WWUTT 2523 The Women Tell the Disciples (Luke 24:10-12)

Jesus rose from the dead. Amen? This is a central truth to the Christian faith. It's something that all Christians must believe because if we don't believe it then our faith is in vain when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study in the Word of Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the.

The Resurrection Narrative in Luke 24

Gospel of Luke, we come back to chapter 24. As we've been reading the resurrection narrative this week, let me read once again verses 1 through 12 to start things off. Here, the Word of the Lord. But on the first day of the week at early dawn the women went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

But when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground the men said to them why do you seek the living among the dead.

He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified. And on the third day rise and they remembered his words and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Now it was mary magdalene and joanna and mary the mother of james and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them.

But peter rose and ran to the tomb stooping and looking in he saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened. And so peter's reaction is like the reaction that the women have that we considered yesterday when they go into the tomb and they see that the body is not there.

Now i mentioned to you yesterday that there could have been as many as a dozen women that were part of this group. We don't really know for sure but we know that there were at least five because of what we have mentioned in in other gospels at least five women were present and could have been more than that because of the statement the other women who were who were with them.

So today what we're looking at is the testimony that the women bring to the apostles and their reaction to it. And then peter's reaction going to the tomb and looking to see for himself that the body of jesus is not there.

On monday we looked at verses one through three reading about the resurrection itself on that early sunday morning. Then yesterday looking at verses four through nine with the women encountering those two angels who say to the women that he is not here but he has risen.

Today what we look at is the testimony of the women to the apostles and then their response to it. So we're picking up in verse 10 where it says. Now it was mary magdalene and joanna and mary the mother of james and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.

So as i said there were at least five because you have three of them mentioned there and the other women so that's plural could be two more. And so you have five women at least that are mentioned. But as i put before you it could have been more than that.

It could have been as many as a dozen perhaps because we've had other occasions especially earlier in luke where he talked about the women who were with jesus in galilee ministering. And not all those names that were mentioned earlier in luke are the names that we have mentioned here.

Mary magdalene in verse 10 is the one name that is consistent through all four gospels not all four gospels mention mary and the other mary was the mother of james and joanna. Or another one being salome who is mentioned at in luke or sorry not luke mark mark 16.

One mentioned salome as well. Mary magdalene. Mary the mother of james and salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. So salome is not mentioned here in luke 24. But she would have been grouped with the other women that category of the other women who were there at the tomb.

Also again mary magdalene is the only name that is consistent across all four gospels. I think john only mentions mary magdalene and doesn't mention anyone else who is not mentioned at the tomb although it's commonly thought of as her being at the tomb.

But she's never mentioned as being at the tomb is jesus mother. Mary was not among the women who came to the tomb. She was among the women who were at the foot of the cross when jesus died. But she was not among the women who come to the tomb to anoint the body of jesus.

I know that that's commonly depicted. I've seen paintings of the women who come to the tomb. And there's one woman that you would look at and see they're probably painting to look like mary the mother of jesus as one who is even holier than the rest of the women.

She might have the halo around her head or something to that effect. But uh you know. So anyway as far back as artistic depictions of the resurrection go there have been those who have shown or at least believed mary the mother of jesus to be among those women that come to the tomb.

But she's actually never mentioned she is there at the cross when jesus dies. But she is not among the women who go to the tomb to anoint his body. Mary magdalene the only woman as i mentioned consistently mentioned across uh all four gospels.

Now remember that joanna was politically connected. She was the wife of chooza who was harrod's household manager. So somebody worked in the household of harrod. His wife becomes a follower of jesus. We also know although she would not have been among the women who came to the tomb at least we have no indication of believing this.

But pilot's wife was someone who feared jesus and thought there was. There was much more connected with jesus than just a guy who was a rabble rouser which you know was probably the romans perception of him.

This is just a guy who's kind of stirring up crowds and he's causing a ruckus so we need to beat him or scourge him and punish him so that people will see. You don't. You don't stir up a crowd and make a big commotion.

