Day 12: Holy Thursday

Matthew 27:38-54. Then were two robbers crucified with Him, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. And they who went by blasphemed Him, moving their heads, and saying, Thou who undoest the temple, and in three days buildest it, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, step down from the cross. And likewise also the chief priests, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him step down now from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, I am the Son of God. And for the same thing the robbers also, who were crucified with Him, reproached Him.

And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a great voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And some standing there, hearing it, said, This Man calls for Elijah. And straightway one of them running, and taking a sponge, and filling it with vinegar, and placing it on a reed, gave Him to drink. But the rest said, Let be, let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.

And Jesus again crying with a great voice, let forth the spirit. And, behold, the veil of the temple was ripped in two, from the top to the bottom; and the earth was shaken; and the rocks were ripped open; and the sepulchers were opened, and many bodies of the holy ones who slumbered arose, and coming out of the sepulchers after His resurrection, entered into the holy city, and appeared to many.

And the centurion, and they who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and those things that were done, feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Arcana Coelestia 2916. That a “sepulcher” signifies resurrection, and also regeneration is plain in Ezekiel:

Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Behold I will open your sepulchers, and cause you to come up out of your sepulchers, O My people; and I will bring you to the ground of Israel. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have opened your sepulchers, and caused you to come up out of your sepulchers, O My people; and shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you on your own ground (Ezek. 37:12-14);

where the Prophet treats of the bones that were made to live, and in the internal sense of regeneration. That he treats of regeneration is plainly evident, for it is said, “when I shall put My spirit in you and ye shall live, and I shall place you on your own ground.” “Sepulchers” here denote the former man and his evils and falsities, to “open,” and to “come up out of” which is to be regenerated. Thus the idea of a sepulcher perishes and is as it were put off, when the idea of regeneration or of the new life comes in. That the sepulchers were opened, and many bodies of the saints that were sleeping arose and went forth out of their sepulchers after the Lord’s resurrection, and entered into the holy city, and appeared unto many (Matt. 27:52, 53), involves what is similar, namely resurrection because of the Lord’s resurrection, and in a more interior sense every resurrection.

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