“And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.”
My Notes
What Does Mark 16:5 Mean?
The women enter the tomb and find not a dead body but a living messenger: a young man in a white garment, sitting on the right side. Their response is instinctive and honest: "they were affrighted" (ekthambeō, amazed to the point of alarm, deeply disturbed). The encounter with the angelic messenger produces not peace but terror—because what they're experiencing is categorically beyond their expectation.
The detail that the young man is "sitting on the right side" places him in a position of authority and calm. He's not standing in urgency or kneeling in worship. He's sitting—resting in the completed work of resurrection. The one who delivers the resurrection announcement is at peace because the event he's announcing has already happened. The work is done.
The women came expecting a corpse and found an angel. The gap between expectation and reality is so vast that fear is the natural response. They prepared for death. They encountered life. And the transition from one to the other is so violent—so disruptive to everything they thought they knew—that the first emotion isn't joy. It's terror. Joy comes later. First, the world has to be rearranged.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you ever encountered something from God that terrified you before it comforted you? What was it?
- 2.The angel was sitting—calm, settled, at peace. What would it look like to rest in a truth that still frightens you?
- 3.The women expected death and found life. Where might God be hiding life in a situation you've declared dead?
- 4.Is fear a legitimate first response to God's work? How do you move from fear to joy when reality is rearranged?
Devotional
They came for a dead body. They found an angel. The gap between what they expected and what they encountered was so vast that their first response wasn't joy—it was fear. Terror, actually. Because encountering something that shouldn't be possible rearranges everything you thought you knew.
The angel is sitting. Not standing urgently or hovering dramatically. Sitting. On the right side—the position of authority and completion. He's calm because the event he's about to announce is already accomplished. The resurrection has happened. The angel is just delivering the news. His posture communicates: this is settled. This is done. There's nothing left to be anxious about.
The women's fear is the most honest response to resurrection you'll find in the Gospels. People who encounter the impossible aren't immediately filled with peace and understanding. They're terrified. The world as they knew it—where dead people stay dead—has just been demolished. Before they can feel joy, they have to process the destruction of their previous reality. Resurrection doesn't just change the outcome. It changes everything.
If God is doing something in your life that terrifies you—something so far beyond your expectations that your first response is fear rather than joy—you're standing where the women stood. At the mouth of an empty tomb, face to face with an impossibility that's sitting calmly on the right side. The fear is normal. The joy is coming. But first, let your old expectations die so the new reality can live.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
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Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture