What does Luke 24:5 mean?

Several women have watched their rabbi die on the cross and be buried in a tomb sealed with a stone. They gathered spices to cover His body, but could not anoint Him until after the Sabbath (Luke 23:49–56). When they arrive at the tomb at dawn on Sunday, they find the stone rolled away and the body gone. Mary Magdalene runs off to tell Peter. The others try to figure out what to do (Luke 24:1–3; John 20:1–2).

After all that, two strange men appear. They look like lightning dressed in snow (Matthew 28:3). The women do the only thing they can: bow to the ground in terror and respect.

One of the men speaks: "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified" (Matthew 28:5). He goes on to question them: Don't you remember? He told you this would happen. He told you He would rise from the dead.

Jesus prophesied He would be crucified and rise again, and it seems the women were among the disciples who heard those prophecies (Luke 9:22). But when Jesus spoke of being delivered over to those who wanted Him dead, His disciples "did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it" (Luke 9:43–45).

Almost forty days later, at least some of these women will be a few miles away, on a hill near Bethany. They will watch Jesus ascend to heaven. As they watch where He has disappeared, two similar men will arrive. They will say, "Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1:9–11).