Mark 16:2 — Community Reflections

MARK 16:2 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.”

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb — the first day of the week (the day after the Sabbath, Sunday) is the day the resurrection narrative locates the empty tomb. Very early, just after sunrise: the darkness is barely finished when they arrive — the first light of the new creation's day. The first-day language will become the basis for Sunday worship in the early church: the Lord's Day, the day of resurrection.

Church Fathers on Mark 16:2

After the sadness of the sabbath, a happy day dawns upon them, which holds the chief place amongst days, for in it the chief light shines forth, and the Lord rises in triumph.
Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century

For these religious women after the burial of the Lord, as long as it was lawful to work, that is, up to sunset, prepared ointment, as Luke says. And because they could not finish their work from the shortness of the time, when the sabbath was over, that is, at sunset, as soon as the time for working came round again, they hastened to buy spices, as Mark says, that they might go in the morning to anoint the body of Jesus. Neither could they come to the sepulchre on the…
Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation

For they do not understand the greatness and dignity of the wisdom of Christ. But they came according to the custom of the Jews to anoint the body of Christ, that it might remain sweet-smelling, and might not burst forth into moisture, for spices have the property of drying up, and absorb the moisture of the body, so that they keep the body from corruption.
Theophylact · 11th century

Read all 26 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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