Jesus Met Them
Jesus Met Them
9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
Matthew 28:9-10
Last we saw that the women who went to see Jesus in the tomb had been visited by an angel who told them the good news of Jesus’ resurrection and also gave them a mission to tell the apostles. Now Jesus himself appears and met them. His words are very similar. He tells them not to be afraid. He tells them to rejoice and not be sad. He gives them the same mission as before to go and tell the apostles and disciples. But he also adds and changes things just a little bit but in a profound way.
The angel had said, ‘and tell his disciple’s that He is risen’. Jesus makes it much more personal and familiar. Jesus said, ‘tell My bretheren.’ Jesus still sees humanity as his family as brothers and sisters. The angel couldn’t make that connection to us because it was Jesus who became like one of us.
Jesus also says to tell them to go to Galilee and that He would meet them there. That is also a change. This was Jesus’ way of saying that the story wasn’t over. There was still more to learn and do. Although the main aspect of his mission was done, there was still more to his job.
Finally these verses say that the women worshiped Jesus and held his feet. John 20 gives us some more detail about this encounter.
17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”
John 20:17
Jesus wanted to meet these women so urgently that He hadn’t even gone back up to heaven yet to meet his Father. He met some women on the road before meeting God the Father. Think about that for a second. Think about where his heart and mind was. This is the same Jesus who was heartbroken when the Father no longer spoke to him in Gethsemane. Even so, He felt the need to go and meet the women even though an angel had already done that work and they were obeying. God is good.
God bless,
Pr. Steven Couto