Some of the guards from the tomb go back to the city to report to the chief priests ” all that had happened.” Presumably, tbhey said, “there was a severe earthquake, and an angel descended from heaven, and rolled away the stone, and he looked like lightning with garments like snow, and we fell down like we were dead. Then some women came and the angel told them that Christ has risen” (cf. Matthew 28:2-7).
That is, the soldiers turn evangelists of the Risen Christ. Matthew underscores the irony by using the verb apaggello, which obviously contains the word aggelos , “messenger.” This is the fourth time Matthew has used the verb in a few verses. The women run away from the tomb to “be angels” to the disciples (28:8); as they run along to “be angels” (28:9), Jesus stops them and tells them to “be angels” to the brethren. And while they are rushing off to do that, the soldiers are entering the city to “be angels” to the chief priests. Four uses, a hint that there will be angels to the four corners of the world, spreading the report about Jesus’ resurrection.
Some preach from envy, some from strife, some from selfish ambition. But, in pretense and in truth, Christ is proclaimed, which is a cause for joy (Philippians 1:15-18).
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
