Is there any meaning in your life that the inevitable death awaiting you does not destroy?[i] That question drove Leo Tolstoy to the verge of suicide during a moral crisis in his fifties. Later he would go on to confess agreement with the teachings of Jesus. But his question strikes at the heart of a problem we all feel—the problem and power of death.

As one author put it, “Death is a catastrophe, an obscene enemy, a poisoned arrow piercing the eye of creation, twisting history and nations, bereaving lovers, warping the constellations of community, of family, [and] of flourishing.”[ii] So, inevitably we wonder, “Is this all in vain? Is there any meaning that death will not destroy?”

Today, in Matthew’s Gospel, we read testimony about one man who entered death and rose again to life, never to die again. And if true, not only does that make Jesus utterly unique; it secures hope for humanity and gives meaning to everything we do in life, especially for his sake. Let’s see how Matthew brings it together.

Last week, I stopped with verse 54. That was intentional. Matthew names several women in verses 55-56. They will appear three times going forward, and they are crucial to his testimony about Jesus’ resurrection. So, let’s start there, in verse 55. Jesus has just died on the cross…

⁵⁵ There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, ⁵⁶ among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. ⁵⁷ When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹ And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud ⁶⁰ and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. ⁶² The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³ and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ ⁶⁴ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. ¹ Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴ And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” ⁸ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” ¹¹ While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. ¹² And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers ¹³ and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

What a passage! At first glance, you’re struck by what seems to be missing. Matthew usually explains how such and such event fulfills the Old Testament. But we don’t find much of that here—at least nothing explicit like, “these things happened in order to fulfill ____.” There’s also no reflection on the future hope and resurrection of believers, which we find later in the New Testament. Matthew simply presents the facts.

But on second glance, perhaps those things are absent, because Matthew’s Gospel already covered them. That is, Jesus made numerous claims about his authority, his forgiveness, his kingdom, his identity as Messiah, and resurrection—but none of it would be true if Jesus was dead. The end of Matthew is written to say, “He did rise from the dead! Here’s the evidence! Now go back and read in light of Jesus’ resurrection.”

The Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection

We’ll do that soon. But first, let’s look at the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. Perhaps some of you are still unsure about the truthfulness of Christianity. Maybe others are Christians, but you find yourself battling doubts: “Have I given myself to something real, or is this fiction?” Well, let’s consider the evidence.

First thing to note is Matthew’s emphasis on eyewitness testimony. Verse 55, the women look on from a distance. Verse 59, Joseph takes the body and lays it in the tomb. Verse 61, the women sit opposite the tomb, presumably seeing. Verse 6, the angel says, “Come, see the place where he lay.” The women hear Jesus talk in verse 9. In verse 10, they take hold of Jesus’ feet. Seeing, hearing, touching—eyewitness testimony.

Our access to the resurrection of Jesus is no different than the access we have to nearly all historical events: we access historical events through the witnesses that were present and the testimony or records they left behind for us.[iii] In the first century, the most trustworthy historiography was based on eyewitness testimony.

But it gets even better: there are multiple eyewitnesses. Writing to a Jewish audience, that’s important. The Law demands two or three witnesses. Meaning, the testimony to Jesus’ resurrection is not a private matter. It’s not like a “Joseph-Smith” experience—by yourself with an angel. Multiple witnesses see the same event.

Notice also how Matthew names a few of them. Verse 56, “among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.” In the field of historiography this is important. It helps ensure the authenticity of your words, when you name your sources.[iv] This was especially true when folks are still alive when you write your account. By naming these women (or Joseph), Matthew is telling his original readers, “Go ask them yourself. Go ask Mary—not that Mary, the other one, Mary Magdalene and that one…They’ll tell you what they saw.”

But notice too how the women he names were part of a larger group of women who followed Jesus from Galilee. To this point, you might’ve thought it was only the Twelve. Not so, according to verse 55. These women “followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him.” Luke’s Gospel says these women “provided for them out of their means” (Luke 8:3). In other words, Matthew’s eyewitnesses aren’t some obscure bystanders. People knew these women. They also knew Jesus—they wouldn’t have mistaken him for someone else.

