This text wrestles with the cosmic implications of the death of Christ. In his death, the holy of holies is torn open, the earth shakes and rocks are split. Indeed, the very firmament of creation, that “dome” separating the heavens from the created order below (Genesis 1:14) is fractured in the incarnation and virtually blown open in the crucifixion.
But the effects of the crucifixion run deeper, much deeper, into the realm of the dead, to the very gates of hell and beyond. The graves are opened and the dead walk free!
What is striking to me is that these same bodies of the holy ones are raised as Jesus dies and yet await his “resurrection leadership.” It is not until after He is raised that they came out of the tombs and appeared to many in the holy city. Christ is the firstfruits of the Resurrection, the very Resurrection and the Life himself. Jesus is the firstborn of the dead.
The one who gets it best, however, is a Gentile in the employment of the current geopolitical superpower of the time, a Centurion who by tradition is named Longinus. He gets it: “Truly this man was God’s Son!”