John Calvin Commentary Matthew 28:1

"Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." — Matthew 28:1 (ASV)

We now come to the closing scene of our redemption. For the living assurance of our reconciliation with God arises from Christ having come from hell as the conqueror of death, to show that He had the power of a new life at His disposal. Therefore, Paul justly says that there will be no gospel, and that the hope of salvation will be vain and fruitless, unless we believe that Christ is risen from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:14). For then Christ obtained righteousness for us and opened up our entrance into heaven; and, in short, then our adoption was ratified, when Christ, by rising from the dead, exerted the power of His Spirit and proved Himself to be the Son of God.

Although He manifested His resurrection in a different manner than what our fleshly senses would have desired, still the method He approved ought to be regarded by us also as the best.

He went out of the grave without a witness, so that the emptiness of the place might be the earliest indication; next, He chose to have it announced to the women by the angels that He was alive; and shortly afterward He appeared to the women and, finally, to the apostles on various occasions.

Thus He gradually brought His followers, according to their capacity, to a greater measure of knowledge. He began with the women, and not only presented Himself to be seen by them but even gave them a commission to announce the gospel to the apostles, so as to become their instructors.

This was intended, first, to chastise the indifference of the apostles, who were like persons half-dead with fear, while the women ran with eagerness to the tomb and likewise obtained no ordinary reward. For though their design to anoint Christ, as if He were still dead, was not free from blame, still He forgave their weakness and bestowed on them distinguished honor, by taking away from men the apostolic office and committing it to them for a short time.

In this manner also He exhibited an instance of what Paul tells us, that He chooses those things which are foolish and weak in the world to abase the loftiness of the flesh. And we shall never be duly prepared to learn this article of our faith in any other manner than by laying aside all pride and submitting to receive the testimony of the women. Not that our faith ought to be confined within such narrow limits, but because the Lord, in order to test our faith, determines that we shall become fools before He admits us to a more ample knowledge of His mysteries.

As far as the narrative is concerned, Matthew says only that the two Marys came to see the tomb; Mark adds a third, Salome, and says that they bought spices to anoint the body; and from Luke we infer that not two or three only, but many women came. But we know that it is customary for the sacred writers, when speaking of a great number, to name only a few of them. It may also be conjectured with probability that Mary Magdalene, with another companion—whether she was sent before or ran forward of her own accord—arrived at the grave before the rest of the women. And this appears to be conveyed by the words of Matthew, that those two women came for the purpose of seeing; for without seeing Christ, they had no means of anointing Him. He says nothing, in the meantime, about the purpose they had formed of doing honor to Him, for the principal object He had in view was to testify to the resurrection.

But it may be asked, how could this zeal of the women, which was mixed with superstition, be acceptable to God? I have no doubt that the custom of anointing the dead, which they had borrowed from the Fathers, was applied by them to its proper object: to draw consolation, amidst the mourning of death, from the hope of the life to come. I readily acknowledge that they sinned in not immediately raising their minds to that prediction which they had heard from the lips of their Master, when He foretold that He would rise again on the third day.³⁰¹

But as they retained the general principle of the final resurrection, that defect is forgiven, which would justly have marred, as the phrase is, the whole of the action. Thus God frequently accepts, with fatherly kindness, the works of the saints, which, without pardon, not only would not have pleased Him, but would even have been justly rejected with shame and punishment.

It is, therefore, an astonishing display of the goodness of Christ, that He kindly and generously presents Himself alive to the women, who did Him wrong in seeking Him among the dead. Now if He did not permit them to come in vain to His grave, we may conclude with certainty that those who now aspire to Him by faith will not be disappointed; for the distance of places does not prevent believers from enjoying Him who fills heaven and earth by the power of His Spirit.

³⁰¹ “Quand il avoit predit qu’il ressusciteroit le troisieme jour.”.”