Next, don’t miss the significance of Matthew including the testimony of women at all. Listen to the way Andreas Köstenberger puts it:

In the first century, women were not even eligible to testify in a Jewish court of law. Josephus said that even the witness of multiple women was not acceptable “because of the levity and boldness of their sex.” Celsus, the second-century critic of Christianity, mocked the idea of Mary Magdalene as an alleged resurrection witness, referring to her as a “hysterical female…deluded by…sorcery.” This background matters because it points to two crucial truths. First, it is a theological reminder that the kingdom of the Messiah turns the system of the world on its head. Into this culture, Jesus radically affirmed the full dignity of women and the vital value of their witness. Second, it is a powerful apologetic reminder of the historical accuracy of the resurrection accounts. If these were “cleverly devised myths”…women would never have been presented as the first eyewitnesses of the risen Christ.[v]

Stated differently, if you were going to fabricate a story and really sell it in Matthew’s day, you would’ve chosen men as the first witnesses. But that’s not what they do, because that’s not what happened. They tell it as it happened.

Something else: notice how two of the women are present at all three events. In verse 55, he names three women who see Jesus die. In verse 61, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” see Joseph lay Jesus’ body in the tomb. Then, in 28:1, the same women go the tomb and find it empty. It dispels any notion that they get the wrong tomb, or that the same man that comes out of the tomb wasn’t dead before.

Speaking of the tomb—the women find it empty. They show up early Sunday. An angel has rolled back the stone. Verse 60 called it a “great stone.” It’s no small task to remove the stone. It takes a team to remove it.[vi] Nevertheless, it’s tossed aside with an angel sitting on top. The guards tremble and faint. But the angel tells the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” They see the empty tomb.

So do the guards. An empty tomb is the one thing the guards were supposed to stop: “Order the tomb to be made secure,” they said, “lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’” But now the tomb is empty; and there’s no denying it. Verse 11—the guards report back to the chief priests and tell them “all that had taken place.” Notice, the chief priests believe the guards’ testimony. They know the tomb is empty. That’s why they’ve got to fabricate a story to make it look like something other than a resurrection happened.

Can you imagine how that played out, by the way? It just takes one thinking person to say, “Tell me again what happened.” “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” “Let me get this straight. You were asleep when all this happened? How do you know they stole him away, if you were sleeping? And all of you stayed sleeping while it took a team of men to move the heavy stone? Come on now!”

The soldiers’ testimony about the empty tomb and the priests’ solution to lie end up confirming what the women saw: they really saw an empty tomb, Joseph’s tomb where Jesus was buried, the same tomb the soldiers were guarding.

But it’s not just an empty tomb; they also witness Jesus in his new body. In verse 8, the women depart quickly with fear and great joy. They run to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus meets them and says, “Greetings!” They come up and take hold of his feet and worship him.” Note: they take hold of his feet. Jesus is not as a spirit. He rose with a new body. They are not seeing a vision; they are touching him and talking to him. Jesus then tells them, “Don’t be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” More witnesses will see Jesus’ body after his resurrection.

So, we’re not left with just the potentially open-ended testimony that the tomb was empty. We also have the complementary testimony that these women saw the resurrected Jesus and heard him and touched him. Listen to this from N. T. Wright,

An empty tomb without any meetings with Jesus would have been a distressing puzzle [and a tragedy]…It would have proved nothing; it would have suggested nothing, except the fairly common practice of grave-robbery…[Likewise] meetings with Jesus, could by themselves have been interpreted in a variety of ways. Most people in the ancient world…knew that visions and appearances of recently dead people occurred…Various theories can be advanced about the psychological state of the person who experiences them…[However,] bring [the empty tomb and Jesus’ appearances] together, and they form, in combination, a sufficient condition [for the rise of early Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection].[vii]

That’s the evidence Matthew reports. Given the way he presents things, the resurrection of Jesus isn’t just a religious idea. It’s not just a myth from which we glean timeless truths to live by. It’s not just a story full of great symbolism. Matthew’s claim is that Jesus’ resurrection is a real event in a specific place and time. Matthew intends to be taken seriously as a matter of historical fact.

This makes Christianity vastly different from most other religions. All that matters to most religions is whether the experience holds true regardless of historical verification. Christianity is dependent on its historical claims. That’s why Paul will say later, “If Christ has not been raised, then…your faith is in vain.” The resurrection of Jesus is a historical claim that everyone must face. Either Jesus rose from the dead or he didn’t.

