Matt 28.1-6

The Opening of the Tomb in Matthew 28:1-6

Many scholars would seem to put the problem this way: in the Gospel of Matthew the tomb of Jesus is still sealed when one or more women arrive on Sunday morning, but in the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John the tomb is already opened when one or more women arrive. We therefore have a major disagreement between Matthew and the other gospel writers regarding the status of the tomb at the beginning of the resurrection narrative. I would like to take another look at this problem and share the results of some new research. On the surface it looks like the tomb of Jesus was opened by the angel shortly after the women arrived in the Gospel of Matthew. Actually, that is not the case. The account of the opening of the tomb occurs in Matthew 28:2-4. It includes an earthquake as well as the swooning of the guards when the angel appears to roll back the stone. These verses are actually a flashback to an event that occurred before the women arrived. The gospel writer Matthew practices a technique called temporal-conflation, temporal-folding, or temporal-collapse. He will take an event of the past and pull it forward to the literary present creating a flashback effect. It is a way of speeding up the narrative story line. Matthew deploys the same technique in Matthew 27:51-54, the account of the raising of the saints in the crucifixion narrative, however, in this case the effect is a flash forward instead of a flashback. Matthew therefore agrees with the other gospel writers that the tomb of Jesus was already opened when one or more women arrived on the scene. For a more detailed presentation of this argument see my article MATTHEW 28:1-6 AS TEMPORALLY CONFLATED TEXT: TEMPORAL-SPATIAL COLLAPSE IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW in the EXPOSITORY TIMES 116/9 (JUNE 2005): 295-301.

Kenneth L. Waters, Sr.