So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with great joy — the double emotion captures the resurrection's impact on all who encounter it: fear because nothing in ordinary human experience prepares a person for this, joy because everything they had lost has been returned beyond expectation. They ran to bring the disciples the news — the women's response is immediate obedience. They were told to go quickly; they go quickly. They were told to tell the disciples; they run to tell them. This is the first resurrection proclamation in Matthew's Gospel: women running from an empty tomb to tell terrified men that the one they watched die is alive. The disciples, who had abandoned Jesus and hidden, receive the first resurrection news from the women who had stayed. The resurrection reverses the abandonment.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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