Matthew 28:1–10
What does Matthew 28:1–10 mean?
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
The short answer
Matthew 28:1–10 opens not with trumpets but with a walk in the half-light. The Sabbath is over, the sky is just beginning to pale, and two women — Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" — make their way to a grave. Matthew tells us they came "to see the tomb." They are not expecting a miracle. They are doing what grieving people do: returning to the place where loss is most concrete, because love does not stop when hope seems to.
That quiet detail matters. The Christian story of resurrection does not begin with the faithful gathered in triumph. It begins with mourners at a graveside, before dawn, on an ordinary working day. Whatever Easter means, it means something first to people carrying sadness and fear — and it meets them exactly where they are, on the way to a tomb.
The timing matters too. Matthew is careful to say this happened "on the first day of the week." For Jewish readers, the week ended with Sabbath rest; this is the day after, the day life starts up again. All four Gospels anchor the resurrection to this same day, and the earliest Christians took the hint. They began gathering for worship not on the Sabbath but on the first day — the day the tomb was found open. Sunday itself became a kind of weekly return to this scene: ordinary people showing up, and being surprised by life where they expected death.
In the verses that follow, an angel rolls back the stone, tells the women that Jesus is not there but risen, and sends them running — afraid and joyful at once — to tell the others. On the road, the risen Jesus himself meets them. The first witnesses of Easter, and the first people sent to announce it, are these two women who simply came to see a grave.
What scholars say
James Woodward reads these verses by asking a searching pastoral question: what real difference does faith make for people living amid sadness, fear, and distraction in a beautiful but damaged world? Peter Bower then explains how the Gospels' shared emphasis on the first day of the week led early Christians to gather for worship on Sunday, making the day itself a celebration of the resurrection.
“I have often wondered what it means to be an Easter people. As we read again these verses from Matthew 28, what does it mean – in our individualistic, materialistic, distracted and busy world – to have a faith? What difference does faith mean to us, especially in our experience of sadness, fear and pain? Any seasoned observer of human nature will know that it is hard to shift and change people’s lives. We live in a world which is beautiful but also scarred and disfigured by human sin and weakness.”
“The reason the early Christians gathered for public worship on Sunday is found in the New Testament focus on the “first day of the week”—the day of Jesus’ resurrection. All four Gospels affirm the first day of the week as the day of Christ’s resurrection (Matt. 28:1 ff.; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19). The risen and victorious Christ triumphed over the power of death. The Lord of life reigned. To honor God’s work in raising Jesus from the dead, Christians gathered on the first day of the week to break bread and encounter the risen Lord. Sunday derives its meaning from Christ’s resurrection, and it became a thankful celebration of being raised together with Christ.”
What it means for you
This passage is good news for anyone whose faith feels more like grief than glory. The women were not rewarded for confidence; they were met in their sorrow, on the road they were already walking. If your life is marked by loss, worry, or sheer busyness, the resurrection story starts closer to you than you might think.
It also reframes an ordinary habit. If you attend worship on a Sunday — or simply notice the week beginning again — you are, in a small way, retracing the women's steps to the tomb. The question the passage leaves with us is the honest one: what actual difference does this risen Christ make in how we live Monday through Saturday?
Matthew 28 in context
Matthew 28 is the final chapter of the Gospel. Jesus has been crucified, buried, and sealed in a tomb under guard (chapter 27). Verses 1–10 describe the discovery of the empty tomb at dawn, the angel's announcement, and Jesus meeting the women on their way. The chapter then contrasts two responses: the guards and religious leaders spread a cover story (verses 11–15), while the disciples meet Jesus in Galilee and receive the Great Commission (verses 16–20). Our passage is the hinge — the moment the story turns from death to mission.