Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Matthew
Ver. 9. Jesus met them. According to St. Mark, Christ appeared first to Mary Magdalene; and the particulars are related by St. John. She at first did not know him, but took him for the gardener: then he called her by her name Mary, and she knew him: he said to her, touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; i.e. according to the common exposition, I have not ascended, nor am yet going to ascend; thou mayest see me again before I ascend: this is not the last time. --- We also read here, (ver. 9,) that he appeared to some of the other women, as they were returning to Jerusalem from the sepulchre, and that they laid hold on his feet, and adored him; nor is it said that he hindered them. (Witham) --- They were then returning to carry the news to the disciples, when they laid hold of his feet. To touch the feet, was in the Scripture a species of veneration; (see Exodus iv. 25; 4 Kings iv. 27.) as among the Greeks, the touching of the knees. Thus Homer's Illiad, b. i., Kai ra paroith autoio Kathezeto, Kai labe gounon. (ver. 500.) And again, ver. 512, os epsato gounon.
Ver. 10. There they shall see me. Our Saviour, on the day of his resurrection, shewed himself alive five different times: 1. to Mary Magdalene; 2. to the women leaving the sepulchre; 3. to St. Peter; 4. to the two disciples going to Emmaus; 5. to the disciples assembled together, when the two returned from Emmaus. And after the day of his resurrection, before he ascended into heaven, he appeared other five times: 1. after eight days, when Thomas was present; 2. when the seven disciples were fishing on the sea of Tiberias; (St. John chap. xxi.) 3. to the eleven on Mount Thabor; 4. in Jerusalem, on the day of his ascension; and 5. on the same day on Mount Olivet, when he was taken from them. (Denis the Carthusian) --- The seventh apparition of Jesus, which was by the sea or lake of Tiberias, St. John calls the third, which may mean in any numerous assembly of his disciples; the first being on the day of his resurrection, and the second the Sunday following. This may also be referred to the number of days. He first appeared to different persons on the very day of his resurrection; secondly, eight days afterwards, and then a third time. (St. Augustine) --- The history of our Lord's different apparitions is not very clear, and it is necessary to have recourse to the first chapter of the Acts, and to the 15th chapter of St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. St. Augustine says, (lib. iii. de cons. Evang. chap. xxv,) that there are ten apparitions of our Lord recorded in the four evangelists, which he specifies; but Maldonatus, on the 28th chap. of St. Matthew enumerates 13 different apparitions.
Ver. 11. Some of the guards came into the city. It is probable they had retired a while to some place to consult what to say, and how to avoid being punished. The chief priests, after consulting upon the matter, ordered them to say, that when they were asleep, the disciples came and stole away Jesus's body. This report was spread about every where. St. Augustine laughs at them for their blindness and folly, in bringing men in for witnesses of a fact, which they themselves own was done whilst they were asleep. (Witham) --- The poet, Sedulius, also is no less severe on these faithless guards:
Mentita est vox vana sibi; tamen ista figuram
Res habet egregiam, Judœis constat ademptum,
Quem nos devoto portamus pectore Christum.
Ver. 12. Gave a great sum of money. These princes of the Jewish nation still persisting in their malice, refused to turn to their Creator by hearty repentance, and wished to persuade the world that Jesus was not risen, sacrificing that money to falsehood, which was given for the use of the temple. For as they offered Judas 30 pieces of silver to betray his Master, so now they offer a great sum of money to suppress a truth so useful and so necessary for man. (St. Jerome)
Ver. 13. It hence appears, that the chief priests themselves were fully convinced of the fact; for otherwise, they would not have bribed the soldiers to dissemble, but would have accused the soldiers before the president of a neglect of duty. (Tirinus) --- How was it possible for the timid and weak disciples, who dared not shew themselves in public, to come in defiance of an armed multitude to steal away the body! If these men dared not even to come forward in defence of their Master when alive, is it probable that these same men after his death would steal away his body? And could they, even allowing the possibility of conceiving the design, have removed the stone, which required a great number of hands to stir? Was not the mouth of the sepulchre also sealed? But why did they not steal away the body the first night, before the guards were stationed? For it was on Saturday the priests petitioned for a guard. Why did they not also take the clothes, which St. Peter saw lying in the sepulchre? Would not a delay in taking off the clothes, and the napkin that bound his head, have appeared dangerous? Would it not have exposed their lives, particularly as the body had been anointed, and some time would be requisite to remove the linen, which would adhere to the body? The means they take to make the miracle uncertain, render it utterly undeniable. For in protesting that the disciples stole it away, they confessed that the body was no longer in the sepulchre. The fear and doubts of the disciples, joined to the idle story of the soldiers, is an evident demonstration, that the account of the body being stolen away, is a gross calumny. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xc.) --- But let us again see how beautifully Sedulius paints the same in verse.
---------- Fare improbe Custos,
Responde scelerata cohors, si Christus, ut audes
Dicere, concluso furtim productus ab antro
Sopitos latuit, cujus jacet intus amictus?
Cujus ad exuvias sedet angelus? Anne beati
Corporis ablator velocius esse putavit
Solvere contectum, quam devectare ligatum?
Cum mora sit furtis contraria. Cautius ergo
Cum Domino potuere magis sua lintea tolli.
Ver. 16. The eleven disciples went into Galilee, yet not till above eight days after. As to the order of Christ's apparitions, in the gospels: He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and to other devout women; then to St. Peter; next to two disciples going to Emmaus; after that to the apostles that were all together, except only St. Thomas. These apparitions were all on the very day he rose from the dead. We find also (John xx,) that eight days after he appeared to all the eleven apostles, Thomas being then present, to whom he said, put in thy finger hither, &c. This is generally thought to have happened at Jerusalem. When the apostles and disciples were gone into Galilee, he shewed himself to seven of them, as they were fishing on the lake of Tiberias. (John xxi. 4.) We read also in this chap. (ver. 16,) that he appeared to them on a mountain in Galilee: what mountain it was we know not. It may be of this apparition that St. Paul says, (1 Corinthians xv. 6,) Then was he seen by more than five hundred brethren at once. He also tells us he appeared to St. James. See ver. 7. But when or where this was, is not mentioned. In fine, Christ till his ascension frequently appeared to them, and conversed with them. He taught them to understand the holy Scriptures, and all that belonged to their ministry: he gave them power to forgive sins: He sent his apostles as his heavenly Father had sent him. He gave in particular to St. Peter the charge over his whole flock: He promised to send down upon them the Holy Ghost; and to remain with them himself to the end of the world, i.e. with his Church. (Witham) --- It is supposed that then and there took place what St. Paul mentions, that Jesus Christ shewed himself to more than 500 of the brethren together. (Bible de Vence)
Ver. 17. They adored: but some doubted. This, says Theophylactus, need not be understood of the apostles, but of others, who had not seen Christ after his resurrection. It may also be expounded of those disciples who had doubted at the first, and particularly of St. Thomas the apostle. (Witham) --- These doubted not of the resurrection or divinity of Christ, but whether the person that appeared to them was really their Master, Jesus Christ. (Bible de Vence)