Chapter LXXVIII.
JESUS RISES FROM THE DEAD.
[Mat. 28, 1. Mark 16, 1. Luke 24, 1. John 20, 1.]
EARLY in the morning of the third day[1], there was a great earthquake[2]. At the same moment Jesus rose and came forth from the tomb, glorious[3] and immortal. And an angel came down from heaven. His face shone[4] like lightning, and his garments were white as snow. So terrified were the guards at his appearance that they swooned away, and became as dead men. But the angel rolled[5] the stone from the door of the sepulchre and sat upon it.
As soon as the guards recovered from their terror, they ran [6] in great haste to the city to tell what they had seen.
Towards sunrise, Mary Magdalen, and Salome, and Mary Cleophas brought spices to the sepulchre, intending to embalm[7] the Body of Jesus. As they drew near the sepulchre they said one to another: “Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”
When they came to the place they found that the stone had already been rolled away. Surprised and alarmed, they entered in, and behold the Body of Jesus was not there! Great, then,
- ↑ The third day. Counting from the time of our Lord's Burial, and therefore, early on Sunday morning. Jesus lay in the grave for two nights and one day, that is, from the evening of Good Friday till the early morning of Easter Sunday.
- ↑ Earthquake. At the moment of the Resurrection there was a violent earthquake around the sepulchre. The cause of the earthquake is explained in the next sentence, “for”, says Holy Scripture, “an angel descended from heaven”. The earthquake, therefore, announced the arrival of God’s messenger, and made the soldiers on guard observant of all that was done by the angel.
- ↑ Glorious. Conqueror of death and the grave!
- ↑ Shone. So that he could be recognised by anyone to be an angel — a messenger from heaven.
- ↑ Rolled. The angel rolled back the stone so that the soldiers on guard, and all who came to the sepulchre, might go inside, and convince themselves with their own eyes that the tomb was empty.
- ↑ They ran. They went “and told the chief priests all things that had been done” (Mat. 28, 11).
- ↑ To embalm. They wished to perform one last service of love for our Lord, which they had had to leave undone on Friday evening, as the Sabbath was just beginning. Their words: “Who shall roll us back the stone?” show us that they knew nothing about the guarding or sealing of the sepulchre.
