Jesus’ Impossible Escape from the Tomb in Matthew’s Gospel

Abstract

In the Gospel of Mark, when the women arrive at the tomb, the stone has been rolled away, and Jesus’ body is missing (Mark 16:1–4). Luke and John follow Mark in this regard (Luke 12:1-3; John 20:1-1). Yet Matthew, in an attempt to counter a rumour about grave robbers (Matt 27:64 and 28:13), has the tomb guarded by soldiers (Matt 27:65-66) and the stone rolled away by an angel in the presence of the women (Matt 28:2). While this means that Jesus’ body can certainly not have been stolen, it also affords the risen Jesus no opportunity to exit the tomb, even though he then appears to the women on the road (Matt 28:9). Hence, in solving one problem, Matthew creates another. The Gospel of Peter (Gos. Pet. 8.29-30, 9.35-40), Eusebius (Letters to Marinus 2.5[4], Fr. Mar. Sup. 12), Chrysologus (Serm. 75.4-5) and Chrysostom (Serm. Matt. 89.2) all noticed this problem and proposed different solutions. How does the risen Jesus escape from the tomb in Matthew?