Mark 16:3 — Community Reflections

MARK 16:3 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”

And they asked each other, who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb? — the question among themselves communicates the practical obstacle they realize they have not solved. The stone was very large (verse 4): beyond three women's ability to move. The question is the last moment of ordinary expectation before the extraordinary is encountered. They have come to anoint a corpse; they have not yet arrived at what they will find.

Church Fathers on Mark 16:3

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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