Then the disciples went away again unto their own home
Read Chapter 20
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
1. Mary Magdalene had brought the news to His disciples, Peter and John, that the Lord was taken away from the sepulchre; and they, when they came there, found only the linen clothes wherewith the body had been shrouded; and what else could they believe but what she had told them, and what she had herself also believed? Then the disciples went away again unto their own (home); that is to say, where they were dwelling, and from which they had run to the sepulchre. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping. For while the men returned, the weaker sex was fastened to the place by a stronger affection. And the eyes, which had sought the Lord and had not found Him, had now nothing else to do but weep, deeper in their sorrow that He had been taken away from the sepulchre than that He had been slain on the tree; seeing that in the case even of such a Master, when His living presence was withdrawn from their eyes, His remembrance also had ceased to remain. Such grief, therefore, now kept ...
I.e. To the place where they were lodging, and from which they had ran to the sepulcher. But though themen returned, the stronger love of the woman fixed her to the spot. But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping.
i.e. Outside of the place where the stone sepulcher was, but yet within the garden.
The eyes then which had sought our Lord, and found Him not, now wept without interruption; more for grief that our Lord had been removed, than for His death upon the cross. For now even all memorial of Him was taken away.
She then saw, with the other women, the Angel sitting on the right, on the stone which had been rolled away from the sepulcher, at whose words it was that she looked into the sepulcher.
In her too great grief she could believe neither her own eyes, nor the disciples. Or was it a divine impulse which caused her to look in? .
But why did one sit at the head, the other at the feet? To signify that the glad tidings of Christ’s Gospel was to be delivered from the head to the...
Mystically, Mary, which name signifies, mistress, enlightened, enlightener, star of the sea, stands for the Church, which is also Magdalene, i.e. Towered, (Magdalene being Greek for tower) as we read in the Psalms, you have been a strong tower for me. In that she announced Christ’s resurrection to the disciples, all, especially those to whom the office of preaching is committed are admonished to be zealous in setting forth toothers whatever is revealed from above.
Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. Peter wondering, John believing He had risen, the Magdalene alone remaining at the sepulchre, to learn something more certain about the Body of her beloved Christ. See S. Augustine (in loc.) "And hence it came to pass that she alone saw Him, she who remained to seek for Him, for perseverance in a good work is a virtue," says S. Gregory, Hom. xxv.
The wise disciples, after having gathered sufficiently satisfactory evidence of the Resurrection of our Saviour, being in travail, as it were, with their confirmed and unshaken faith, and by comparison of events as they had actually occurred with the prophetic utterances of Holy Scripture, went back home, and hastened, as is likely, to see their fellow-workers, to recount to them the miracle, and afterwards to consider the course to be pursued. And we shall not err if we think that they had another object in so acting. For while the passion of the Jews was at its height, and the rulers were thirsting eagerly for the blood of every man who marvelled at the teaching of the Saviour, and admitted His Divine and ineffable power and glory, but most of all for the blood of the holy disciples themselves, they had good reason for shrinking from encountering them, and left the sepulchre before it was quite light, as they could not have done so without risk, if seen in the daytime, the sun's rays...
Mary Magdalene, who had been the sinner in the city, and who had washed out the spots of her sins by her tears, whose soul burned with love, did not retire from the sepulcherwhen the others did: Then the disciples went away again to their own home.
For to have looked once is not enough for love. Love makes one desire to look over and over again.
She sought the body, and found it not; she persevered in seeking; and so it came to pass that she found. Her longings growing the stronger, the more they were disappointed, at last found and laid hold on their object. For holy longings ever gain strength by delay, did they not, they would not be longings. Mary so loved, that not content with seeing the sepulcher, she stooped down and looked in: let us see the fruit which came of this persevering love: And sees two Angelsin white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain, .
The Angel sits at the head when the Apostles preach that in the beginning w...
Heretics, among their other impieties, misinterpret these words of our Lord’s, and say, that if His Father is their Father, His God their God, He cannot be God Himself. But though He remained in the form of God, He took upon Him the form of a servant; and Christ says this in the form of a servant to men. And we cannot doubt that in so far as He is man, the Father is His Father in the same sense in which He is of other men, and God His God in like manner. Indeed He begins with saying, Go toMy brethren, But God can only have brethren according to the flesh; the Only-Begotten God, being Only-Begotten, is without brethren.
1. Full of feeling somehow is the female sex, and more inclined to pity. I say this, lest you should wonder how it could be that Mary wept bitterly at the tomb, while Peter was in no way so affected. For, The disciples, it says, went away unto their own home; but she stood shedding tears. Because hers was a feeble nature, and she as yet knew not accurately the account of the Resurrection; whereas they having seen the linen clothes and believed, departed to their own homes in astonishment. And wherefore went they not straightway to Galilee, as had been commanded them before the Passion? They waited for the others, perhaps, and besides they were yet at the height of their amazement. These then went their way: but she stood at the place, for, as I have said, even the sight of the tomb tended greatly to comfort her. At any rate, you see her, the more to ease her grief, stooping down, and desiring to behold the place where the body lay. And therefore she received no small reward for this ...
Be not astonished that Mary wept for love at the sepulcher, and Peter did not; for the female sex is naturally tender, and inclined to weep.
The sight of the sepulcher itself was some consolation. Nay, behold her, to console herself still more, stooping down, to see thevery place where the body lay: And as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into thesepulcher.
As her understanding was not so raised as to be able to gather from the napkins the fact of the resurrection, she is given the sight of Angels in bright apparel, who soothe her sorrow.
The Angels who appear say nothing about the resurrection; but by degrees the subject is entered on. First of all they address her compassionately, to prevent her from being overpowered by a spectacle of such extraordinary brightness: And they say to her, Woman, why weep you? The Angels forbade tears, and announced, as it were, the joy that was at hand: Why weep you? As if tosay, Weep not.
As yet she knew nothing of the resurrection, but thought ...
