The Great Commentary (Mossman/Cobb English)

And for fear of him the keepers did shake , and became as dead men . That is, they were astonished and stupefied like the dead, as S. Jerome says. For they feared lest they should be VOL. III. y Digitized by ^ooQle 338 . T. blasted, as it were, and killed by lightning. If the angel only by the lightning glance of his countenance so struck and terrified the soldiers, what would he have done if he had laid his hands on them? For one angel slew in one night 185,000 soldiers in the camp of Sennacherib

And the angel answered , &c. You will say, How is it that Matthew and Mark speak only of one angel as seen by the women, when Luke affirms that two were seen, who comforted the women with different words from those which Matthew and Mark have? I answer that the account of Luke is different from that of Matthew, and that he relates what happened later, as I shall hereafter show. The women . Namely, the Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and the rest (see Luke xxiv. 10). Those are mistaken, therefore, who think that Magdalene, after she had seen the empty sepulchre, immediately ran back to tell the Apostles, without seeing the angels, and that they were only seen by Mary the mother of James and the rest. John, therefore (chap. xx. 1), while he mentions Magdalene only, with her understands all the rest of her companions ; for she was the leader and chief of them all Eve conversing with the devil incurred death; but these conversing with the angel found life. Sorceresses and witches are like Eve, who, conversing with the devil, drink in death ; but penitents are like Magdalene, who, invoking angels, obtain life. Fear not ye. “The word ye” says S. Chrysostom, “carries with it much honour, and at the same time declares that those who had dared to commit that great crime would, unless they should repent, suffer extreme punishment For it is not, he says, for you to fear, but for those who crucified Him.” For I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. The word “for” gives the reason why they ought not to fear the sight of the angel, but to rejoice and be glad, because they both love and worship Jesus which was crucified, and minister to and serve Him. He expressly says “ crucified, 99 both to show that he is not Digitized by ^ooQle WAKING FROM THE SLEEP OF DEATH. 339 ashamed of, but that he openly confesses the Cross and the Crucified, and that he is His servant, because the Cross is the highest honour and glory to Christ and to His followers, and also to signify the fruit of the Cross of Christ; because, says S. Chrysostom, it is the head and sum of blessings, and because by His Cross Christ redeemed not only the women and the rest of mankind, but also made the angels to rejoice, yea, even conferred grace and glory on them. And lastly, because by the Cross He reconciled angels to men, and Heaven to earth, “reconciling through the blood of the Cross both the things which are in earth and in Heaven,” as Paul says (Col. i. 20). He is not here. “ He is not here in His fleshly presence,” says S. Gregory; “and He is nowhere absent in the presence of His majesty.” For He is risen. The Greek word is viyfylh j, which means, He has awaked from death, as it were from a short and light sleep, to light and life. For the death of Christ was like sleep, for He slept, as it were, in the sepulchre thirty-six hours. So also will it be with us. Wherefore, as sleep is a sort of brief death, so also death is a sort of longer sleep. Hence Paul (1 Cor. xv.) does not speak of those who have departed from life as dead, but as sleeping, because we shall all be awakened from the sleep of death, and shall arise again to life in the Day of Judgment Again, He has awaked as trees, which in winter having been, as it were, stripped and asleep, wake up in spring, when they begin to put forth leaves and flowers and fruit So S. Jerome (on Mark xvi.) says, “The bitter root of the Cross has vanished; for the flower of life has burst forth with fruit — that is, He who lay in death has arisen in glory.” And in the same glory He will make His faithful ones to rise. As He said. Christ, whom ye all esteemed as a holy and divine Prophet, foretold and promised that He would rise on the third day. Therefore believe that He has risen, for so great a Prophet could not lie ; especially since ye now see that the body has departed from the sepulchre, and has risen, as I, who am an Digitized by ^ooQle 340 H angel of the living and true God, most certainly affirm. He Himself foretold the same by David in the 15th Psalm, “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption;” because, as S. Peter says (Acts ii. 24), “it was impossible that He should be holden of it” Moreover, Christ rose before He was anointed by the women, that He might show that He did not need that anointing, since He rose again by His own power. S. Bernard ( Serm . 12, in Cant.) gives another moral reason, — because He would rather the price of this anointing should be given to the poor than tp Himself. Come. “Enter with nle into the sepulchre; for your sake, that you may enter, I have removed the great stone.” See the place where the Lord lay. That by the beholding of it with your eyes, says S. Chrysostom, ye may see that His body is not here, but has risen from it, so that, “ if ye believe not my words, ye may believe the empty sepulchre,” says S. Jerome. The angel therefore led the way, and as a guide introduced the women into the sepulchre, and showed it to them empty, that they might not doubt that Christ had risen from it

And go quickly , and tell His disciples , &c Quickly — so that ye may quickly banish the sorrow of the disciples, caused by the death of Christ their Master, and cheer their sorrowful minds, and fill them with joy by the most joyful news of the resurrection of Christ For the women deserved this favour above others, because above others in their devotion to Christ they had come to the sepulchre. S. Gregory {Horn. 25) gives a symbolical reason, “For because woman in Paradise ministered death to man, woman from the sepulchre announced life to men. As if the Lord were saying to mankind, not in words but by deeds, 'From that same hand by which the potion of death was administered to you, receive ye the cup of life.* ” Tell His disciples . Mark adds, and Peter — that is, chiefly and before all, Peter, both because Peter in Christ’s absence was the first and Prince of the Apostles, and because Peter, as he loved Christ above the rest, so also above the rest he was mourning over Digitized by ^ooQle 341 * AND PETER.” His death. S. Gregory adds a third reason {Horn, 21, in Evang. M If the angel had not expressly named him who had denied his Master, he would not have dared to come amongst the disciples ; he is therefore called by name, lest he should despair on account of his denial. In which thing we have to consider why Almighty God permitted him to fear the words of a maid servant, and to deny Himself, whom He had appointed to set over the whole Church, which thing we perceive to have been done by a dispensation of great goodness, in order that he who was to be the pastor of the whole Church might learn through his own fault how he ought to have compassion upon others.” He goeth before you into Galilee . First, because Galilee was the native country of the Apostles, to which, after the death of Jesus, they were purposing to return, that they might live more safely among their own relations. Secondly, because in Galilee Christ willed to show Himself openly to all His assembled disciples. For the Jews would not have permitted them to assemble in Judaea. Thirdly, because in Galilee Christ had for the most part preached, and had performed very many miracles. Symbolically: S. Gregory ( Horn . 21) says, “For Galilee means a passing over from death to life ; for our Redeemer had already passed from His Passion to His resurrection, from death unto life. And He is seen first by His disciples after His resurrection in Galilee, because we shall have joy in seeing the glory of His resurrection, if only we pass over from vice to the heights of virtue. He, then, who is announced at the tomb is shown in passing over ; because He who is first known in mortification of the flesh is seen in this passing over of the soul.” Yet Christ appeared to the Apostles in Judaea also, but secretly ; in Galilee publicly. In the historical order of the events must be brought in here what Luke mentions (chap. xxiv. 3), namely, that Magdalene and her companions, while at the invitation of the angel they had entered the sepulchre and seen that it was empty, yet were affrighted ; on account of which the angels cheered them, and at the same time gently reproved their want of faith. For that Digitized by ^ooQle 342 m. Luke’s account is not the same as that of Matthew and Mark, as some think, is clear from the words themselves, which are evidently different. Also, from the circumstance that in Luke two angels are said to have appeared, while in Matthew and Mark only one is mentioned