Mt 27:
A bunch of people were resurrected! This was an amazing event. If it were to happen today, tons of journalists would report it globally. Teams of world-class scientists would descend to Palestine to investigate.
Why are there no extrabiblical records of this event?
It didn't happen today when almost everyone carries a camera in his pocket. At the time of Jesus in Palestine, all kinds of people claimed to have performed or seen miracles. Hearers were skeptical. In fact, Mark, Luke, and John did not record this event either. Matthew was unique in this reporting.
In his enthusiasm, Matthew might have overstated the "many". Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days when Jesus raised him (Jn 11:17). Perhaps Matthew meant many saints who had fallen asleep in the last few days were raised. The scale wasn't what it seemed.
It wasn't unusual that NT miracles had no corroborative evidence outside of the NT. Here was another one: After Jesus' resurrection, 1Co 15:
Many dead saints were raised and appeared to many. Why was it not reported outside the Bible?
Basically, none of the miracles in the Bible were reported outside the Bible. That's just another one.
Ezekiel 37 & St Matthew 27.51-53
Matt 27.51-53 is a Christian interpretation, perhaps St Matthew’s own interpretation, of Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37. By yielding up His Spirit - the Spirit of God that gives life, both earthly and eternal - Jesus sends His Spirit into the dry bones seen in the vision. That is why the passage in St Matthew follows the Death of Jesus: for His Death gives His Life to His People. The Father to Whom Jesus commends His Spirit, is God; by breathing out His Spirit to give life to those not alive, Jesus re-enacts the act of God by which (in Genesis 2.7) God breathed into the first man, and made him a living soul.
This same life-giving act of imparting the Spirit of life is found in John 20.21-23, in a different connection; for there Jesus breathes the Spirit into ten of the Apostles, to equip them with his exousia, His authority & power, by which He forgives sins. The account in Acts 2 of the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost seems to be a complementary narrative, speaking of the same coming, except that all of the Eleven are present, with "Mary the mother of Jesus", in the upper room. All three narratives tell of an act of creation.
See Ezek. 37.11-14:
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ”
The reference in St Matthew to this passage, is also a reminder that for St Matthew the Person & Ministry of Christ fulfilled promises made in the Jewish Scriptures; that the Life of Christ is continuous with the life of God's People in those Scriptures; so much so, that Jesus is Israel personified.
Jesus is the shepherd of Ezekiel 37.24:
“David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them."
The two sticks of Ezekiel 37.15-20:
Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16 “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.
18 “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— 19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ 20 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
The sticks are understood by St Matthew to be the Cross. Like the sticks in Ezekiel 37, the meaning of the Cross is not evident; it needs explanation. In Ezekiel, the joining of the sticks is an acted parable of the re-union of Israel & Judah; in St Matthew, the meaning of the Cross is that by it God reconciles man to Himself.
Valleys are rocky - rocks, such as Jesus’ Tomb, and possibly Golgotha - are a recurring theme in St Matthew.
By the Death of Jesus, the eschatological vision seen by Ezekiel has been brought from the unknown eschatological future, into the present: the present when Jesus Dies, the present when this Gospel is read to the Matthean church, and the present of the church centuries later, that we live in. The Messianic Parousia/Coming of Jesus in His Church through His Spirit, makes His Gospel Word ever-present and effective in His Church. Ezekiel’s vision was fulfilled on the Cross, and is being constantly fulfilled in the Church, until its final consummation on the “Day of Christ” when He comes in person.
The story is an
interpretation of the Death of Christ and of its effects - it is
not an account of events that would, in principle, be empirically verifiable. It is theological interpretation, to show Who Christ is; not an historical narrative.