Calm down enjoy your lives submit to rome. And so pilot in order to keep the crowd appeased went ahead and submitted jesus to be crucified. But that wasn't what he wanted originally and pilot's wife had said to him don't have anything to do with that man.

I believe it was the movie the passion of the christ the one that was directed by mel gibson. There was a scene in that film. I believe it was this movie. But there was a scene in that film where um pilot's wife is having nightmares because of jesus.

Biblically accurate matthew 27 19 tells us that she had suffered because of a dream she had about him and that was the reason why she sent word to pilot to say have nothing to do with that man. So in mel gibson's film he has the woman who plays pilot's wife come to i it's either mary magdalene or it could be mary jesus mother and brings like garments for jesus to be wrapped in or clothed in or burial cloths.

Even it could have been i. Yeah it's been years since i saw the movie and i only saw it once but but i remember that scene. So in one of these jesus films there was a scene like that which was interesting.

That's interesting to consider. The bible doesn't tell us that that she not only had a a dream about jesus and told pilot to have nothing to do with him but she actually had sympathy toward jesus and therefore contributed to his burial in some way.

Yeah it's interesting to consider that. But again scripture doesn't say and she very unlikely would have been among the women who come to the tomb in order to anoint the body of jesus remember that his his burial was so hasty getting him off the cross getting him wrapped and put into a tomb because the sabbath was coming that they didn't have time to do all of the proper anointing so that the body would have been prepared properly to not be to not have a lot of stench.

This was the way bodies were prepared in that time. So a body was not just wrapped and then stuck in a tomb. They did a lot to the body to make it fragrant so that the putrefying process the rotting of the body and the smells and odors that would come from that would not uh it would not be so overpowering.

But the the tombs were meant to smell actually kind of nice. I'm sure you couldn't mask that odor completely but but at least it was an effort to make the passing of a person even pleasing to people who had to mourn over the passing of that person.

We have a lot of mention of fragrant spices and things like that throughout the scriptures. Even when it came to the burning of incense in the holy place in the tabernacle or the burning of incense and frankincense and things like that inside the temple itself it was supposed to be something that was pleasing to the senses all the way around.

Worship was was good in in not only what you could see visually and not only the sounds of worship that were going on but even the sense of smell would be pleased by the aromas that would be burning in in a holy place.

So with the burial of a body this isn't really considered to be a holy place by jews. They wouldn't go there because it was unclean but still something that would be pleasing to those who mourned the burning of incense or the embalming of the body in a way that that would include frankincense or myrrh and other spices so that you weren't just smelling death all the time.

That's what the women are coming to the tomb to do. And already the body of jesus would have been stinking if he had not risen from the dead. Remember that lazarus was in the tomb for four days. He was in a tomb for four days.

And when jesus had said to roll the stone away from the tomb the people were like why would we do that he stinks. And isn't it in the king james where it says he stinketh because that's been the joke jesus he he stinketh by now.

But jesus surely would have gotten to that point also if not for the fact that he was given a new body a glorified body. And with this body he rises from the dead. So again mary magdalene the first of the women mentioned there some of the others joanna mary the mother of james salome is another one of those women.

And there were probably several others now yesterday i kind of put a big emphasis on the fact that the tomb wasn't very large but it it surely would have been large enough for several women to be standing in there and then the angels to be standing in there alongside them.

It was a rich man's tomb after all joseph of arimathea so probably was larger than most common tombs that were in jerusalem at the time. So the women come back from the tomb and they tell the disciples these things.

Now what we read yesterday in verse nine is that they told these things to the eleven and all the rest not the twelve. Why. Well surely you know why judas is not among them. Now matthew makes more detail.

He gives more detail of the of the three gospels that we've read so far. Matthew mark and luke. Matthew gives more detail about what happened to judas. Luke doesn't mention it. Luke doesn't mention anything beyond judas kissing jesus and betraying him into the hands of his enemies at least not in the gospel of luke.

But luke does mention more about him when we get to acts chapter one. So matthew gives the most detail in his gospel. Luke does include more details. And we're going to get to that next when we get to acts.

