Jesus' Jewish contemporaries held little esteem for the testimony of women (Jos. Ant. 4.219; m. Yebamot 15:1, 8-10; 16:7; Ketubot 1:6-9; compare Lk 24:11); this reflects the broader Mediterranean culture's limited trust of women's testimony, a mistrust enshrined in Roman law (Gardner 1986:165; Kee 1980:89). By contrast, the guards' report that the disciples had stolen the body (Mt 28:11-15) would command much greater respect then, as well as in an antisupernaturalistic culture like much of modern academia. Later Christians thus had to depend on the testimony of men for the public forum (1 Cor 15:5-8). No one had apologetic reason to invent the testimony of these women, but the Gospel writers may have a profound theological purpose in preserving it.

Matthew lays these two reports, the true and the false, side by side, forcing his audience to declare their choice. The testimony of the women thus becomes a model for the disciples who will follow them (28:16-20). Jesus commissions them as his s luhim (sg., saliah)—agents or apostled ones (see comment on 10:5)—to brings news of his resurrection to his own disciples. Their faithfulness, like Joseph's (27:55-61), is laid over against the authorities' deceitful accusation of deceit (27:62-66); Matthew thereby calls his audience to suffer rejection and dishonor at the hands of the hostile authorities of their own day.