Last night at church, we discussed the crucifixion scene in Matthew 27. We talked some about verses 52-53, which say, "The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people."
We kind of skip over this part when talking about the Holy Week events. Why is that? Seems like a pretty significant thing to me. And it raises all kinds of questions.
- How long had some of these people been dead? Months? Years? Decades?
- It says the tombs "broke open." Did people notice this? Did they go check out the situation and find them empty, or find formerly dead people walking around?
- These dead people came to life, but didn't go into the city until after Jesus rose from the dead. Why the wait? What did they do in the meantime? What did they do for food? Were they hanging around Jesus' tomb, waiting for him to come to life? If so, did it freak out the women, when they came to the tomb?
- It says these people "appeared" to many people. Did they stick around, or disappear? Did they also ascend into heaven, or did they continue living and eventually die again? Did any of them marry and have kids, who would perhaps be contemporaries of their own great-grandkids? What did they do for a living? Were they there when Jesus ascended into heaven?
- What influence did these people have on the early church? The Bible doesn't refer to them, but they must have been hanging around somewhere.
- Did these people believe in Jesus? They were "holy" people, but probably some never knew Jesus when they were alive (either because they lived before Christ, or they just didn't have the opportunity to run into him). Did they have to be "converted" to Christ (away from Judaism)?
There is a whole lot between the lines of these two verses.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
Good eye! The verses do not say they came to life--real bodies that is. They were probably given glorified bodies so that when they appeared to many, it would be obvious that it was a miracle, thus verifying that Jesus really was the Son of God. Probably they ascended into heaven not long after they were resurrected. It will be so good to get to heaven some day and find all the answers.
Not necessarily. Scripture doesn't say anything about Lazarus or other people raised from the dead having glorified bodies. Scripture says the bodies of people who had died were raised to life. That sounds like the old, buried, physical body to me.
But I'm not ruling out the glorified scenario.
Interesting questions.
I don't know why this part of the story gets left behind when we retell the Resurrection story. Maybe because it is weird, and it doesn't nicely fit.