This question has to do with a detail in the accounts of our Lord Jesus’ death that seem strange to us. Matthew 27:51-53 tells us that at the moment Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn in two, the earth shook, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” This last part is the subject of our question, namely, what does this passage mean?
Whenever we are interpreting a difficult passage, we always want to start by simply asking, “What does the text plainly say?” Matthew’s Gospel plainly says that when Jesus died there were natural phenomena of the strongest sort, all of which involve theological symbolism. The veil was torn, signifying that sin no longer impedes our access to the holy God. The earth shook and the rocks split to show the gravity of the death of God’s own Son. The breaking of the tombs suggests that Jesus by his death broke death’s power.
What, then, are we to make of the “holy people” rising from the dead, entering the holy city and appearing to many? This raises all sorts of questions: Who were they? In what kind of bodies did they appear? To whom did they appear and what did they do? What happened to them afterward?
First, we need to get the sequence correct. A close reading of the text suggests that the tombs were broken on Good Friday, but that the saints were raised on Easter. Such was the effect of Jesus’ resurrected life that it spilled over to certain Old Testament saints buried nearby. D.A. Carson suggests, I think credibly, that the terminology suggests that these were not just random dead people, but “well known OT and intertestamental Jewish ‘saints,’ spiritual heroes and martyrs in Israel’s history” (Carson, Matthew). We frankly do not know if they were raised in normal bodies, like Lazarus when Jesus called him from the tomb, or if they were raised in glorious bodies like Jesus’ post-resurrection body. In the former case, they would have continued living until such time as they died again. Given that this is the only record of what would have been a stupendous event if generally publicized, I think this the less likely option. In the latter situation, the saints would have been raised in glorified bodies, in which case they would have been translated into heaven like Enoch and Elijah. Since their resurrection rode on the coat-tails of Jesus’ resurrection, I think it preferable to believe that their resurrection was like theirs. Matthew says that they “appeared to many,” but given the lack of elaboration or other reference to this event in other Gospels, I think it likely that the appearances were not before the population at large.
What do we make of this? First, I think this shows us how much mystery there is in our faith. The Bible clearly communicates what we need to know about life and salvation, yet there are enough episodes like this to persuade me that there are wondrous surprises in store for us when the full truth is revealed in heaven.
Theologically, and Matthew’s purpose in this is evidently theological, the point is the effect of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here is a vivid teaching by a God who definitely means business! The clear point of this episode is to proclaim the effect of Jesus’ death and resurrection. By dying in our place, Jesus shook the established order mightily, tearing free everything that blocked our access to God and breaking death’s power. His resurrection completed the work by allowing eternal life to break into this realm of death. As Leon Morris writes, “The resurrection of Jesus brought about the resurrection of his people…The raising of the saints shows that death has been conquered” (Morris, Matthew, 725). Those Old Testament saints had waited patiently for Jesus’ coming, and their waiting was not in vain. Their resurrection along with Jesus is a pledge that we will be raised with him as well, and that our waiting for his second coming will not be in vain.
Rev. Richard Phillips is the chair of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology and senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church Coral Springs, Margate, Florida.
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