<p>16:8<i> And they went out and ran from the tomb. Trembling and astonishment had come upon them, and they said nothing to anyone. For they were afraid</i>-There has always been opposition to spreading the Gospel outside our own environment. Jonah was unwilling to take it to Nineveh, Israel failed miserably in their intended role as a missionary nation, and the apostles showed remarkable reluctance to obey the command to take Christ into all the world in the first century. The women were told to go tell the disciples of the resurrection, but they went away and told nobody, Mark records (Mk. 16:7,8). The other records say that they did tell the disciples. There is no contradiction here; Mark&rsquo;s point is surely that they were reluctant to obey the great commission initially.</p><p>It was only later that they told the disciples, once their fear subsided and joy began to be their dominant emotion. We recall how the shepherds were told not to fear but to focus upon the joy of the Lord's birth (Lk. 2:10). Fear and joy do not remain coexistent for long, and to their credit, the women's joy became greater than their fear. See on :10&nbsp;<i>Fear Not</i>. But putting meaning into words, what were they fearful about? Surely they now realized that they had so failed to believe the Lord&rsquo;s clear words about His resurrection; and they knew now that since He was alive, they must meet Him and explain. So their fear related to their own sense of unworthiness; and yet it was paradoxically mixed with the &ldquo;great joy&rdquo; of knowing His resurrection. And there is reason to understand that those women are typical of all those who are to fulfil the great commission.&nbsp;</p><p>The accounts of the Lord&rsquo;s resurrection and the imparting of that good news to others are studded with the idea of speedy response. &ldquo;Go quickly and tell his disciples&hellip; and they departed quickly&hellip; and did run to bring his disciples word&rdquo; (Mt. 28:7,8). The accounts show how Mary &ldquo;quickly&rdquo; told the disciples, the women did likewise, the two on the way to Emmaus ran back to town and urgently told the others that the Lord had risen&hellip; and then the record climaxes in bidding us take that very same good news of the resurrection to the whole world. But the implication from the context is that it is to be done with the same spirit of urgency. We are merely continuing in the spirit of those who first spread that good news.</p><p>After initially saying nothing, they did eventually tell the disciples. Matthew and Luke omit this disobedience to the Lord's command to witness. The record in a beautiful way both covers their weakness, and yet also brings it out. In fact resistance to the command to tell others, or being slow to fulfil it, is another theme of the resurrection accounts.</p>