This verse, and the parallel verses in the other 3 gospel accounts, are typically read around Easter-time, and are frequently used to try to support a Sunday resurrection and thus a holy first day of the week—even though those issues are entirely unrelated. We know that these verses do not say that Jesus Christ was resurrected on the first day of the week. We know that the resurrection would have taken place at the end of the Sabbath, the previous afternoon. But these verses do not even literally say that He first appeared on the first day of the week. These verses say something just a little bit different.
You see, the word "day" is nowhere to be found in the Greek in these accounts. The Greek phrase that is translated "first day of the week" in these parallel accounts is mia sabbaton. Mia is Strong's 3391, and it simply means "first," or "one," implying "one with more to follow." Sabbaton is Strong's 4521, and it can mean either "Sabbath," or it can mean "the space between two Sabbaths," which is the way they described a week. So mia sabbaton is literally, "the first of the week." From this, the translators inferred that it meant the first day of the week, and so that is the way they translated it.
However, there is a problem. The word sabbaton here is plural. It does not say "the first of the week" in the Greek. It says "the first of the weeks." Yes, this did take place first day of the week. But even more importantly, this is talking about the first day of the weeks. This day when Jesus Christ appeared was the first day of seven weeks that constitute the count to Pentecost.
This phrase, mia sabbaton, when sabbaton is plural, is what we know as "Wavesheaf Day." The fact that it is on the Sunday is logical, because wavesheaf day was always on the day after a weekly Sabbath. But the translators really obscured the significance of this day by neglecting the fact that sabbaton, the Greek word for week, is plural.
You will find this same phrase, mia sabbaton (in the plural) in all the other accounts of Jesus Christ's appearance. We will not turn to them now, but I will give them to you for reference. They are Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; and there are two in the book of John: John 20:1 and 20:19. Each one reads, in the English, "the first day of the week," and each one should be translated literally from the Greek as "the first day of the weeks." That Sunday, following the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread, was when Jesus Christ appeared to His disciples, and was accepted by the Father as the first of the firstfruits, and the count to Pentecost began.
We see the same English phrase, “on the first day of the week,” and again the word “day” is supplied. The word for “first” is not prōtē this time, but the word mia, which is similar—it means “one” or “first.” But what is significant is that the word translated “week” is sabbatōn, which is the word for Sabbath or week, but it is plural. This is a very significant phrase—mia sabbatōn. This was not just the first day of the week. Mia sabbatōn means this was the first of the weeks—plural. This was the first day in the count to the Feast of Weeks.
All four gospel writers use mia sabbatōn, this phrase that indicates the first of the weeks to describe this special day. You can find the same Greek phrase in Matthew 28:1; Luke 24:1; and John 20:1.
Thus, hidden in the Greek in all four accounts of Christ’s appearance after His resurrection is the Bible’s designation of Wavesheaf day.
But what mia sabbatōn does establish is that Wavesheaf day is the day after the weekly Sabbath, not the day after the annual Sabbath. If the Pharisees had their way, they would have started their count on Friday, the day the women were preparing the spices and oil. But all four gospel writers deliver this third strike against the Pharisaic method of counting. All four writers designate this first day of the week as also being the first of the days for reckoning the seven weeks to Pentecost. This was the day of Christ’s appearance and His acceptance by the Father.
It is interesting to note that the first day of the week is established by this verse as being after the Sabbath. That is pretty clear. By the Bible's own record, it is something that is, in a sense, silently stated, but it is something that is nonetheless reasonably important. Now it was almost dawn when this occasion took place and Sabbath is still the day before the first day of the week at the time the book of Matthew is written. Now there is, of course, disagreement among those who look into these things, as to when the book of Matthew was written and whether it was the first one written, I do not know for sure. But there are those who say that the book of Matthew was written as few as six years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So even if we take that very low figure, six years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, and by their reasoning this was the time when everything was supposedly nailed to the cross, that is, the law of God. So when this book was inspired by God's Holy Spirit, the first day of the week was still the day after the Sabbath.
Point four: On Sunday morning, Nisan 18, the tomb is discovered to be empty. None of the gospel accounts say that He was resurrected on that morning—just that the people came to the tomb at that time early in the morning before dawn, and the tomb was already empty.
It is very clear that the angel said that this happened before hand.
In every case, it shows that they came while it was dawning, and they discovered that the tomb was already empty. He was already gone. In fact, He had been raised about 12 hours or a little more.
