Breaking News: Women at the Tomb
In Matthew 28 and Mark 16, women are the first to encounter the empty tomb and hear the announcement of Jesus’ resurrection. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome are all mentioned by name, and they’re the ones who receive the angel’s message. Matthew’s account even describes Jesus appearing to them directly before anyone else.
A Countercultural Twist
In the first-century world, this is unusual. Women’s testimony was often not considered legally reliable, and much of public life was dominated by men. Yet in these two Gospels, women are entrusted with the most important news in the narrative. This makes me curious about why this detail is included so prominently. If the writers had wanted to make the story more persuasive to a skeptical audience of the time, they could have chosen to focus on male witnesses. Instead, they keep the women at the center of this moment.
Fear Meets Joy
It’s interesting, too, that their first reaction is fear. Mark says they fled from the tomb trembling and “said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened” (Mark 16:8, NLT). Matthew adds that they were “very frightened but also filled with great joy” (Matthew 28:8, NLT). That mixture of fear and joy feels authentic to an overwhelming experience, especially one that defies understanding.
The emphasis on women in this role adds a layer of complexity to the text. It highlights the fact that the Gospels are not written as polished propaganda pieces; they include unexpected details that might have seemed inconvenient or even questionable in their original cultural context. The story challenges assumptions about whose voices are valued, both then and now.
Voices that Shift Perspectives
Reading this, I find myself wondering how early audiences received these accounts. Did the mention of women first at the tomb make the story harder to believe for some? Or did it lend credibility because it was so unexpected? The text doesn’t tell us directly, but the preservation of this detail across multiple Gospels suggests it was important to keep.
Whether or not one reads this as historical reporting, this choice by the writers draws attention to the way narratives can subvert expectations. Here, the most monumental message in the Christian tradition is carried first by people whose testimony would have been overlooked in their culture. That’s a detail that continues to prompt thought about perspective, power, and whose voices are trusted in shaping stories.