OUR LORD'S RESURRECTION, APPEARANCES AND ASCENSION. JUDEA AND GALILEE
TIME, FORTY DAYS. SPRING AD. 30.
Section 134
ANGELS ANNOUNCE THE RESURRECTION TO CERTAIN WOMEN. PETER AND JOHN ENTER THE EMPTY TOMB
Joseph's Garden. Sunday, very early
MATT. 28:1-8
MARK 16:1-8
LUKE 24:1-8, 12
JOHN 20:1-10
My Summary: Early in the morning on Sunday, the women traveled to the tomb with spices for his burial. There was an earthquake, and an angel rolled back the tombstone and sat upon it. The angel is described as appearing as lightening and wearing white, and the guards stationed at the tomb trembled at his appearance. When the women arrived, they found the stone rolled back and the tomb empty. According to John, Mary Magdalene left and told Peter of the loss of the body.
"The divergences of the Evangelists reach their maximum in the accounts of the Resurrection, as is natural if we realise the fragmentary character of all the versions, the severely condensed style of Matthew’s, the incompleteness of the genuine Mark’s, the evidently selective purpose in Luke’s, and the supplementary design of John’s." -MacLaren
"And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large." -Mark 16:2-4
"To obey the impulse of love and sorrow without thinking, and then to be arrested on their road by a difficulty, which they might have thought of at first, but did not till they were close to it, is surely just what might have been expected of such mourners. Mark gives a graphic picture in that one word ‘looking up,’ and follows it with picturesque present tenses....When love to Christ is brought to a stand in its venturous enterprises by difficulties occurring for the first time to the mind, it is well to go close up to them; and it often happens that when we do, and look steadily at them, we see that they are rolled away, and the passage cleared which we feared was hopelessly barred." -MacLaren
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| The Angel at the Tomb of Christ, Benjamin West, circa 1850 |
"So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. -John 20:2-4
Those who remained saw two angels--one was young and both in white. They lay prostrate in fear, and the angel reminds them of Jesus' promise that he would rise:
"...And as they were affrighted and bowed down their faces to the earth, {the angel} answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; Be not amazed: a for I know that ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who hath been crucified: Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen, even as he said. remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his word."
"Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, 'He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.' That's the message." Matthew 28:7
"The women fled from the tomb with mingled shock and panic. They were too afraid to tell anyone what had happened." Mark 16:8
"This is not surprising. The wonder is that they had been so brave and loyal and devoted up to now.
Because two major ancient manuscripts of Mark lack verses 9-20, many modern scholars believe they are not authentic. However, there are strong arguments for their inclusion:
1. Virtually all other Greek manuscripts and many church fathers do contain this passage.
2. Verse 8 is a most strange conclusion, especially in the Greek where the last word is (gar, for). This word is scarcely ever near the end of a sentence, much less of a book.
3. If, as some teach, Mark's original ending is lost, and this is a later summary, then our Lord's words about preservation (Mat_24:35) apparently have failed.
4. The contents of the passage are orthodox."-Believer's Bible
When Peter and John hear of this, they come immediately.
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