By the way i my decision has been to go from luke into acts. We're just going to keep going because these are part one and part two. Luke really wrote these intending that you would read them both. So we should go from the gospel of luke into the book of acts before going to the gospel of john which i do intend to do.

I've already taught through acts and john on this podcast. So because i've already taught through those two books i'm going to do them not from the english standard version but from the legacy. I've not taught from those two books out of the legacy standard bible.

So that's what i'm getting to next once we finish luke 24 we're going to go into acts chapter one probably like right at the start of 2026 good time to uh to change new testament books and start in a new one.

So it's there that uh that i'll be reading from the legacy standard teaching once again through the acts of the apostles the sequel to the gospel of luke. And as mentioned once again right there at the start of acts chapter one we have an account there of what had happened to judas iscariot.

Luke doesn't include it in the gospel but he does. He does talk about it when we get to the acts of the apostles. So there's 11 disciples here. It's already implied by that judas is no longer among them and is already dead even by this point.

So the women tell these things to the 11 and they're even called apostles here in verse 10. But verse 11 these words seem to them an idle tale and they did not believe them. What do you know. The disciples are the first skeptics to the resurrection of jesus christ.

At least as far as what we have mentioned in the gospels i mean the pharisees. It's unlikely that they would believe that either. But but the apostles are the first skeptics. Well remember though that when the angel appears and the guards pass out and then they run away what's recorded in matthew is they go back to the chief priests and tell them well here's what happened.

And then the guards are paid some amount of money not to talk to anybody about it. So maybe by this point the pharisees do already know and they even understand what the guards are telling them. But the disciples don't believe the women.

Now it's it's always been a fascinating thing and you've heard this talked about many many times especially concerning the resurrection of jesus. It's always been a fascinating thing that the lord chose women to be the first witnesses to the empty tomb.

And this also speaks to the legitimacy of of what is going on here like this is a testimony to the truthfulness that god would choose women first to see the empty tomb rather than the men. Why is that relevant.

Because the testimony of a woman was not acceptable in court in those days. She didn't even have a vote of any kind. A woman did not have a vote in the sanhedrin or anything like that. It was men entirely men.

And so witnesses in court the witness testimony had to come from a man. And here the first witnesses to the empty tomb are the women testimony that would not even be admissible in a jewish court. And yet they are the first to testify to the empty tomb.

This is who the lord providentially chose would be the first witnesses to the resurrection of jesus. But even the disciples did not believe the women. Like what are you talking about. They're skeptical that the tomb is even empty.

The women are even talking about angels having appeared to them. The angels said to us that he had risen. And they're going come on come on. Really. But peter rose verse 12. Now it's interesting that it's peter.

We also know it was john according to john's gospel. John also gets up with peter and they run to the tomb to look in and see. So that's kind of fascinating. Why peter. And why john. Well remember peter and john along with james who is john's brother they were the only three who saw the transfiguration of jesus.

They were the only three that went up on the mount of transfiguration and saw him transfigured before them. When the veil of jesus flesh was was kind of pulled to the side so that they would see him in his glory and hear the voice of the father saying this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased.

So there is something that peter and john have had the privilege of seeing that the other disciples did not. So that may be part of the reason why they were a little more convinced by this testimony. Not necessarily convinced to the point of believing that he had raised he would he had been risen from the dead.

But at least wanting to know. Okay what's going on here. The women are saying the tomb is empty. They're not going to make that up. And so they run to the tomb to see what's there. So part of the reason could be because peter james and john had the opportunity to see more than any of the other disciples did.

But you also see their love and affection for jesus in that right. Peter was so very close to jesus and john is referred to as the disciple that jesus loved. So these two disciples who were so very close to the savior end up being the two that go to the tomb to see or to verify what it was that the women were talking about.

So in verse 12 peter rose and he ran to the tomb stooping and looking in. He saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened. So so the cloths are even still there. This isn't just somebody taking the body away which would have they would have left it in the linen cloths who would have unwrapped that body and taken it away.

