Gustave Doré, Two of the women disciples of Jesus encounter
an angel in his empty tomb (Mt. 28:5—6).
Image courtesy WikiMediaCommons.
1 Early on the morning of the first day of the week,1 while it was still dark, Mary from Magdala came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from it. 2 So she ran to Simon Peter and the other follower, the one whom Jesus loved, and said, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”
3 Then Peter and the other follower left for the tomb. 4 The two ran together, but the other follower outran Peter and came to the tomb first. 5 Looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go inside. 6 Then Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth which had been around Jesus’ head. It was not lying with the wrappings, but was folded up2 in a place by itself. 8 Then the other follower—the one who had come to the tomb first—went in and looked and believed. 9 (They had not yet understood the Scripture that Jesus had to be raised from the dead.)3
10 Then the followers went back to their homes,4 11 but Mary remained standing outside, beside the tomb, crying. Then, as she was crying, she looked into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white clothing, seated where the body of Jesus had lain. One was at the head and one at the feet. 13 They asked her, “Dear woman, why are you crying?”
She told them, “They’ve taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him!”
14 After she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not realize it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she told him, “Sir, if you5 have carried him away, tell me where you put him and I’ll take him away.”
16 Jesus said, “Mary!”
She said to him in Hebrew,* “Rabbuni!” (This means “Teacher”.)
17 Jesus told her, “Stop clinging to me;6 I haven’t gone up yet to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them I am going up to my Father and your Father—to my God and your God.” 18 Mary from Magdala went to the followers and announced that she had seen the Lord, and that he said these things to her.
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, the doors being locked where the followers were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
20 After he said this, he showed them his wrists7 and his side.8 The followers rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father sent me, I also am sending you.” 22 Having said this, he breathed on them and told them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone their sins, the sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, the sins are not forgiven.”
24 But Thomas, one of the Twelve (the one called “Twin”),9 was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other followers told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”
But he said, “Unless I see the scars10 of the nails on his wrists and put my finger into the scars of the nails and put my hand into his side, I’ll never11 believe it!”
26 A week12 later, Jesus’ followers were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then Jesus told Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my wrists. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe!”
28 Thomas answered, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus told him, “Because you’ve seen me, you believe; happy are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of his followers which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are recorded, so you may continue to believe13 14 that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so by believing you may have life by15 him.
Endnotes
1 While Grk. σάββατον, sabbaton can mean both “Sabbath” and “week”, here “week” is meant. The women did not go to the tomb on the Sabbath, Lk. 23:56.
2 Or, “rolled up”
3 Possibly Psa. 16:8—11 (cf. Acts 2:24f) or Isa. 53:10—11.
4 Grk. πρὸς αὑτοὺς, pros aftous, which could be taken to mean “to the same place”, but more likely is equiv. to εἰς τὰ ἴδια, eis ta idia (1:11; 19:27). Josephus (Ant. 8, 124) uses the phr. to mean “to his own home”. So Morris, 835, fn 22.
5 The Grk. is emphatic, shown by use of the personal pronoun.
6 Pres.* mid.* imperative*, used to order a stop to an action in progress. To prohibit an action before it begins, the aor.* subjunctive* is used. In a positive command of prohibition, either the present imperative or aorist* imperative may be used. Thus, the traditional “touch me not” is not correct.
7 FE trans., “hands”, Grk. χεῖρας, cheiras (acc.* pl. of χείρ, cheir); also in vv. 25, 27. In Hell.* or Koine* Greek, in which the New Testament was written, χείρ, cheir, besides meaning “hand”, could also mean “wrist”, “forearm”, or “arm”. Ignorance of this wide range of meaning, or overlooking it, plus the fact that the earliest Christian artists had no first-hand knowledge about crucifixion (the Roman emperor Constantine outlawed the practice in the 4th century A.D., some 200 years before the earliest paintings of Jesus’ crucifixion) has led artists and writers, as well as translators, to portraying Jesus as hanging by his hands as well as his feet on the cross. This is not possible anatomically (the hands will not support the weight of the upper body) unless ropes around the arms were also used, but none are mentioned in the Gospel account. However, putting nails into the wrists or forearms would have supported the weight. in 1968, this was potentially confirmed by archaeologists finding the bones of a crucified man with nail marks on his wrists (some dispute that the marks were caused by nails). A nail was found going through his feet bones, making it likely he had been crucified.
Medical experiments with cadavers also confirm that nails in the hands would not support the weight of the upper body.
8 Together with his wrists, the side was the second of the three places where Jesus was wounded on the cross (the third being his feet); cf. 19:31—37.
9 Grk. Δίδυμος, Didymos (Didymus), “Twin”, “Thomas” is Aram. for “twin”.
10 Or, “marks”, “prints”
11 Grk. οὐ μὴ, ou mē, an emphatic double negative.
12 FE trans., “eight days”, Grk. ἡμέρας ὀκτὼ, ēmeras oktō, an idiom. Cf. British English “work eight days a week”.
13 Grk. πιστέυητε, pisteuēte, pres.* act.* indic.*, which frequently implies continued or repeated action.
14 Some MSS read πιστέυσητε, pisteusēte, “come to believe”, “start believing”, using the aorist* instead of the present* tense.
15 Or, “in”. The Grk. prep. ἐν, en with the dat.* is often used to indicate instrument or agency.
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Image Credits
Featured image: James Ossuary inscription. Ossuaries, or bone boxes, were used in Jewish tomb burials in ancient Israel. A year or so after the body was placed in the tomb, the bones were interred in boxes of limestone with the name and family information of the deceased. Aramaic, 1st century A.D., if authentic. Some consider it a modern forgery, as it surfaced on the antiquities market. However, many scholars consider it authentic. The inscription reads, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”. It is believed the ossuary held the bones of James, the half brother of Jesus of Nazareth. This James became a leader in the early church at Jerusalem, probably one of the elders there. He is also thought to be the author of the New Testament letter bearing his name. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Gustave Dore, engraving, two female disciples of Jesus encounter an angel in his empty tomb. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
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