Bible Synapse
Had the stone already been rolled away when the women arrived?
Hard question · The death and resurrection of Jesus · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
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There was an earthquake; the angel “rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it”; the guards fainted; the angel spoke to the women.
In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
On the way the women wondered who would roll the stone away; arriving, “they saw that the stone was rolled away”.
And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.”
And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
Mary Magdalene “seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre”.
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
The objection
Mark, Luke and John say the women found the stone already rolled away. Matthew seems to say that when the women came there was an earthquake, and an angel came down and rolled the stone away, as if they saw it happen.
The answer
Nothing in Matthew puts the women at the tomb at the moment the stone was moved. Verse 1 tells of their coming (Matthew 28:1); verse 2 then steps back to explain how the tomb came to be open: “And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone” (28:2). The word ‘for’ (Greek gar) introduces an explanation, and Greek often uses a simple past tense where English needs ‘had’, so the earthquake and the angel’s coming may well have taken place before the women arrived. ‘Behold’ (idou) calls the reader’s attention; it does not say that the women saw it. Those who did see it were the guards, who “became as dead men” and later reported “all the things that were done” (28:4, 11).
When the women arrived, the stone was already out of the way, as all four Gospels agree; Matthew simply does not stop to say so. The angel who had moved it was still there: he spoke to the women and showed them the empty place where the Lord had lain (28:5–6), the scene Mark describes inside the tomb (Mark 16:5–6). Barnes sets out the events in this order.
Other answers Christians give
Felt but not seen
Some think the earthquake came as the women were approaching, so that they may have felt it without seeing the stone moved. Matthew’s wording allows this too.
From the classic commentators
The angel who rolled the stone away had sat down on it, and had appeared to the keepers and frightened them; though he did not appear in this place to the women, but only to the keepersAlbert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on Matthew 28 (1832)
Sources
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Matthew 28 (1832), at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 28 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub