(2) And they found the stone rolled away .--The narrative is less vivid and detailed than St. Mark's; possibly, we may believe, because St. Luke's report may have come, not from one of the Maries, but from Joanna (named in Luke 24:10). or Susanna, who were less prominent, and might only have heard of what had passed from others.

Verse 2. - And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. The tomb in which the body of the "King's Son" was laid was in a garden close by the scene of the Crucifixion. It had been recently hewn out of a rock, the low ridge opposite the slight ascent of Calvary. "In front of a tomb belonging to a rich family there was generally a vestibule open to the air, then a low entrance sometimes, as in this case, on the side of a rock, leading into a square chamber of moderate dimensions, on one side of which was a place for the body, either cut some seven feet into the rock, or lengthways, three feet deep, with a low arch over it... The tomb had been lately made, and the door which closed the entrance, the only aperture into the tomb, was a large stone" ('Speaker's Commentary,' on Matthew 27:60). Recent investigations in Jerusalem serve to confirm the accuracy of the original traditional sites. (comp. Williams, 'Holy City,' 2:240; Professor Willis, 'Treatise on the Holy Sepulchre,' etc.). We find the following passage in the Bordeaux Pilgrim (A.D. 333): "On the left side (of the original Church of the Holy Sepulchre) is the hillock Golgotha, where the Lord was crucified. Thence about a stone-throw distance is the crypt where his body was deposited." St. Cyril of Jerusalem makes several references to the spot. In the days of Eusebius (first half of the fourth century) there was no doubt as to the site.

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.And they found the stone rolled away the sepulchre. Which Joseph had laid there, security of the body, and in the sight of these women; and which gave them a concern, as they went along, seeing they were all women, who should roll away the stone for them, Mark 16:3 but when they came to the sepulchre, to their great surprise, they found it rolled away, which was done by an angel, Matthew 28:2.