The first ten verses have "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary" going to "see the tomb" just before dawn on Sunday morning and there experiencing an earthquake followed by an angel descending and rolling away the stone.
The guards tremble and "become like dead men". (Did they pass out?)
The angel addresses the two Maries, inviting them to see the place where Jesus' body had been laid and saying that Jesus would be heading to Galilee.
As they are leaving the tomb "with fear and great joy", the two women encounter Jesus Himself. They grab his feet and worship him. Jesus tells them not to be afraid, but to go and tell the disciples they would see Jesus in Galilee.
Five of the twenty verses are then devoted to the guards being paid by the chief priests to lie about the disappearance of Jesus' body.
The final five verses tell of Jesus meeting the disciples in Galilee and giving "the Great Commission".
Curiously, there is no mention of the Ascension. In fact, Jesus' final words recorded in Matthew's Gospel are "I am with you always"!
It is often revealing to take note of repeated words in any biblical passage. Here, the key words which get repeated are "see" and "fear" (4 times each) and "disciples" (5 times) and "behold!" (6 times).
This was an event of heightened drama for the disciples. (That's quite an understatement, I suppose.) And it's clear from Matthew's perspective that what they SEE after Jesus' death is as important as what they are told.
There's really no way to make sense of the Gospel accounts if you want to spiritualize Jesus' resurrection or make it metaphorical.
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