Who Was At The Empty Tomb?

On Good Friday, Jesus was crucified for our sins and our salvation and died amidst a mostly hostile crowd but also with some devoted friends and his Most Blessed Mother.  Three days later, a very much different scene occurred at the Tomb in which his body was placed.  A much smaller number of people were witness to the Empty Tomb and their reactions were far, far different than what occurred just three days prior.

“The resurrection of Christ is not the fruit of speculation or mystical experience: it is an event which, while it surpasses history, nevertheless happens at a precise moment in history and leaves an indelible mark upon it,” Pope Benedict XVI said in his Urbi et Orbi message for Easter 2011.

All four Gospels contain narratives of the Resurrection Scene.  All four Gospel writers chose a different perspective to communicate Jesus’s Resurrection from the dead.  While the details differ in certain aspects, they all agree on the end result: 1) the Crucified Jesus has conquered Death for us, 2) the empty Tomb bears witness to his victory over Death and Sin; and 3) a small number of people were witness to this miraculous event.  

The scene at the Empty Tomb is recounted in Chapter 28 of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 16 of St. Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 24 of St. Luke’s Gospel, and Chapter 20 of St. John’s Gospel.  

Angels are present in all four Gospel accounts.  In both St. Matthew’s and St. Mark’s accounts, one angel appears to the holy women. In both accounts, the angel says to them “Do not be afraid!”   He announces that Jesus has risen and directs them to tell this to his disciples (Matthew 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-8).  There are two angels in St. Luke’s and St. John’s accounts.  As Saint Luke recounts, one of the angels says to the holy women, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?   He is not here, but he has been raised” (Luke 24:5-6).  In Saint John’s account, the two angels are seated in the Tomb where Jesus’s body had formerly rested.  One is seated at where his head had been and one is seated at where his feet were.  ““Woman, why are you weeping?” they ask Mary Magdalene.  Weeping she replies, ““They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.”  (See John 20:11-13).  Interestingly, these two angels are not present when Mary Magdalene first visits the Tomb and they are not present when Peter and John visit soon after.  These angels only appear after Peter and John have left and Mary Magdalene remains behind weeping. 

After Jesus had been placed in the Tomb, the Jewish leaders went to Pontius Pilate, requesting that guards be assigned to the tomb to prevent Jesus’s followers from stealing his body and claiming that he had risen from the dead (Matthew 27:62-66).  Only Saint Matthew mentions these guards in his account of the Resurrection.  In Matthew 28:1-8, the guards see the angel and are paralyzed with fear.  When the guards report what had happened to the Jewish leaders, these leaders bribe them to say that Jesus’s disciples stole his body while they were sleeping (Matthew 28:11-15).  

The four Gospels vary in who exactly they state was present at the Empty Tomb on Easter Sunday.  Saint Matthew reported that Saint Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the mother of James and John and the other sons of Zebedee (Matthew 28:1) were present at the Empty Tomb.  According to Saint Mark, Saint Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome were at the Empty Tomb (Mark 11:25).  In Saint Luke’s account, the women at the Empty Tomb were Saint Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Joanna (Luke 24:10-11).  In Saint John’s account, only Saint Mary Magdalene was present at the Empty Tomb initially (John 20:11-18).  Interestingly enough, Our Blessed Mother Mary is not reported to have been at Jesus’s Tomb that eventful Sunday morning.  

All four Gospels reported that Saint Mary Magdalene was present at the Empty Tomb and the Resurrected Christ appears to her and converses with her.  The three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) all agree that Mary the mother of the Apostles James and John was present at the Empty Tomb.  Saint Mark includes Salome and Saint Luke includes Joanna.  

The major role that women play in the Resurrection event of Our Savior is emphasized in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Declaring on the basis of the Gospel evidence, The Catechism unequivocally declares:  “Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One.  Thus the women were the first messengers of Christ’s Resurrection for the apostles themselves.”  See paragraph 641.

Mary Magdalene was the first to speak to the Resurrected Christ.  John 20:14-18 records what happened:

"When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher.  Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her."

The Gospel accounts also vary on which of the Apostles went to the Empty Tomb.  Saint Luke wrote that the holy women informed Saint Peter who then ran to the Tomb and saw that it was empty (Luke 24:11).  Saint John wrote that Saint Mary Magdalene reported that the Tomb was empty to Saint Peter and Saint John, who both then ran to the Tomb and saw that it was empty (John 20:1-10).  In Saint John’s Gospel, this occurred before Jesus appeared to Saint Mary Magdalene.

On Easter Sunday, Jesus was in the Tomb but he did not remain there.  Jesus was resurrected from the dead and left his Tomb.   He remained in the immediate vicinity for a short time, and talked with Saint Mary Magdalene, who initially thought he was the gardener (John 20:15).  Just a few short days before, Jesus had told Saint Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life;” (John 11:25).  Now he stands before her sister Mary and fulfills those words.

So at the Empty Tomb on Easter Sunday, there were four groups of persons present:  the Roman soldiers standing guard, Saint Mary Magdalene and the Holy Women, the Apostles Peter and John, and angels.  Each experienced the Empty Tomb in a different way.  The Roman soldiers were terrified by the angels and later bribed by the Jewish officials to lie about what they saw.  The Holy Women went to the Tomb to finish the burial rituals for Jesus but found that the Tomb was empty.  Saint Mary Magdalene then spoke with the Resurrected Jesus before anyone else.  Saints Peter and John observed the Empty Tomb after being informed by Saint Mary Magdalene.  The angels were the first to announce that Jesus had risen from the dead.  

There are noticeable differences in the four Gospel accounts of the Resurrection.  The differences in details, however, do not diminish the reality and truthfulness of the event.  Christ indeed conquered Death and was resurrected on the Third Day.  A number of persons both human and angelic were witnesses to this historic and miraculous event.  The differing details in one Gospel account do not negate the validity of the other accounts.  Rather, they illustrate the different perspectives of the Gospel writers.  Each of the Gospel writers chose to present the Resurrection in his own way. 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.”  

1 Peter 1:3-5