: believing in the resurrection takes time. It moves at its own pace.

But once you believe, as the women who followed Jesus from Galilee did, you have to tell the others … and grant them the time and space to come to believe too.

That’s our commission, May we be found faithful. Amen

[1] “Angel from resurrection of Christ in the Serbian Orthodox monastery church of Mileseva, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN

[2] From the SALT projects reflections on the text, 4/11/22

[3] From her reflections on the text for cepreaching.org, 4/17/22