Why Were the Women Afraid

from Google Images

When the women came to the sepulcher where Jesus was laid, they found the stone that sealed the tomb (Matthew 27:66) was rolled away (Luke 24:2-3). Luke tells us that the women were perplexed (G1280). That is, didn’t know why the tomb was empty (Luke 24:4-5). In other words, the thought that Jesus had arisen from the dead, hadn’t even occurred to any of them. The Greek word (G1280) is used of Herod being in doubt of who Jesus was in Luke 9:7. It is also used for the confusion of the chief priests and the captain of the Temple when they found out the Apostles had escaped their prison cell and were teaching in the Temple (Acts 5:34).

While the women were in a state of confusion over the missing body of Jesus, two men (angels) in shining garments appeared to them, as the women peered into the tomb. One of the angels spoke to the women, saying that Jesus had risen from the dead (Luke 24:5-7), and they were reminded of what Jesus said, when they were yet in Galilee. There Jesus told his disciples that he must suffer and die at Jerusalem, but he would rise again after three days (Luke 9:22; cf. Matthew 26:32; 28:7).

The women actually did forget what Jesus told them, because they had no context in which to understand the rising from the dead or the Messiah dying. It seems at least most Jews were taught that Messiah didn’t die (John 12:34), and the resurrection occurred sometime in the future, when all the righteous rose together (cf. John 11:24-25). However, after being reminded of Jesus’ words, they did recall them (Luke 24:8), but now they had a different context in which to understand what Jesus taught. He had suffered and died on the cross, yet he rose from the dead. This was something very new to Jews of the first century A.D., something no one had perceived the scriptures saying (cf. John 20:9).

Luke shows that the women left the gravesite and hurried off to tell the disciples presumably at Jerusalem (Luke 24:9), because that is where we find the Apostles later (Luke 24:33). It was also where the two who went to Emmaus expected to find the Apostles and other disciples of Jesus later that same day (Luke 24:33). Therefore, all the women weren’t afraid. At least some of them went and told the Apostles and the other disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead.

On the other hand, Mark has his group of women leave the gravesite, but they told no one (Mark 16:7-8). Nevertheless, we should not understand this to mean they never told anyone, because, if that were true, how would we know they told no one, unless they later told someone that they spoke with no one? Why, then, was this group of women different from Matthew’s and Luke’s group (cf. Matthew 28:7-8; Luke 24:9)? I presume Mark’s group of women returned to Bethany, perhaps intending to tell any of the Apostles or other disciples who might have still been there, but finding none, they told no one else, because they feared to do so. The women may even have decided, before leaving the sepulcher, to go to both Jerusalem and Bethany to tell the Apostles and other disciples who spent the night in those cities, but only one group was successful.

We need to keep in mind that the Apostles had locked themselves in the Upper Room for fear of the Jewish authorities (John 20:19). They believed, because they were Jesus’ disciples, that they, too, might be in danger of their lives. They didn’t know to what extent the Jewish authorities had thought to expunge what Jesus taught and did from the memory of the people. It is, perhaps, in this context that we should put Mark’s group of women. It is not that they were afraid to say anything to the disciples, but they didn’t know who else they could tell without endangering their lives and the lives of others close to Jesus. Put this way, any of Jesus’ disciples who might have stayed in Bethany overnight had already left for Jerusalem to be with the others by the time Mark’s group of women had returned to Bethany.