From: Mark 16:1-7
The Resurrection of Jesus. The empty tomb
[1] And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. [2]
And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun
had risen. [3] And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the
stone for us from the door of the tomb?” [4] And looking up, they saw that the
stone was rolled back; for it was very large. [5] And entering the tomb, they saw
a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were a-
mazed. [6] And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Naza-
reth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they
laid him. [7] But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to
Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.”
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Commentary:
1. The sabbath rest was laid down in the Law of Moses as a day when the Israel-
ites should devote themselves to prayer and the worship of God, and also as a
form of protection for workers. As time went by the rabbis specified in minuscule
detail what could and could not he done on the sabbath. This was why the holy
women were unable to organize things on the sabbath for anointing the dead bo-
dy of our Lord, and why they had to wait until the first day of the week.
From the earliest days of the Church, this first day is called the “dies Domini’’,
the Lord’s Day, because, St Jerome comments, “after the sorrow of the sabbath,
a joyful day breaks out, the day of greatest joy, lit up by the greatest light of all,
for this day saw the triumph of the risen Christ’’ (”Comm. in Marcum, in loc.).
This is why the Church has designated Sunday as the day specially consecra-
ted to the Lord, a day of rest on which we are commanded to attend Holy Mass.
3-4. On the structure of Jewish tombs and the stone covering the entrance, see
the note on Mt 27:60.
5. Like so many other passages of the Gospel this one shows the extreme sobri-
ety with which the evangelists report historical facts. From the parallel passage
of St Matthew (28:5) we know that this person was an angel. But both Mark and
Luke are content to report what the women say, without any further interpretation.
6. These women’s sensitive love urges them, as soon as the law permits, to go
to anoint the dead body of Jesus, without giving a thought to the difficulties in-
volved . Our Lord rewarded them in kind: they were the first to hear news of his
resurrection. The Church has always invoked the Blessed Virgin “pro devota fe-
mineo sexu’’, to intercede for devout womanhood. And it is indeed true that in
the terrible moments of the passion and death of Jesus women proved stronger
than men: “Woman is stronger than man, and more faithful, in the hour of suffer-
ing: Mary of Magdala and Mary of Cleophas and Salome!
‘’With a group of valiant women like these, closely united to our Lady of Sorrows,
what work for souls could be done in the world!” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 982).
“Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: the same name as written on the inscrip-
tion on the cross is used by the angel to proclaim the glorious victory of the re-
surrection. In this way St Mark bears witness explicitly to the crucified man and
the resurrected man being one and the same. Jesus’ body, which was treated
so cruelly, now has immortal life.
“He has risen’’: the glorious resurrection of Jesus is the central mystery of our
faith. ‘’If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith
is in vain’’ (1 Cor 15:14). It is also the basis of our hope: ‘’if Christ has not been
raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. . . . If for this life only we
have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to he pitied’’ (1 Cor 15:17 and 19).
The Resurrection means that Jesus has overcome death, sin, pain and the po-
wer of the devil. The Redemption which our Lord carried out through his death
and resurrection is applied to the believer by means of the sacraments, espe-
cially by Baptism and the Eucharist: “We were buried with him by baptism and
death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). “He who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:54). The resur-
rection of Christ is also the role of our new life: “If you have been raised with
Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand
of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”
Col 3:1-2). Rising with Christ through grace means that “just as Jesus Christ
through his resurrection began a new immortal and heavenly life, so we must be-
gin a new life according to the Spirit, once and for all renouncing sin and every-
thing that leads us to sin, loving only God and everything that leads to God (St
Pius X, “Catechism”, 77).
7. The designation of the apostle Peter by name is a way of focusing attention
on the head of the Apostolic College, just at this time when the apostles are so
discouraged. It is also a delicate way of indicating that Peter’s denials have
been forgiven, and of confirming his primacy among the apostles.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.