The Judean Ministry at Various Cities (18.1-24.53), 24.1-33

Early morning on the first day of the week the same women who had followed Jesus and assisted Josephus and Nicodemus with his burial, returned to the grave taking with them more aromatic spices. Why they were doing so is not mentioned in any of the Gospel accounts. Perhaps, since the burial had been rushed due to the nearing Sabbath, they went to complete the work they had started. But there is another issue; they had seen Josephus and Nicodemus roll the stone into place, sealing the tomb. Why go to finish preparations when there was no way for them to gain entry?

Again, the Gospel writers do not answer the question although one of them at least acknowledged the problem. Mark writes:

And very early on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. They had been asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” (Mark 16.2-3)

Little did they realize a whole lot had happened between Friday night and Sunday morning, events that Luke leaves out. The morning after Jesus’s death, on the Sabbath, the chief priests and Pharisees went before Pilate to ask that he secure the tomb. This violated the terms of the Sabbath, by the way, but such was their fear that they felt they had to keep Jesus in that tomb. So Pilate sent them with soldiers from his own guard to “make the tomb as secure as you can.” This they did not only from their presence, but by sealing the tomb with a Roman seal promising the death penalty to anyone who tampered with it.

After an uneventful day and night the soldiers continued their diligence in the duty of securing the tomb. The morning of the second day, however, held some surprises. While the women were on their way to the tomb an angel of God descended, broke the Roman seal and rolled the stone away, causing an earthquake to rattled across the region. The angel then sat upon the stone in a relaxed manner, mocking the strength of the guardsmen who fainted from fear.

When the women arrived they found the tombstone already set aside, and the tomb empty. Luke picks up the story here, mentioning how perplexed the women were. At that moment a pair of angels appeared and cleared up their confusion:

“Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here but has been raised! Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”

And they remembered. In their joy they went to tell the eleven (not the twelve any longer as Judas had already committed suicide, something else Luke leaves out). Of them all, only Peter raced to the tomb to see for himself. The other ten remained in the upper room in disbelief. What Peter found was only the evidence of resurrection, no angels or guards or anyone else to help him make sense of the scene. He walked home, wondering what had happened.

Later that same day Cleopas and another disciple were walking to Emmaus when they were joined by Jesus himself, though in his resurrected form they did not recognize him. He asked them what they were talking about, even though he already knew he wanted to hear it from them. They shared the events of the last three days with him and admitted they did not know what to make of it all. Jesus then took the time to explain it to them, one more time. AS frustrating as it may have been that his own disciples didn’t understand what he had told them about the near future, he was having a lot of fun at their expense. When they reached town he pretended to be going further and allowed them to talk him into staying with them. During dinner he dropped the holy disguise and they saw him for who is, just before vanishing. But they would see him again, and soon. Jesus wasn’t done with his disciples yet.