02.16. The Resurrection of Jesus
LESSON XVI.--The Resurrection of Jesus. THE WOMEN AT THE SEPULCHER.
Repeat Matthew 28:1. Who is the other Mary here mentioned? See Matthew 27:61, Matthew 27:56.
What does John say as to the time of this visit? John 20:1. How do you reconcile John’s statement with Matthew’s? Ans.--When it "began to dawn" it was "yet dark." What does Luke say of the time? Luke 24:1. How does Mark state the time? Mark 16:2. How do you reconcile his statement with that of the others? Ans.--He speaks of the time when they arrived at the sepulcher, and the others of the time when they started. Is it unusual for persons to write or speak in this manner? Ans.--No. If a man should leave Lexington at daylight and walk out to Ashland by sunrise, one person might say he went to Ashland at daybreak, and another, thinking of the time when he arrived there, might say he went to Ashland at sunrise; and both would speak the truth. From what place did the women start? Ans.--Jesus and his company had been staying at Bethany at night during that previous week, and it is most likely they started from that place. Luke 21:37; Mark 11:11. Would it take them from daylight till sunrise to walk that distance? Ans.--Yes: it is about two miles.
What question did the women ask each other as they approached the sepulcher? Mark 16:3. Did they know then that the stone had been sealed and a guard placed there? When they saw that the stone had been taken away, what did Mary Magdalene do? John 20:1-2. Describe how the stone had been rolled away. Matthew 28:2-4. Did the women see this? Ans.--No, for when they came in sight of the sepulcher the stone, as we have seen, was already rolled away? How, then, did this become known? See Matthew 28:11.
What did the angel say to the women? Matthew 28:5-7. Where did this occur, and what was the appearance of the angel? Mark 16:5-7. What movement, then, did the angel make between the time that he sat down on the stone, and the time that the women saw him? Did they see the angel when they first went into the sepulcher? Luke 24:3-4. Did they see more than one? Why did Matthew mention only one? Ans.--It seems that one spoke for both, and Matthew mentions only the one who spoke, who was also the one that opened the sepulcher. What prophecy of Jesus did the angel bring to their remembrance? Luke 24:6-8. How many women were there in all? Luke 24:10; Mark 16:1. When they left the sepulcher what occurred? Matthew 28:8-10.
PETER AND JOHN AT THE SEPULCHER.
While the other women were in the sepulcher talking with the angel, where was Mary Magdalene? John 20:1-2. What did she say to Peter and John? John 20:2. How did she know that the body of Jesus was gone? Ans.--She did not know it certainly, but she thought so because she could see no reason for opening the sepulcher except to take away the body.
Describe the visit of Peter and John to the sepulcher. John 20:3-10. What difference between the two men is here exhibited? John 20:4-6. When it said "they saw and believed" (John 20:8), what its referred to? Ans. The statement of Mary that the body had been taken away. Did they yet believe that Jesus had risen from the dead? John 20:9. How long was it after the women left the sepulcher when Peter and John reached it? Ans.--It could not have been long; perhaps not more than one or two minutes.
APPEARANCE OF JESUS TO MARY MAGDALENE. When Peter and John went away, what next did Mary do? John 20:11-13. When had she returned to the sepulcher? As the angels were still in the sepulcher why did not Peter and John see them? What next occurred with Mary? John 20:14-17. Why did she not know Jesus at first? Was this appearance of Jesus to Mary before or after his appearance to the other women? Mark 16:9. How long before? Ans.--It could have been only a few minutes, or perhaps a few seconds; for the other women were still on their way to the other male disciples when he appeared to them. See Matthew 28:9.