But peter seeing that the cloths are there that just further testimony in his mind. Maybe they're telling the truth. Jesus got up and rose and he walked out of this tomb. They've seen him raise the dead.

And here he's raised himself from the dead. And isn't it likely that the women when they come and testify to this before the disciples that they also would have said what the angels told them. Do you remember what jesus told you in galilee.

He must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified. And on the third day rise. And peter surely thinking about that. That's right. He did say that and we did not understand what that meant.

One of the gospel accounts even says they didn't dare ask him about it anymore because they just didn't understand. Jesus is going to be crucified and he's going to rise again from the dead. You know there's that song that we hear this time of the year every christmas.

Mary did you know. Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water. She probably didn't know that he was going to do that. Who would have known that the savior of the world would one day go take a stroll on the surface of the water.

Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters. Yeah now that she did know because the angel told her that's that. That was what he was going to do. Did you know your baby boy has come to make you new.

Yes. And no there were probably some things she did understand about that. But other things that she didn't understand. All of what jesus was going to do was actually very mysterious in the minds of a lot of people.

As i've mentioned to you many times before the people even the disciples themselves were anticipating an emancipator. They thought this was going to be some sort of political uprising. That's what jesus was going to to lead us to.

And and jesus instead wants to meet with the disciples after his resurrection. He wants to meet with them in galilee so that they don't get this idea in their heads that jesus has now risen to do what we thought he was going to do.

He's conquered death. And now he's going to assume the throne. And that's not what ends up happening when they return back to jerusalem. It's for jesus to ascend into heaven. But anyway going on with these with these lyrics.

Mary did you know that your baby boy would give sight to the blind man. And we don't know. Maybe she did know that. Especially considering that this was a fulfillment of prophecy that he would give sight to the blind.

Mary did you know that your baby boy would calm a storm with his hand. No. She probably didn't know that he was going to do that. Did you know that your baby boy has walked with what he he has walked where angels trod.

And when you kiss your little baby you've kissed the face of god. Most likely she did know that. But let me let me put this to you. Even a human being that knows that like even mary knows that because of what the angel had said to her because of of this being a fulfillment of what had been talked about in scripture even if she knows that does she really think when she's kissing the face of this baby how how much is her mind able to wrap around the concept of the incarnation like we argue about it now on a theological level.

And and even the prophetic words have been more fully confirmed to us as talked about in second peter chapter one. And yet we struggle to understand or comprehend god becoming man and dwelling among us.

So even though she's holding in there in her arms and even though she believes it because it was said to her how much though like how much could we in our human hearts be able to grasp these infinitely complex concepts of what god was doing throughout redemptive history.

We can barely wrap our minds around that now and yet we do believe and we trust that god has sent jesus his son to be the savior of all who would believe in him. He is the savior of the world. And so by our faith we have been justified forgiven our sins and given entrance into the kingdom of god.

The resurrection that jesus has received is the resurrection that we will have also our lowly bodies being transformed to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself as said in philippians chapter three.

And so my friends continue to trust in the resurrection in all that was given to us through christ our savior. And you too will be raised again. We have been raised. We've been risen to walk in newness of life.

And we're looking forward to that day when we will be risen to eternal life. Heavenly father we thank you for what we have read. And may these things continue to teach us continue to remind us of the goodness of god in the grace that is shown to us through christ our savior.

May we always keep our our hearts focused on the eternal things that we've been promised in christ. We're going to go through difficult things in this world. But we we don't lose hope. We take heart knowing that there is some ultimate great reward treasure that is waiting for us on the other side for all who are in christ and let us have the boldness and the courage to share the message of the gospel with others so that they too would come to faith in jesus christ and live it's in jesus name.

We pray.

Amen. You've been listening to when we understand the text with pastor gabe. Monday tuesday and wednesday gabe will be going through a new testament study then on thursday we look at an old testament book.

On friday we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow we'll pick up on an old testament study when we understand the text.