And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
All Commentaries on Matthew 27:53 Go To Matthew 27
Theophylact of Ochrid
AD 1107
. Jesus cries with a loud voice so that we may know that it was true when He said, "I have authority to lay down My life" (Jn. 10:18). For He released His soul by His own authority. What was it that He cried with a loud voice? "Into Thy hands I commit My spirit" (Lk. 23:46). Not under compulsion, but by His own will He released His spirit. For this is what is meant by "I commit." He also shows that He will take it back again. For what is committed or deposited can be returned. Thanks be to the Lord, that when He died and committed His spirit into the hands of the Father, from that time forward the souls of the saints are also committed into the hands of the Father, and not as before into the recesses of hades. So the death of Christ became our sanctification. For this reason He summons death with a loud voice, for death did not dare to approach until it had been summoned. The veil of the temple was a cloth of fine linen hanging in the middle of the temple, separating the inner sanctuary from the outer like a partition wall. This veil was rent, and God thereby showed that the inaccessible and unseen temple, whose innermost part, the Holy of Holies, had been secluded by the veil, would be made common and profane so as to be visible and accessible to all. Some give further explanations. The veil being rent, they say, indicated that the letter of the law had been stripped away to reveal the entirety of the law which formerly had been concealed by the letter as if by a veil; and what before had been obscure and enigmatic in the law would now be made clear by its fulfillment in Christ (II Cor. 3:14-16). One might also mention that it was the custom of Jews to rend their clothing when they heard blasphemies against God. So now the divine temple rent its own clothing, the veil, as if abhorring the death of Christ. There is more that one could say, but this suffices. The elements quaked, showing at one and the same time that it was the Creator Who suffered and that all things would be changed. For earthquakes are mentioned in Scripture to mark a change in the course of affairs. And there did occur a change in the scope of God’s supervision of mankind, namely, from the Jews to the Gentiles. Even the stones, which are the stony hearts of the Gentiles, were split open to accept the seed of Truth. And those who were dead in sins arose and entered the Holy City, the heavenly Jerusalem, and appeared to the many who were walking the broad road [leading to perdition]. By appearing to them, they became an exemplary model of a good life and of repentance. For if one sees a man who was formerly deadened by many passions now changed and ascending to the holy heavenly City, he imitates that man in every way, and himself repents. These things have been explained in a rather elaborate manner; but you, O reader, understand that the raising of the dead which occurred at the Lord’s crucifixion, also revealed the freeing of the souls in hades. Those who arose at that time were seen by many, lest the event appear to have been only an apparition. They arose as a sign from God, and it is evident that they again died. Some say that after Christ’s resurrection, these arose and have not yet died; but I do not know if this should be accepted.
