Mark 16:4 — Community Reflections

MARK 16:4 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away — the had been rolled away (perfect passive: it has been rolled away and remains rolled away) communicates the action's completeness before their arrival. The passive communicates divine agency — Mark does not describe the rolling away but presents its accomplished result. The women's looking up and seeing produces the first experience of the resurrection's aftermath.

Church Fathers on Mark 16:4

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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