Ver. 1. The first day of the week] Now the Christian sabbath, in honour of Christ’s resurrection, and therefore called “the Lord’s day,” Revelation 1:10; as the holy supper is called “the Lord’s supper,” 1 Corinthians 11:20; as the saints are called κυριακη, kirk, church. The title of the 24th Psalm is, “A Psalm of David.” To this the Greek addeth, “Of the first day of the week,” meaning that this psalm was wont to be sung in the temple every first day of the week, which now is the Christian’s sabbath; and of Christ, his Church and kingdom, and the entert aining of his gospel, doth this psalm intreat. Let every one of us keep sabbath, saith Ignatius, in a spiritual manner, rejoicing in the meditation of the law, not in the rest of the body. εκαστος ημων σαββατιζετω πνευματικως. (Ignat. ep. iii. ad Magnes.) And in those primitive times when the question was asked, Servasti Dominicum? Hast thou kept the Lord’s day? the answer was returned, Christianus sum, intermittere non possum: I am a Christian, and may not do otherwise. The Jews gave that honour to their sabbath, that they named from it all the other days of the week, as the first, second, third day, &c., of the sabbath, which we from the heathens (a worse pattern) name Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, &c. Ex iustituto Mercurii Trismegisti.
Ver. 2. Then she runneth] Amor addidit alas, love is impatient of delays. Christ cometh leaping over the “mountains of Bether,” Song of Solomon 2:17; all manner lets and impediments. And the Church, as impatient as he, bids him “Make haste, my beloved, and be like to a roe,” Song of Solomon 8:4, or to a fawn of the harts, which when it fleeth, looketh behind it, saith the Chaldee paraphrast there. She affects not only a union, but a unity with him.
Ver. 3. Peter therefore went forth] He despaired not though he had grievously fallen. The saints cannot fall so far, but that God’s supporting hand is ever under them. They may be doused over head and ears in the waters of iniquity, yea, sink twice to the bottom, yet shall rise again and recover; for the Lord puts under his hand; yea, as he that stumbleth, and yet falleth not, gets ground by his stumbling, so it is here.
Ver. 4. So they ran both together] But the swifter of foot they were, the slower in faith; for “he that believeth maketh not haste,” Isaiah 28:16. They believed not fully the resurrection; when they heard the news of it, and from the angels too, they stirred not, but rejected it as a fable. Now that they hear (though but by a woman only) that the Lord’s body was removed to another sepulchre (though that were but a rash report, and nothing so) they run amain. Oh the dullness that is found in the best!
Ver. 5. Yet went he not in] He dared not; so some fearful are afraid of every step, saying, as Caesar at Rubicon, Yet we may go back; and as the king of Navarre told Beza, that he would launch no further into the sea, than he might be sure to return safe to the haven. Petago se non ira commissurus esset quin, quando liberet, pedem referre posset.
Ver. 6. Following him and went in] John came first; Peter entered first: “soft and fair goes far ”: soft fire makes sweet malt: leap Christians are not much to be liked; such as quickly step out of profaneness into profession. Hot at hand seldom holds out. The stony ground immediately received the seed with joy, and started up suddenly, ευθεως; but the good ground brings forth fruit with patience or tarriance, εν υπομονη, Luke 8:15. Walk deliberately, and ponder the paths of thy feet, as Solomon bids, Proverbs 4:26. A Christian’s progress is as the sun, which shines more and more to the perfect day, Proverbs 4:18; and as the trumpet in Mount Sion, Exodus 20:18, which sounded louder and louder till it was heard all the country over.
Ver. 7. And the napkin that was about his head] These grave clothes were evidences of our Saviour’s resurrection, and are therefore mentioned by the evangelist. But what shift made Paleottus, Archbishop of Bonony, for matter, who wrote a great book of the shadow of Christ’s dead body in the sindon or linen cloth, wherein it was wrapped! This book was also commented upon by the professor of divinity there. Had not these men little to do? Did they not, as one saith, “ Magno conatu magnas nugas agere? Tenet insanabile multos—Seribendi Cacoethes.”
Ver. 8. And he saw and believed] i.e. He believed his own eyes, that the Lord’s body was not in the sepulchre; but, as Mary Magdalene had told them, so they misbelieved, that it was taken away to some other place, further from Calvary, for honour’s sake, that he might not lie buried with the wicked. Hence it is that in the next verse it is added, that “as yet they knew not the Scripture.”
Ver. 9. For as yet they knew not the Scripture] Which yet was clear enough in this point, Psalms 16:10 110:1 Isa 53:10,11. The resurrection of our Saviour was not obscurely shadowed out in Adam waking out of sleep, Isaac received after a sort from the dead, Joseph drawn out of prison to be Lord of Egypt, Samson bearing away the gates of Gaza, David advanced to the kingdom, where there was but a step between him and death; Jonah preserved in the whale’s belly, &c.