Matthew 28:2-4

28:2 Suddenly there was a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord ¹  descending from heaven came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. 28:3 His ²  appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 28:4 The ³  guards were shaken and became like dead men because they were so afraid of him.

Luke 24:2

24:2 They ⁴  found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, ⁵ 

John 20:1

The Resurrection

20:1 Now very early on the first day of the week, ⁶  while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene ⁷  came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. ⁸ 

[28:2]  ¹ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[28:3]  ² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[28:4]  ³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:2]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:2]  ⁵ sn Luke tells the story of the empty tomb with little drama. He simply notes that when they arrived the stone had been rolled away in a position where the tomb could be entered. This large stone was often placed in a channel so that it could be easily moved by rolling it aside. The other possibility is that it was merely placed over the opening in a position from which it had now been moved.

[20:1]  ⁶ sn The first day of the week would be early Sunday morning. The Sabbath (and in this year the Passover) would have lasted from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday. Sunday would thus mark the first day of the following week.

[20:1]  ⁷ sn John does not mention that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by any of the other women who had been among Jesus’ followers. The synoptic accounts all mention other women who accompanied her (although Mary Magdalene is always mentioned first). Why John does not mention the other women is not clear, but Mary probably becomes the focus of the author’s attention because it was she who came and found Peter and the beloved disciple and informed them of the empty tomb (20:2). Mary’s use of the plural in v. 2 indicates there were others present, in indirect agreement with the synoptic accounts.

[20:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “from the tomb.”