Luke 24:22-23

Yea, and certain women also, &c.— The smallest attention will shew, that Cleopas and his companion do not here speak of Mary Magdalene's second information, given after she had seen the angels; because Jesus himself having appeared to her before she stirred from the spot, it is by no means probable, that she would relate the lesser, and omit the greater event. Neither do they speak of the informationwhichthewomen,MaryMagdalene'scompanions,gavetheapostlesafter they had seen Jesus; because they, inlike manner, must have related that, much rather than any thing else: but the report of which they speak, was either made by a company of women different from that in which Mary the mother of James, and Salome were, who saw Jesus as they went to tell his disciples concerning the vision of angels; or it was made by that company before they saw the Lord. That it was not made by any company different from that in whichMary and Salome were, is certain, because St. Luke says expressly, that Mary, Joanna, and the rest, concurred in giving it, Luke 24:10. Wherefore, it must have been the report which Mary Magdalene made alone, after having been with the women at the sepulchre the first time; and which they confirmed before they saw the Lord. According to this account of the matter, the report which Mary Magdalene made alone, is not distinguished from that of her companions; yet there seems to be a hint given of it in the 23rd verse; for the words, And when they found not his body, may refer to Mary Magdalene's first information; as the subsequent words, They came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, describe the information given by her companions. In the mean time, though it should be allowed that Mary Magdalene's report is not distinguished from that of her companions, either by St. Luke in his history of the resurrection, or by the disciples going to Emmaus, it will not follow that her report was made at the same time with theirs, or that the evangelist meant to say so: for though they were distinct in point of time, they might be fitly joined together, for four reasons: 1. Because the persons who made them, had gone out in one company to the sepulchre. 2. Because they were made soon after each other. 3. Because the subject of both was the same: Mary Magdalene first brought word, that the stone was rolled back, that the door was open, and the body gone; the other women came immediately after, and told the same things, adding, that they had seen a vision of angels, who affirmed that Jesus was alive. 4. In relating the matter to this supposed stranger, the two disciples would think it needless to make the distinctionmore particularly. But if the disciples, in their account of these reports, join them together for the reasons mentioned, St. Luke might, for the same reasons, speak of them as one in his history of the resurrection, agreeable to the brevity which he has studied throughout the whole of his work. See on Luke 24:9.