Steven Carr

From Resurrection of the son of God
'Matthew knows a story of strange goings-on around the time of the crucifixion, and is struggling to tell it so that (1) it includes the desired biblical allusions, (2) it makes at least some minimal historical sense (the earthquake explains the tearing of the Temple veil, the opening of tombs, and particularly the centurion's comment), and (3) it at least points towards, even if it does not exactly express, the theological meaning Matthew is working towards: that with the combined events of Jesus' death and resurrection the new age, for which Israel had been longing, has begun.'

The 'desired Biblical allusions' are to Ezekiel 37:12-13; Isaiah 26:19; and Daniel 12:2.


http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Early_Traditions.htm

'First, it is remarkable that the stories are told with virtually no embroidery from the Hebrew Scriptures—remarkable, that is, for two reasons. To begin with, the story the evangelists have told up to this point—of Jesus’ triumphal entry, his actions in the Temple, his teaching on the Mount of Olives, the Last Supper, the arrest, the hearings, and the crucifixion—not only provides a steady narrative crescendo in itself, but also includes a crescendo of biblical quotation, allusion, reference, and echo.

Even the burial narrative has its biblical resonances.

After this, the resurrection narratives convey the naked feeling of a solo flute piping a new melody after the orchestra has fallen silent.

Granted that the evangelists felt so free, as our own scholarly traditions have insisted, to develop, expand, explain, theologize, and biblicize their story sources, why did they refuse to do so, here of all places?'

Strange. I thought Wright claimed that Matthew struggled to include the desired Biblical allusions, while now he says that the evangelists refused to do that.

Wright also suggests that the opening of the eyes of Cleopas on the road to Emmaus echoes the opening of the eyes of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:7.

Guess there are some Biblical allusions in the resurrection stories after all.