The Women At The Tomb (and the Men Rebuked)

This is Part 6 of an 8-Part Series on Women (and Men) in the Bible

"Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they [the women] went to the tomb. On the way they were asking each other, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?'" - Mark 16:2-3

Let's be honest: generally and scientifically speaking, there tend to be some differences between men and women, and on average, men tend to be taller, heavier, and physically stronger. (Emphasis on "generally", "tend to be", and "on average"!)

The women are up at dawn, headed to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body for burial, and they are wondering what the heck they are going to do about the massive stone that needs to be rolled away. Joseph of Arimathea is recorded as having placed the stone in front of the tomb, but apparently, the women didn't think they could move it by themselves. But, fear not; God had it covered!

"Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it." - Matthew 28:2

I am fortunate enough to have many wonderful men in my life, and, generally speaking, I would have no qualms about asking any of them for help. Believe me, if a massive stone needed to be moved, I would be the first one asking around for some male assistance! But if you are a woman, and you are single, widowed, or divorced, make no mistake about it, Jesus is the only man you need, and if a stone needs to be rolled away in order for you to accomplish His Plans and Purposes in your life, rest assured:

He. Will. Move. It.

... no other male assistance required!

What happened next is of critical importance. There is relative agreement that the women arrived at the empty tomb, saw angels, the angels told them Jesus had risen from the dead and instructed the women to go tell the disciples what had happened and that Jesus would meet the men later, in Galilee. There is also relative agreement that Mary Magdalene saw the risen Jesus first, and that when the women told the disciples what they had seen and experienced, the men didn’t believe them.* How this all played out, the exact order of events, who the women told, when and what they told them, who believed, and at what point they believed are all subject to debate; someone could easily write an entire dissertation on this subject alone.

Part of the reason for that is that you have 4 different witnesses giving testimonies and, of the 4 witnesses, only 2 of them were actually there for any of the actual events; the other 2 are giving second, or even third, hand accounts. Another big part of the problem is that much of what is described in the 4 accounts is not a first-hand, eye witness account because the women were the ones who experienced most of these events, but the 4 gospel writers were all men. But I believe the main reason there is so much apparent discrepancy in these accounts is because of Jesus’ response to it.

Jesus was intentional about everything He did. He could have chosen to time His resurrection so that the men would have arrived first at the empty tomb. He could have chosen to send angels directly to the men. He could have chosen to appear, resurrected, to the men first. I would imagine that’s exactly what the men would have expected Him to do.

But, in typical “Jesus-fashion”, Jesus did the unexpected.

Jesus chose to have the women arrive at the empty tomb first. Jesus chose to send angels to the women and instruct them to tell the men what happened and that Jesus would meet the men later, in Galilee. Jesus chose to appear, resurrected, to the women first.

Why?

I believe it was a test; Jesus had demonstrated to His male disciples, on at least 3 different occasions, that sexist behaviors and attitudes were not in line with His teaching or example. To me, it’s important to note that there were at least 3 different instances of this prior to the resurrection that are recorded in scripture, because it demonstrates a clear pattern.

Jesus was testing the men: would they follow His lead and believe the women? Or would they react in a misogynistic way and dismiss them?

“But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.” - Luke 24:11

Jesus appeared multiple times to the male disciples later in scripture. But the first time He appeared to them, He had some strong words for them. According to Mark 16:14,

“ ... He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen Him after He had been raised from the dead [the women].”

This is a pretty strong verse; this wasn’t just a correction, it was a “rebuke”.

According to Google dictionary, to rebuke means to:

“express sharp disapproval or criticism of someone because of their behavior or actions.”

Apparently, though, the disciple Thomas wasn't present for this appearance or this rebuke, and when Thomas was told by the other male disciples about Jesus’ resurrection, Thomas didn’t believe the men either; he even went so far as to say that he wouldn’t believe Jesus had risen unless he could actually put his fingers in the nail wounds in Jesus’ hands and his hand into the wound in Jesus’ side (thus the nickname, “Doubting Thomas”). So it would seem logical that Thomas would be deserving of the strongest of rebukes. ... But when Jesus appears 8 days later to all of the male disciples, including Thomas, Jesus doesn’t rebuke Thomas at all. On the contrary, He invites Thomas to put his fingers in the nail wounds and put his hand in the wound on His side.

Why the difference?

I think it's because God doesn’t simply look at outward behavior; He looks at the motivation behind it. What is going on in our hearts and minds? … and there is a big difference between honest and sincere disbelief, and misogyny.

According to Dictionary.com, misogynistic is:

“reflecting or exhibiting ingrained and institutionalized prejudice against women; sexist”

Thomas may have been a doubter, but he seemed to be an “equal opportunity doubter”.

© I Lift My Voice, 2022.

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* You could make the case that the disciple John believed the women based upon his own account in the book of John, but the fact that, years later, he felt a need to clarify certain details adds credibility to the fact that the male disciples didn't believe the women and Jesus rebuked them for it.

Click Here to Read Part 7 in This 8-Part Series on Women (and Men) in the Bible