24:1 Now upon the {1} first [day] of the week, very {a} early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain [others] with them.
(1) Poor humble women, who were certainly not expecting it, are chosen to be the first witnesses of the resurrection, so that there might not be any suspicion of either deceit or violence.
(a) Very early, as Mark says: or as John says, while it was yet dark, that is, when it was yet hardly the dawning of day.
24:1-12 The Risen Lord
SUMMARY OF LUKE 24:
The Women at the Sepulcher. Peter Sees the Empty Tomb. The Lord Appears to the Two Disciples. Jesus Appears in the Midst of the Eleven. The Commission to Preach to All Nations. The Ascension.
The Empty Tomb. See notes on Mt 28:1-10.
Upon the first [day] of the week. The Lord's day, our Sunday. The women had beheld the tomb and how his body was laid (Lu 23:55) on Friday, then prepared spices and ointments in accordance with Jewish burial customs, and rested on the Sabbath day (Saturday) according to the commandment (Lu 23:56), but early Sunday morning came to the tomb on their mission of love.
They came. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Joses (Mt 28:1), Salome (Mr 16:1), and Joanna (Lu 24:10).
24:1 Certain others with them - Who had not come from Galilee. Mt 28:1; Mr 16:1; Joh 20:1.
24:1-12 See the affection and respect the women showed to Christ, after he was dead and buried. Observe their surprise when they found the stone rolled away, and the grave empty. Christians often perplex themselves about that with which they should comfort and encourage themselves. They look rather to find their Master in his grave-clothes, than angels in their shining garments. The angels assure them that he is risen from the dead; is risen by his own power. These angels from heaven bring not any new gospel, but remind the women of Christ's words, and teach them how to apply them. We may wonder that these disciples, who believed Jesus to be the Son of God and the true Messiah, who had been so often told that he must die, and rise again, and then enter into his glory, who had seen him more than once raise the dead, yet should be so backward to believe his raising himself. But all our mistakes in religion spring from ignorance or forgetfulness of the words Christ has spoken. Peter now ran to the sepulchre, who so lately ran from his Master. He was amazed. There are many things puzzling and perplexing to us, which would be plain and profitable, if we rightly understood the words of Christ.
