ACC ~ Matthew 28 v1

RESOLVING THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE WOMEN’S VISIT

AUGUSTINE: One must not dismiss lightly the question concerning the exact hour at which the women came to the tomb. For if Matthew says, “In the evening of the sabbath, at the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Madgalene and other Mary came to see the tomb,” what then does it mean that Mark says, “And early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb at the rising of the sun”? [1] The other two Gospels, Luke and John, do not disagree with Mark; Luke says “early in the morning,” [2] and John says “in the morning when it was still dark.” [3] Both statements are consistent with Mark’s declaration that it was “early in the morning at the rising of the sun,” that is, when the heavens in the east were brightening. But this doesn’t occur except when the sun is very close to rising, a phenomenon which customarily is called the dawn. Therefore Mark does not oppose John, who says “when it was still dark,” for as day is breaking the remaining shadows of darkness diminish only in proportion to the sun’s rising. And Luke’s phrase, “early in the morning,” need not be understood to imply that the sun had already appeared above the horizon but rather is the kind of expression we normally use when we want to signify that something must be done earlier. For when we say “in the morning,” lest we are understood to mean that the sun is already visible, we usually add “very early,” so that we will be understood to refer to the dawn.

Thus it is said “in the evening of the sabbath,” as if he had said “in the night of the sabbath,” that is, in the night which follows the day of the sabbath. Matthew’s words themselves, however, are sufficient, for he says, “In the evening of the sabbath, at the dawn on the first day of the week.” This would be impossible if we understood “in the evening” to signify only the first part of the night. For it is not the beginning of the night which “dawns on the first day of the week” but the night which begins to be terminated by the coming of the light. Now the end of the first part of the night is the beginning of the second part, but the end of the whole night is the light. Thus we cannot say that the evening is “at the dawn of the first day of the week” unless by “evening” we intend “night,” which the light brings to an end. In addition, it is divine Scripture’s customary way of distinguishing the whole from the part. [4] Therefore by saying “evening” it signifies the whole night, the end of which is the dawn. Thus the women came to the tomb at dawn, and therefore they came at night, which is signified in Scripture by the designation of evening. For, as I have said, the whole night is included under that name. Therefore, in whatever part of the night they may have come, they came at night; even if they came at the very end of the night, the fact remains without a doubt that they came at night. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.65. [5]

[1] Mk 16:2.

[2] Lk 24:1.

[3] Jn 20:1.

[4] Augustine applies the trope of synecdoche: at times the Scriptures name a part instead of the whole, and at other times the whole instead of a part.

[5] PL 34:1197-98; NPNF 1 6:210-11.

TOWARD THE DAWN

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: “In the evening toward the dawn.” Behold, with the Lord’s resurrection the evening does not grow dark, it becomes light. What was normally the beginning of night now becomes the break of day. “In the evening of the sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week.” Even as mortality is transformed into immortality, corruption into incorruption and flesh into the Word of God, the darkness is transformed into light, so that the night itself rejoices that it did not die but is transmuted… .

“In the evening of the sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week.” The sabbath rejoices that it now has a subservient effect. Under the yoke of the law the sabbath had become smugly apathetic and alienated from life-giving power. Through the primacy of the Lord’s Day the sabbath is now wonderfully awakened to works of divine power. To paraphrase the Lord: Is it not permitted to heal the sick on the sabbath, to give aid to the afflicted, sight to the blind and life to the dead? SERMONS 77.2-3. [1]

[1] CCL 24a:470.

AFTER THE SABBATH

SEVERUS: The sacred authors of the Gospels did not say whether the Savior was raised “after the sabbath,” or when most of the night had passed, or at the dawn or when the sun had already begun to shine. Indeed, it would be contradictory for the authors to say that the same event transpired at different times. However, they did write that some of the women arrived at the tomb at one time and some of the women at another time, but not all at the same time—how could that be possible, since they came separately?—and that each of the women heard the angels say similar things regarding the Savior: “He is risen, he is not here,” without adding when his resurrection occurred. It follows that if the resurrection had taken place on that divine night, as all of the Evangelists aver and agree, no one has specified the hour. [That hour] is unknown to the entire world except for the God who was raised and for the Father—who alone knows the Son as he is known by the Son—and except for the Spirit, who “searches everything, even the depths of God.” [1] …

As for the expression “after the sabbath,” it does not refer to the evening which follows the setting of the sun at the end of the sabbath, for Matthew did not use the singular opse sabbatou but the plural opse sabbatōn. The Jews were accustomed to call the entire week sabbata. Thus the Evangelists call the first day opse sabbatōn when they mean the first day of the week. We also use a colloquial expression when we call the second and third days of the week the second and third of the sabbata. Matthew then did not say opse sabbatou, that is, the evening of the sabbath, because he did not intend to denote the evening of that very day. Rather, he used opse sabbatōn so as to indicate that it was very late and well after the end of the week. Similarly, I think, we are in the habit of saying “you came opse tou kairou [well after the time], opse tēs hōras [well after the hour], opse tēs chreias [well after the need]” not in order to indicate the evening or the time after the setting of the sun but in order to suggest that the person arrived too late for the event. In a similar fashion, opse sabbatōn means that the women arrived very late and well after the end of the week. Now each week ends at the setting of the sun after the sabbath. CATHEDRAL SERMONS, HOMILY 77. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 2:10.

[2] PO 16:796-98, 802-4.

THE WOMEN WANT TO SEE

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: The apostles are preceded in ministry by women, who follow the men by gender and the disciples by order. [1] The apostles are not thereby made masters by these women. These women are bringing to the sepulcher the form and appearance of women, but they together symbolize the wholeness of the Lord’s churches. Mary and Mary: one as herself, and herself as the other. Mary, the single maternal name of Christ, is duplicated in two women. [2] Here is symbolized the church coming from two peoples yet made into one from two peoples—that is, from the Gentiles and the Jews. For “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” [3] SERMONS 75.3. [4]

[1] That is, the two women were first to become attentive to the Lord in his death and resurrection, followed by the apostles later. They did not seek to usurp the leadership roles assigned to the apostles. They followed the disciples in their ordering of their lives toward service.

[2] In a single name, Mary, both the Jewish and Gentile streams are symbolically brought into the oneness of the church. The Jewish stream is “herself,” and the Gentile stream is “the other.” The otherness of the Gentiles is poetically and typologically symbolized in the “other Mary.”

[3] Mt 19:30; Mk 10:31.

[4] CCL 24a:459-60.

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