27:51a The inner veil of the temple is undoubtedly in view here, the one separating the holy place from the holy of holies (cf. Heb. 4:16; 6:19-20; 9:11-28; 10:19-22). The tearing happened at 3:00 p.m., the time of the evening incense offering. A priest would normally have been standing before the veil offering incense when it tore (cf. Luke 1:8-10).
"The fact that this occurred from top to bottom signified that God is the One who ripped the thick curtain. It was not torn from the bottom by men ripping it."1070
This was a supernatural act that symbolized the opening of access to God and the termination of the Mosaic system of worship. This event marked the end of the old Mosaic Covenant and the beginning to the New Covenant (cf. 26:26-29). Jesus Himself now replaced the temple (cf. 26:61). He also became the great High Priest of His people. The rent veil also prefigured the physical destruction of the temple, a necessary corollary to its spiritual uselessness from then on.
27:51b-53 Earthquakes often accompanied divine judgment and the manifestation of God's glory in the Old Testament (1 Kings 19:11; Isa. 29:6; Jer. 10:10; Ezek. 26:18).1071This one may have been responsible for the rending of the temple veil, the splitting of the rocks, and the opening of the tombs. The temple stood on a geological fault that has caused minor damage throughout history.1072The supernatural occurrences that accompanied Jesus' crucifixion hinted at its spiritual implications.
One writer suggested that the sentence begun in verse 51 should really end with "were opened"or "broke open"in verse 52.1073There were no punctuation marks in the original Greek text. Thus the two events that accompanied the earthquake were the rending of the temple veil and the splitting of the rocks. These things all happened when Jesus died.
The resurrection of the saints (lit. holy people) that Matthew described happened when Jesus arose from the dead. This explanation obviates the problem of people coming out of their graves when Jesus died but not showing themselves until He arose. Matthew did not answer many questions that we would like answers to such as what type of bodies they had and whether they died again or went directly to heaven. They were Old Testament saints. Probably they experienced the same type of resurrection that Lazarus did. Perhaps Matthew mentioned their resurrection here to help us appreciate the fact that Jesus' death provided the basis for the resurrection of believers who died before the Cross as well as after it. Maybe he placed it here also to avoid breaking the narrative flow of chapter 28 and to connect Jesus' death immediately with resurrection.1074The King had authority over life and death.
"This event is nowhere explained in the Scriptures but seems to be a fulfillment of the feast of the first fruits of harvest mentioned in Leviticus 23:10-14. On that occasion, as a token of the coming harvest, the people would bring a handful of grain to the priest. The resurrection of these saints, occurring after Jesus Himself was raised, is a token of the coming harvest when all the saints will be raised."1075
27:54 What the centurion and the other soldiers meant when they called Jesus "the Son of God"depends somewhat on who they were and what their background was. The centurion was a Roman soldier responsible for 100 men, not that that many guarded Jesus then. The other soldiers may have been Romans from outside Palestine or Gentile residents of the land who served in the army. They probably meant that Jesus was a divine being in a pagan sense. If so, they spoke more truly than they knew. The darkness, earthquake, and Jesus' manner of dying convinced these hardened soldiers that this was no ordinary execution. They seem to have reacted superstitiously and fearfully. Matthew recorded the centurion's comment as another ironical testimony to Jesus' messianic identity. Here Gentiles testified to the identity of Israel's Messiah whom the Jews had rejected.
"In declaring Jesus to be the Son of God, the Roman soldiers think' about him as God thinks' about him [cf. 3:17; 17:5; 16:23]. Accordingly, their evaluative point of view concerning Jesus' identity can be seen to be in alignment with that of God. . . .
"Two consequences flow form this. The first is that the soldiers acclamation becomes the place in Matthew's plot where Jesus is, for the first time, both correctly and publicly affirmed by humans to be the Son of God. And the second consequence is that, as a result of the soldiers' acclamation, the way is in principle now open for the task of going and making disciples of all nations.' Or, to put it differently, one could also say that the way is now open for the task of making the salvation Jesus has accomplished in his death owing to his conflict with Israel redound to the benefit of all humankind. Then, too, since the Roman soldiers are themselves Gentiles, they attest in this way as well that the time for embarking upon the universal mission is at hand."1076
27:55-56 Why did Matthew include reference to the women who observed the crucifixion? Even though Jewish society did not regard women equally with men, their witness of Jesus' death would have added some credibility to Matthew's account (cf. 1 Cor. 1:27-31). As Mary, who seemed to understand and believe something of what Jesus had said about dying (26:6-13), they did not abandon Him as His unfaithful male disciples had done. The only believing disciples who did not abandon Him appear to have been a few powerless women, who could not help Him but only observed His sufferings from afar, and John (John 19:26-27). These women were the last at the cross and the first to the tomb (cf. 28:1) indicating their devotion to Jesus whom they had followed in Galilee and ministered to financially (Luke 8:2-3). The women Matthew chose to identify by name were probably those whom his original readers knew best by the names he used to describe them. The chart below attempts to harmonize the references in the Gospels that identify the women who observed Jesus on the cross.
