The disciples and the women who followed Jesus were devastated by the happenings of Friday. From a distance, the women watched how Jesus was placed in the tomb. Both the women and the disciples had hurried home, so as not to be blamed for breaking the Sabbath, starting Friday at dusk, round six o’clock.
On that great Sabbath coinciding with the Passover Feast, no one dared go to the tomb. Whereas the multitudes were rejoicing at the thought that God was reconciled with the nation symbolically with lambs slain, Christians were gathered fearfully and tearfully. Their hopes lay buried with their Lord’s burial.
On the Sabbath eve, the women did not go out of the city gates, or to buy spices and other items for anointing the body. They waited expectantly for the dawn on Sunday. The evangelist highlights the Magdalene’s visit to the tomb, but there is a hint of the other women companions in Mary Magdalene’s use of the plural "we". Salome, John’s mother and a few others went out together early on Sunday in tears for the anointing.
It was very early at dawn when they neared, distressed in grief, to the tomb, which they assumed was sealed. Their hopes were shattered, overcast with despair. The light of resurrection had not yet shone on them, and eternal life had not risen over their minds.
On arriving, they were dismayed to see the huge stone, wondering how they would move it from the mouth of the tomb.
The open grave was the first miracle on the day, a witness to our anxieties and unbelief that Christ is able to roll away all stones weighing down our hearts. He who believes finds help in God; faith sees a great future.
John tells us nothing about the angels appearing. Most likely, Mary Magdalene overtook her friends and peered into the tomb. She found no body there. Terrified, she rushed to the disciples. She was sure that the head of the apostolic band had to know of this miracle with the rest of the disciples. When Mary Magdalene reached Peter and his fellow disciple, she burst out with, "The body of Jesus is lost." This is an added crime. This shows that the disciples and she were spiritually blind, because they thought someone had stolen the body. It did not occur to them that the Lord had risen from the dead because he was Lord.