The more you think about it, the more surprising it is: missing from all four gospels is any description of Jesus’ resurrection. In each gospel the resurrection itself takes place off-stage. By Sunday morning, when the women first come to Jesus’ tomb, the resurrection is a done deal. Jesus is gone. He is no longer in the tomb. The greatest miracle that has ever happened is unrecorded in scripture. Instead, all four gospels focus on the wondrous result of Jesus’ resurrection.

He is risen!

Matthew describes the empty tomb in considerably more detail than Mark, yet with a telling of the morning tale that still focuses on the essential core of the miracle. As in the other gospels, Matthew begins with a daybreak visit to the tomb by the women who witnessed both Jesus’ death on the cross and his b…