Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

garden of the Holy Sepulchre. Thus the sun must have risen at some point in time during the visit of the 

women to the tomb. 

    The Gospel of Luke describes the women going to the tomb at  early dawn.  This expression could refer to 

the brightening of the sky before the sun rises, or to the actual rising of the sun. 

     Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw 

that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.  (Jn 20:1). 

    Here the Gospel of John adds another detail, that it was still dark when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. 

The expression  while it was still dark,  however, does not necessarily mean that the sky was as dark as in the 

middle of the night. The sky may be called dark before the sun rises, even though it is beginning to brighten in 

the eastern sky in the hour before dawn. Still it is clear that Mary Magdalene reached the tomb before sunrise. 

Here again, as in the other Gospels, we see that the women visited the tomb beginning before dawn.

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    Mark's Gospel implies that the sun rose at some point during their trip to the tomb, and the other Gospels 

have the women traveling to the tomb just before dawn. So, the women must have begun their trip to the tomb 

before dawn, while it was still fairly dark out. And, since the Gospel of Mark places the rising of the sun 

during this trip to the tomb (Mk 16:2), dawn must have occurred at about the time of their arrival at the tomb. 

The differing statements of the Gospels must be interpreted in some way so that every passage will be 

understood as true. No part of Sacred Scripture can ever be in error (Jn 10:35). 

The Time of the Resurrection 

    In the Gospel of Matthew, the stone is rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, and the angel sitting on 

the stone tells the women that Jesus has risen from the dead (Mt 28:2 6). The angel speaks in the past tense 

about the Resurrection, and tells the women that Jesus  is not here  (Mt 28:6). The women at the tomb do not 

see Jesus as He is rising from the dead. They see Jesus only after He has risen (Mt 28:9 10; Jn 20:14 18). 

Therefore, Jesus had already risen from the dead before the stone was rolled back from the tomb. And, in the 

Gospel of John, when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb,  while it was still dark,  she saw that the stone had 

been rolled away from the tomb (Jn 20:1). So, Jesus rose from the dead before the stone was rolled away from 

the tomb, and the stone was rolled away before dawn. Therefore, Jesus rose from the dead before the sun rose 

above the horizon on that very first Easter Sunday. 

    Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich tells us that the women set out for the tomb  When the morning sky 

began to clear with a streak of white light . 

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 These words are in harmony with the words of Sacred 

Scripture  that the women went to the tomb just before dawn. And, according to Blessed Anne Catherine, it 

was not until sometime later, when the women arrived at the gate to the garden of the sepulchre, that Jesus 

rose from the dead.  The holy women, when the Lord arose from the dead, were near the little gate belonging 

to Nicodemus. 

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 So then, Jesus rose from the dead after the sky began to brighten, but before the sun actually 

rose above the horizon. 

    The sky begins to lighten about an hour or so before dawn. On the day of the Resurrection, April 9 of 

A.D.

19, sunrise occurred about 05:21 a.m. Jerusalem Standard Time. Therefore, Jesus rose from the dead 

sometime during the hour before sunrise, between about 04:20 a.m. and 05:20 a.m., a time that the Jews call 

the twelfth hour of the night. 

The Four Holy Women 

    Blessed Anne Catherine describes the visit of the holy women to the tomb of Our Lord. She both agrees 

with Sacred Scripture and provides additional details, which clarify some of the differences in each Gospel's 

description of the events. 

     When the morning sky began to clear with a streak of white light, I saw Magdalen, Mary Cleophas, 

Johanna Chusa, and Salome, enveloped in mantles, leaving their abode near the Coenaculum .and one of 

them had a lighted lantern. 

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