A Mysterious Passage

Matthew asserts that many (indicating more than a few, but not necessarily thousands, hundreds or even dozens) rose bodily and appeared to many (again, indicating more than a few, but not necessarily thousands, hundreds or even dozens).

The bones are the כָּל-בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל (all the House of Israel)
The LORD will bring them into the land of Israel where they will dwell forever in a covenant of peace
They shall know who the LORD is when He does this
The LORD will gather the dispersed of Israel from the nations and bring them into the land of Israel
The LORD will make them one nation in the land of Israel with one King
The LORD shall save and cleanse them and they shall keep His commandments
His sanctuary and tablernacle shall be in the midst of them forever and the nations (Gentiles) shall know the LORD does this.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord: and set me down in the midst of a plain that was full of bones. And he led me about through them on every side: now they were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceeding dry. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall live? And I answered: O Lord God, thou knowest. And he said to me: Prophesy concerning these bones; and say to them: Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin: and I will give you spirit and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a commotion: and the bones came together, each one to its joint. And I saw, and behold the sinews, and the flesh came up upon them: and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spirit in them. And he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus saith the Lord God: Come, spirit, from the four winds, and blow upon these slain, and let them live again. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and the spirit came into them, and they lived: and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. And he said to me: Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel: they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off. Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my people: and will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my people: And shall have put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken, and done it, saith the Lord God: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And thou son of man, take thee a stick: and write upon it: Of Juda, and of the children of Israel his associates: and take another stick and write upon it: For Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, and of his associates. And join them one to the other into one stick, and they shall become one in thy hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak to thee, saying: Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by this? Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel that are associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Juda, and will make them one stick: and they shall be one in his hand. And the sticks whereon thou hast written, shall be in thy hand, before their eyes. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from the midst of the nations whither they are gone: and I will gather them on every side, and will bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all: and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms. Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols, nor with their abominations, nor with all their iniquities: and I will save them out of all the places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And my servant David shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd: they shall walk in my judgments, and shall keep my commandments, and shall do them. And they shall dwell in the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, wherein your fathers dwelt, and they shall dwell in it, they and their children, and their children's children, for ever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will establish them, and will multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.

Ezekiel, Catholic chapter thirty seven, in its entirety,
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

You are not dead until the blood is dead.

When Christ died the veil was rent, and there was an earthquake, which broke rocks and opened graves. It says that many bodies of the saints that slept arose.

But the next verse seems to indicate that they didn’t come out of the graves until after the resurrection. Did they lay there awake for three days, until Jesus Christ arose from the dead?

My question is this: is it possible that these were really no different than Lazarus. Dead is dead; whether 4 days, or 4 years. Lazarus wasn’t raised with a glorified body.

Msgr. Pope is a spot on Priest.

It seems the New Testament is filled with just the appropriate number of witnesses. In the book of Luke, I was counting the number of witnesses to the Incarnation of Christ and there were about a dozen people.

Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, John in the womb, the three kings, the shepherds, Simeon and Anna at the temple.

I was thinking that the people who were raised may have appeared to their own family members and friends, people who would recognize them. Christ's goal was to get the Church going.

That is an incredible story. Any good reading material you would recommend?

Any good reading material you would recommend?

The Bible

Hosea 6:2

“After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.”

I believe it was just visual proof of the resurrection.

Hosea 6:2 shows that others went with Jesus.

If you accept the resurrection of Christ...why is it so hard to accept the resurrection of others?

Exactly.

1 Corinthians 15:20
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Romans 8:30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.( Resurrected )

It all had already happened.

26And regarding the dead rising, have you not read about the burning bush in the book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” You are badly mistaken!

The significant event was the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, who had died and paid the price for all sin.

Believers who had been kept in Abraham’s Bosom, also known as Paradise, were then free to rise to heaven, just as Christ, the First Fruits rose.