Greg Lanier has a helpful piece on “Resurrected Saints and Matthew’s Weirdest Passage,” where he addresses some common questions on Matthew 27:52-53:
The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Lanier asks:
- Did this really happen?
- What exactly happened?
- What does it mean?
He looks closely at the text in its context to provide reasonable answers.