History, Legend or Literary Invention?

The Puzzle of Matthew's Mass Resurrection (27:51b-53)

In a debate with a Christian apologist shortly before his death, Christopher Hitchens pointed out that ‘the Gospels tell us that at the time of the crucifixion all the graves in Jerusalem opened, and their occupants wandered around the streets…’

He quips, ‘So it seems that resurrection was something of a banality at the time.’

If Hitchens was right, and the Gospels – plural – described such an event, we would indeed find it peculiar. Yet the episode is made all the more puzzling by the fact that it is found not in all four Gospels, but only Matthew.

Up until this point in his crucifixon narrative, Matthew has largely copied out Mark’s account, word for word. Yet in a pithy insertion following Jesus’ last breath, he inserts this strange and astounding series of events:

‘and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; and the tombs were opened,
and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs (after his resurrection) they went into the holy city, and they appeared to many.' (27:51b-53)