And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
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Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
In the time of the old covenant, the sabbath was highly revered. Now under the gospel the sabbath has been recast, now viewed as the Lord’s resurrection day. The sabbath formerly had pertained to the pedagogy and rudiments of the law. When the great master himself came and fulfilled them all for us, all that had prefigured his coming was transformed. The old sabbath was like a candle lit in the night before the rising and appearing of the sun. .
And when the Sabbath was past: that is to say, at the beginning of the night before the Lord"s day. "After a sad week comes the radiance of a happy day," says the Scholiast.
Mary of Jacob (Vulg.), i.e, Mary, the mother of James the Less and Jude , as the Arabic version gives it, and the wife of Cleopas.
And Salome: the wife of Zebedee, and mother of James and John.
That coming they might anoint Jesus. According to the custom of the Jews, says Theophylact; that the body might be preserved sweet. Spices are of a drying nature. They did not realise the dignity of Christ"s Divinity, nor His resurrection. But they loved Him very tenderly, both as a man and a prophet, although now dead.
An angel declareth the resurrection of Christ to three women9 Christ himself appeareth to Mary Magdalene: 12to two going into the country: 14then to the apostles, 15 whom he sendeth forth to preach the gospel: 19 and ascendeth into heaven.
The women were first to honor the risen Christ, the apostles first to suffer for him. The women were ready with spices; the apostles prepared for scourges. The women entered the tomb; the apostles would soon enter the dungeon. The women hastened to express their eulogy; the apostles embraced chains for his sake. The women poured oils; the apostles poured out their blood.
The women had no understanding of Christs divinity while they sat by the tomb, and they bought myrrh with which to anoint His Body in accordance with the Jewish practice, so that It would remain fragrant and not begin to have the foul odor of decay. Myrrh also dries things out, and thus it absorbs the moisture of the body and preserves it from corruption. Thinking such thoughts as these, the women rose and came to the tomb very early in the morning, or, as Matthew says, after the sabbath, or, as Luke says, at early dawn." [Mt. 28:1; Lk. 24:1] All four Evangelists say, On the first of the sabbath [mias Sabbaton], meaning, on the first day of the week (for "sabbath" was also the name they gave to the seven days of the week considered together, so that the "first day of the sabbath" meant Sunday). As the women approached the tomb, they talked among themselves about who would roll away the stone. While they were thinking about this, the angel rolled away the stone without their noticing. M...
