What Does Matthew 28:9 Mean?
And as they went to bring word to his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, Rejoice. And they came near and grasped his feet, and bowed down before him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.THE KEY
The first contact with the risen Jesus is a grip at his feet: recognition takes the body’s shape.
THE MEANING
The risen Jesus meets you while you are carrying the news toward others. Your recognition becomes bodily closeness: you hold his feet and bow down.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The risen one can be encountered only as an idea, at a distance.
THE ROOT
ἐκράτησαν
ekratēsan
GROWS FROM
κρατ
Strength or power; in the verb, the ability to hold, seize, or prevail.
“grasped” in this verse is ekratēsan. The women do not merely brush against Jesus; they keep hold of his feet. The Greek word belongs to a family that joins holding with strength, making their contact both physical and resolute.
ALSO GROWS
krateō: To hold fast, seize, or rule.
κρατέω
This verb is the same root family as the word translated “held,” making the women’s grasp concrete.
kratos: Strength, might, or dominion.
κράτος
It shows the strength and power carried by the root beneath the act of holding.
enkrateia: Self-control or mastery.
ἐγκράτεια
This compound shares the κρατ family and extends its sense of having power or mastery.
THE PATTERN
Encounter takes bodily form in approach and bowed posture.
And he lifted his eyes and saw, and look, three men stood beside him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent opening, and bowed down to the earth.And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came, and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he set his right hand upon me, saying, Do not be struck with awe. I am the first and the last.THE THREAD
But when the crowd was thrown out, he entered and grasped her hand, and the girl rose.The same κρατ family appears when Jesus takes the girl’s hand and she rises. Here the women hold the risen Jesus at his feet; there, he holds the girl as life returns.
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