Matthew rests his case not simply on a subjective experience, but on the objective facts of eyewitness testimony. When he looks at the evidence: Jesus rose from the dead. If that’s true, it changes everything. The resurrection secures hope for humanity and gives meaning to everything we do in life, especially for his sake.

The Meaning of Jesus’ Resurrection

So, let’s look now at the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. Matthew’s Gospel has already set us up. For starters, the resurrection means that God is faithful to his word. Consider the Old Testament promises that Matthew has already mentioned. He opened by linking Jesus with David (Matt 1:1). God promised David a son to rule forever.

In 2:6, Matthew showed from Micah 5:2 that God promised a ruler, who would shepherd his people, Israel. Multiple times, Matthew also connected Jesus with the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. He would become a substitute for sinners. But by the end of Isaiah 53, that same Servant receives the spoils of his victory and claims his offspring.

In 21:5, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, recalling another promise from Zechariah 9:9. God promised a King who would bring peace and cover the earth with God’s rule. Then in 22:44, Jesus spoke of a son in David’s line from Psalm 110. God would enthrone this Son at his right hand and put all enemies beneath his feet. Then, just last Sunday, we looked at Psalm 22, and how God promised to vindicate his King and, in light of that victory, spread world-wide worship.

God raised Jesus from the dead to say, “This is my promised King. This is my promised Servant. He is the fulfillment of all my promises.”

Beloved, what kinds of words has God spoken to you? When you read the Scriptures, what do you hear him saying to you? “Blessed are you who mourn, for you shall be comforted.” “On this mountain…I will swallow up death forever” (Isa 25:7). “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed…I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa 41:10). “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom 16:20). “The good work I began in you, I will finish.”

These words are empty, if Jesus is dead. But God raised Jesus from the dead. He proved his faithfulness. You have a concrete hope that God will fulfill all his words to you, because they’re bound to a person who can never die again.

Something else the resurrection means: Jesus’ claims are true. What was it that Jesus kept telling his disciples? 16:21, “that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”[viii] If Jesus stayed dead, it would’ve meant he was a liar or crazy. But the fact is, he was killed on Friday. He rose on Sunday. And that means he was telling the truth. It’s like the angel tells the women in verse 6: “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.”

That means we can trust everything he says. He did come to fulfill all righteousness, as he told John the Baptist. The kingdom of heaven really is near, as he preached in Galilee. The Law and the Prophets did foreshadow his coming. From “Blessed are the meek” to “Woe, you hypocrites!” From “Beware of false prophets” to “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus’ resurrection means that all that he said is true.

Tim Keller once put it this way: “Sometimes people approach me and say, “I really struggle with this aspect of Christian teaching. I like this part of Christian belief, but I don’t think I can accept that part.” I usually respond: “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not [Jesus] rose from the dead.”[ix]

Next, the resurrection means respond to Jesus’ lordship with repentance. In 12:38, religious leaders want a sign that proves Jesus is legit. Jesus says the only sign you’re going to get is the sign of Jonah. In the same way Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, Jesus would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus’ point is simple. There was only one sign that Jesus intended to give these skeptics—the greatest sign of all—his death and resurrection.

But here’s what that means. In 12:41 Jesus says, “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” By raising Jesus from the dead, God proved that something greater than Jonah is here.

Question is, did these skeptics end up accepting that sign? Did they repent? Sadly, many do not. In our passage, notice how determined the religious leaders are to cover the truth. The tomb is empty. An angel shakes the earth. The soldiers know. Yet despite the evidence of an empty tomb—despite the sign of Jonah—the religious leaders don’t even investigate. No, they bribe the soldiers into lying.

They called Jesus an imposter. But who are the real imposters? Denying the resurrection isn’t due to a lack of convincing evidence; it’s due to a bias against the truth. It’s due to an unwillingness to question your own assumptions about God and what he’s able to do. It’s due to a moral disposition that doesn’t want Jesus to be Lord. Repentance is the right response. Your loyalty and allegiance belong to Jesus. This becomes more urgent knowing that Jesus is the Son of Man, who’s coming again to judge the world. Had Jesus stayed in the grave, there’d be no need to prepare for judgment. But since God raised him, “the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne” as he said.

