Jesus met them on their way and greeted them…The message of the Resurrected - Mt: 28:8-15
To fully understand the message of the pericope of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, we need the words of the angel who "spoke to the women:" “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you."(cf. Mt 28: 5-7). It was a real and great revelation (revelatio means "revelation"): the Lord is alive!!! The reaction of the women is interesting: they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed... Fear and joy ... God is Misterium tremendum et fascinosum - a trembling and fascinating mystery ... Women do not keep the Good News for themselves - they ran to tell his disciples ... And then they meet the Risen One - Jesus stood before them ...
The original says: " he went out to meet them” The Lord knows that they are on the way (on the right track) and he does not wait ... He is going out to meet Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (the names are mentioned by the evangelist at the beginning of the pericope - Mt 28.1) Jesus greeted them: Chairete. It is the same greeting that Mary heard from the angel (chaire) when he announced that she was chosen to be the Mother of the Son of God (cf. Lk 1:28). Chairete then means: "Rejoice!" (the noun chara, from which the verb is derived, means "joy"), or "Be greeted!" or "Good day!" Indeed, Sunday is a good day – the Lord's Day, the Resurrection Day
The women approached him ... They were afraid (Misterium tremendum ...), but they were more happy (et fascinosum). God does not like separation ... He invites a man to infinite closeness ... Then they embraced his feet... Maria is surely the sister of Martha and Lazarus - a friend of the Lord. It is a beautiful moment again ... "Six days before the Passover" (cf. Jn 12: 1) she anointed the Savior "on the day of the funeral" (cf. Jn 12: 7). Now she sees that Jesus is alive! She touches the Lord's feet to enjoy the closeness of her Friend ... The evangelist uses the verb kratein, which also means "to take (), to (catch)".
So, the women clung to Jesus ... Saint Matthew continues: they did him homage... Prosekynesan means: "they worshiped deeply". proskinesis is the highest honor, worship. The bow is our human - God's creatures - attitude in the face of God - the Creator ... What is Jesus' answer? We read: “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” ... Someone once counted that in the whole Bible this God's call to man expressing encouragement: "Do not be afraid!" appears 365 times! It is not a coincidence! The Lord does not want us to be afraid. God is not threatening us ... Rather, he still wants to be accepted by us ... The Lord also does not want us to be afraid that we will not cope ... After all, Jesus has overcome evil and is alive! Jesus asks the women to go out and tell the apostles everything they saw and heard ...
At the end, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary hear: tell them to go to Galilee, they will see me there ... These are most important words in which there is a wonderful promise ... Jesus assures that he will be waiting in Galilee. In the New Testament, Galilee means the space of everyday life ... the Lord promises that he will be with his friends every day ... that each day will be marked by the loving presence of Emmanuel ... The confirmation will be the words that the disciples will hear in forty days - on the day of the Ascension: "Behold, I am with you all the days, until the end of the age ..." (cf. Mt 28:20). It is the Lord's Testament and at the same time the last sentence of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. Innocenzo Gargano writes that the words of Jesus can be expressed like this: I am one with you, I am Emmanuel all the days until the end of the ages (Lectio Divina for descriptions of the resurrection, p. 94). Also there, their journey with the Master began. When they stand with Him again near the places where they were called, they will be able to look once more at their entire spiritual path; they may recall the Master's words again - not to recall them, but to rethink them in the light of everything that happened, especially in the last weeks leading to the arrest, martyrdom, and death of Christ.
Finally, a detail that was found in the text of St. Augustine. Well, the bishop of Hippo caught the irony of the evangelist ... St. Matthew writes that when the guards came to the priests and said that Jesus' tomb was empty, the religious leaders of Israel and the elders gave the soldiers a lot of money say: His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep... In his statements, Augustine, amused, makes fun of dormientes testes (sleeping witnesses). Can you be witness in a dream?
Until Tomorrow
fr. george