John 20:1-3

“ On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene goes to the sepulchre early, while it was yet dark, and she sees that the stone is taken away from the sepulchre; 2, she runs therefore and comes to Simon Peter and to the disciple whom Jesus loved, and says to them, They have taken away the Lord from the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they came to the sepulchre. ”

In the expression μία τῶν σαββάτων, we may give to the word σάββατα the meaning Sabbath: “the first day (μία) starting from the Sabbath.” But Luke 18:12 proves that σάββατον or σάββατα signifies also the entire week, as forming the interval between two Sabbaths. It is better therefore to explain μία : the first [of the days] of the week. The name Μαγδαληνή (Magdalene) is derived from that of village of Magdala, probably El Megdjil, two leagues northward of Tiberias, on the borders of the lake of Gennesareth. The greater the deliverance which Mary Magdalene owed to Jesus (Luke 8:2, Mark 16:9), the more ardent was her gratitude, the more lively her attachment to His person. John does not speak of the purpose which brought her to the sepulchre, but it is indicated by the Synoptics: it was to embalm the Lord's body. Did she come alone? This is in itself scarcely probable, at so early an hour in the morning. The Synoptics inform us that she had companions who came with the same intention as herself. They were Mary, the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and some others who had come with Jesus from Galilee (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10).

There is in John's narrative itself a word which gives us to understand that she did not come alone. It is the plural οἴδαμεν, we know; for, whatever Meyer may say, it is impossible to understand by this we: I, Mary, and you, the disciples (!). If Mary alone is mentioned, it is because of the part which she plays in the following scene. Meyer makes the οὐκ οἶδα, I do not know, of John 20:13 an objection. But this contrast is precisely what disproves it. There she is alone with the angels, and naturally she speaks only in her own name, as she also says: My Lord, and no longer: the Lord (John 20:2).

These women or some of them came together. But, as soon as from a distance they saw the tomb, open, Mary Magdalene, carried away by her vividness of impression, hastens to go and tell the disciples, while her companions come even to the sepulchre. There is a slight chronological difference between John, Matthew and Luke, who say: “ As it was dark,” or “ at the dawn of day,” and Mark, who says: “ The sun having risen. ” Perhaps there were several groups of women in succession whom each evangelist unites in a single one. Hence this slight difference as to the time of arriving. It was during the absence of Mary that her companions received the message of the angel, related by the three Synoptics.

Mat 28:9-10 relates that, on their return from the sepulchre, there was an appearance of Jesus to these women. But the narrative in Mark 16:8 and especially the words of the two disciples from Emmaus, Luke 24:22-23: “They had a vision of angels, saying that he was alive,” are incompatible with this fact.

This appearance to the women is, therefore, no other than the appearance to Mary Magdalene (which is to follow in John) generalized. All the details of the appearance coincide. The First Gospel applies to the entire group what happened to one of its members. As Mary Magdalene saw the Lord only after the other women had returned to the city, we may understand how the two disciples from Emmaus were able to depart from Jerusalem without having heard of any appearance of Jesus (Luke 24:24). There had been, therefore, in fact, no other appearances in the morning of this day, except that of the angels to the women and then to Mary Magdalene, and finally that of Jesus to the latter. There is no reason here for making the loud outcry against our narratives which is uttered by criticism (Keim, III., p. 530).

The repetition of the preposition πρός, to, in John 20:2, leads us to think that the two disciples had different homes, which is natural if John lived with his mother and with Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The term ἐφίλει, loved, has something of familiarity in it beyond ἠγάπα; it is undoubtedly used here because the matter in question is a simple indication of a fact, without any particular emphasis, Jesus Himself being absent.

The imperfect ἤρχοντο, they were coming, repairing, is pictorial; comp. John 4:30. This imperfect of continuance reflects the feeling of inexpressible expectation which caused the hearts of the disciples to beat during the running to the sepulchre.