The resurrection also means that Jesus is righteous and saves us from our sins. Matthew anticipated this in 1:21, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Death is God’s judicial response to sin. The reason death holds people in the grave is that people are sinners. But death could not hold Jesus in the grave, because Jesus was righteous. Why, then, did he die? He died for our sins. Our sins deserved death. He took our sins to the grave. That’s why Paul says, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:17). An unraised Jesus means an unjustified sinner. But if he’s been raised, then he truly saves from sin.

That’s good news. You’ve got to love the variety of people Jesus saves. Luke’s Gospel tells us that Mary Magdalene had seven demons at one point. Earlier in Matthew, the “mother of the sons of Zebedee” was focused on her sons getting the best seat in the kingdom, not on becoming servants. Yet Jesus tells these women, “Don’t be afraid.”

Joseph of Arimathea belonged to the Sanhedrin, the other Gospels tell us. He didn’t agree to crucifying Jesus, but he also came to Pilate secretly for fear of the Jews. In verse 57, Joseph is also called a “rich man,” and earlier Jesus said, “It’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Then you’ve got the Twelve disciples, and we’ve seen how fickle their faith could be.

These are the kinds of people Jesus saves. Not people who have it all together, but people who are a mess. In verse 10, he calls the disciples “brothers.” “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.” Those who abandoned him—yet he says, “my brothers.” Come to Jesus as you are. He won’t leave you as you are; but come as you are. Jesus alone saves us from our sins. Jesus alone is righteous to do so. The resurrection proves that.

Further, the resurrection also means that Jesus is the Cornerstone and is building his kingdom. I get this from Jesus’ words in 21:42. “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

Jesus said these things just before he’s tossed aside like an insignificant stone (on the cross). But it was all part of God’s plan to establish a greater kingdom, one that’s built on the Cornerstone of Jesus. By raising Jesus from the dead, God has set the Cornerstone. He’s giving the kingdom to a people bearing its fruits.

In verse 10, that’s why Jesus says to meet him in Galilee. Matthew told us about Galilee in 4:15. “The way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” In the wake of his resurrection, Jesus is bringing all nations to himself. Jordan will preach on that more next week, and what your participation looks like in the Great Commission.

But for now, just know that you are evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. He has given the kingdom to you. You have become God’s people under God’s rule. He has set you on the Cornerstone. You are part of something big and powerful and eternal. So, give yourself to laboring for his people. Invest in each other’s lives. Spread the word to others. Don’t be among those who smother the news about Jesus’ resurrection. Be among those who spread the news of Jesus’ resurrection.

Finally, Jesus’ resurrection means the wedding feast is coming. In 22:2, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a wedding feast for his Son.” Then, on the night when Jesus was betrayed, Jesus also made a promise to his followers: “I tell you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Jesus spoke these words, knowing that he would conquer death for us, knowing that he would raise us from the dead to drink with him.

For those who belong to Jesus, death is not our end. To borrow again from Tolstoy’s dilemma, he was on to something. There is no meaning that death does not destroy…unless Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus rose from the dead, we have the hope of resurrection. We have a joy fixed in a new world. We have meaning to everything we commit ourselves to in this physical world, because Jesus has a physical body. And in physical bodies like his, we will eat and drink and rejoice in a new world forever.

So don’t despair. Don’t give up. Don’t lost heart in all your labors. When you lose your wife to cancer, when you lose your dad after a fall, when feel like everything is shot through with death and decay and impermanence—it’s not in vain! God is taking this world to the wedding feast, to eating and drinking and playing in the streets with total freedom and glory. How do we know? Because Jesus has risen from the dead.*

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[i] The original quote is written in the first person: “Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?” As cited in Leo Tolstoy, A Confession, trans. Aylmer Maude (London: Oxford, 1974), 24.

[ii] Douglas McKelvey, Every Moment Holy, vol. 2 (Nashville: Rabbit Room, 2021), 134.

[iii] E.g., Luke 1:1-4; John 21:24.

[iv] See especially Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).

[v] Andreas Köstenberger and Justin Taylor, “Five Errors to Drop from Your Easter Sermon,” Christianity Today (April 15, 2014), accessed at https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/april-web-only/five-errors-to-drop-from-your-easter-sermon.html?start=3&paging=off.

[vi] We know from Mark 16:2 that the women were wondering, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”

[vii] N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003), 686, 688-92.

[viii] Also Matt 17:9, 22; 20:19.

[ix] Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York: Dutton, 2008), 202.