There is a wonderful Gospel Harmony work on the Aquinas Study Bible taken from St. Augustine's work. Here is a section
The Women at the Tomb
(Luke 24:1-12 Matt 28:1-8 Mark 16:1-8 John 20:1-13)
In the evening of the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, etc. (Mt 28:1) How could it be called evening if day was dawning, or even if, as St. Mark says, the sun were risen? (Mark 16:2) Firstly, St. Jerome answers that these women had gone forth frequently to the sepulchre, both in the evening and in the morning, so that the Evangelists refer to different occasions of their going forth. Secondly, St. Ambrose thinks that they were different women who went out in the evening and in the morning. So St. Gregory of Nyssa (Orat. 2, on the Resurrection) thinks that the women went four times to the sepulchre. But it is clear to any one who compares the different accounts, that the Evangelists speak of the same visit made by the same women to the sepulchre of Christ. I say, therefore, that by the evening of the Sabbath is signified the night which followed the Sabbath. That it was so clear, first, from St. Mark, who says, and when the Sabbath was passed; (Mark 16:1) secondly, because St. Matthew is wont to sum up many things in a few words. Accordingly, he here sums up the time when the women came together and made preparations for visiting and anointing Christ, which was in the evening, or immediately the Sabbath was passed; and he also wished to indicate the time when they came to the sepulchre, which was at the dawn of the Lord’s day. For this is what St. Luke says (Luke 23:56), “And they returned (after Christ had been buried), and prepared spices and ointments, and rested on the Sabbath day, according to the commandment; and on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared.” And St. Mark (Mark 16:1) says, “When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the sepulchre.” Mark is generally the interpreter of Matthew. St. Augustine says, “Thus, on the evening of the Sabbath is just the same as if he had said on the night of the Sabbath, that is, the night which follows the day of the Sabbath, which is sufficiently proved by the words which follow, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week.” This could not be if we understood only the first portion of the night, its beginning, to be signified by the word evening. For the evening, or beginning of the night, does not begin to dawn towards the first day of the week, but only the night which is concluded by the dawn. For the end of the first part of the night is the beginning of the second; and the dawn is the end of the whole night. Whence the evening could not be said to dawn towards the first day of the week, unless by the word evening the night itself is understood, which is concluded by the dawn.
Matthew, therefore, declares that these women had prepared ointments at night, but came to the sepulchre at the rising of the dawn, as Luke, John, and Mark say. But John adds that they came early in the morning, while it was yet dark. (Jn 20:1) I answer, That also is true, because it was dawn, since the sun not having yet appeared, but only his rays reflected from the hills or clouds, there still remained a measure of darkness in the air.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. (Mt 28:1) That is, the wife of Cleophas and mother of James. These were the leaders and standard-bearers of the rest who were wont to follow Christ; for that there were several others is clear from Luke 23:55, where, among others, he names Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward: and Mark adds Salome. (Mark 16:1) The Blessed Virgin Mother of God did not come with them, because she certainly knew and expected that Christ would rise on that same day; whence she knew that the anointing would be useless.
You will say, How do Matthew and Mark say that the angel sat, (Mt 28:5 Mark 16:5) when Luke says that he stood? (Luke 24:4) I answer, that by a Hebraism, to stand is a term applicable to any position; for it only signifies that a thing is present, whether standing upright, or sitting, or lying. Then, also, the account given by Matthew and Mark is a different one from that given by Luke, as I shall presently show.
You will say, secondly, How does Matthew say that the angel sat upon the stone rolled back, that is, outside the sepulchre, (28:2) when Mark says that the women saw the angel not outside,(Mark 16:5) but on entering into the tomb? I answer, that the angel first removed the stone which closed the sepulchre, and then terrified the watch who were outside, and drove them away, so that they might not hinder the women from approaching the sepulchre; then, that he entered the sepulchre itself, and was there seen by the women, that he might show them the empty sepulchre, and that Christ had risen. Whence he says, “He is risen, as He said; come, see the place where the Lord lay.” (Mt 28:6 Mark 16:6) So Theophylact. Or, rather, the angel of whom Matthew speaks was a different one from that of whom Mark speaks. So Barradius.
But I maintain that the same angel is spoken of by Mark as by Matthew. For Mark is generally the interpreter of Matthew. Wherefore, what Mark says about their entering into the tomb is to be understand thus, when they were preparing or beginning to enter the tomb; for they had not yet entered it, but were still outside, and there they saw and heard the angel, as Matthew has it. For to enter signifies, here and elsewhere, an act begun and not finished.
And the angel answered, &c. (Mt 28:5) You will say, How is it that Matthew and Mark speak only of one angel as seen by the women, when Luke affirms that two were seen, who comforted the women with different words from those which Matthew and Mark have? I answer that the account of Luke (24:4) is different from that of Matthew, and that he relates what happened later, as I shall hereafter show. The women. Namely, the Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and the rest (see Luke 24:10). Those are mistaken, therefore, who think that Magdalene, after she had seen the empty sepulchre, immediately ran back to tell the Apostles, without seeing the angels, and that they were only seen by Mary the mother of James and the rest. John, therefore (Jn 20:1), while he mentions Magdalene only, with her understands all the rest of her companions; for she was the leader and chief of them all.
In the historical order of the events must be brought in here what Luke mentions (24:3), namely, that Magdalene and her companions, while at the invitation of the angel they had entered the sepulchre and seen that it was empty, yet were affrighted; on account of which the angels cheered them, and at the same time gently reproved their want of faith. For that Luke’s account is not the same as that of Matthew and Mark, as some think, is clear from the words themselves, which are evidently different. Also, from the circumstance that in Luke two angels are said to have appeared, while in Matthew and Mark only one is mentioned.
Tell His disciples. (Mt 28:7) Matthew does not mention what they told; but John and Luke explain it, but in different ways. For John says that Magdalene only said to Peter,(Jn 20:2) They have taken away my Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him. But Luke says that they related to the Apostles all the things they had seen and heard. (Luke 24:10)
You will say, Whence this difference? I answer, It arises from the women being possessed with fear and doubt, and therefore they told no one anything by the way. And because they did not firmly and certainly believe that Christ had risen, they spoke alternating words, in accordance with the alternations of their thoughts; for at one time they speak of the vision of angels, at another they declare their opinion that the body of the Lord had been taken away.
At this point we must bring into the history what S. John relates (Jn 20:2-19).
Magdalene, then, was the first to see Christ, as Mark says. Afterwards, at the command of Christ, she hastened after the other women, and overtook them, and then with them again saw Christ, and heard His salutation. So St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and others. (Cornelius a Lapide)
Luke 24:1-12
Linear Mode
