Why should the stone at the mouth of the grave of Jesus be rolled away? That the Saviour might walk out. The graves of the Saint[s] will, upon the same principle, be opened to follow the pattern, that the Saints may come up out of their graves. It was necessary that the door of th sepulchre should be opened by the rolling away of the stone that the Saviour might walk out, or escape from his grave. (The Teachings of President Brigham Young pg. 248)

It’s called counting inclusively.

The explanation of a Wednesday crucifiction and a second (Thursday) sabbath of passover on the year he died sounds like it was invented by a Christian apologist trying to make sure everything said by Jesus was word-for-word accurate with how we, in our culture, think.

Furthermore, J. K. Fotheringham, in 1934, did some astronomical calculations of the position of the moon between AD 27 - 34 and found that 14 Nisan, the preparation for the passover, the day that Jesus died, never occured on a Wednesday during those years.

And, by the way, according to the Gospel of John (John 19:31), Passover was on the Sabbath (the normal Saturday kind, hence the “high day”, or special sabbath) in the year Jesus died.

If he was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (which Matthew testifies to) Jesus would have had to have come forth sometime around sunset Saturday evening, otherwise he would have been 4 nights in the heart of the earth and the prophesy would fail, wouldn’t you agree?

And I don’t believe there is a scripture that declares “Mary came just before sunrise on Sunday to the tomb.” If you have a reference I’d love to take a look at it.
DePaul

I first heard this explanation on G.T. Armstrong’s “The World Tomorrow” many years ago and have always found it the best explanation. But I also support the bible’s statement that Mary came just before sunrise on Sunday to the tomb. Jesus could have arisen anytime - no one was there to see the actual event - so this could have taken place from Saturday evening on to fulfill the prophesy.

The great stone was rolled back and the inside of the sepulcher exposed to view, so that those who came could see for themselves that the Lord’s body was no longer there; it was not necessary to open the portal in order to afford an exit to the resurrected Christ. In His immortalized state he appeared in and disappeared from closed rooms. A resurrected body, though of tangible substance, and possessing all the organs of the mortal tabernacle, is not bound to earth by gravitation, nor can it be hindered in its movements by material barriers. To us who conceive of motion only in the directions incident to the three dimensions of space, the passing of a solid, such as a living body of flesh and bones, through stone walls, is necessarily incomprehensible. But that resurrected beings move in accordance with laws making such passage possible and to them natural, is evidenced not only by the instance of the risen Christ, but by the movements of other resurrected personages. Thus, in September, 1823, Moroni, the Nephite prophet who had died about 400 A.D., appeared to Joseph Smith in his chamber, three times during one night, coming and going without hindrance incident to walls or roof . . . .

Jesus The Christ, James E. Talmage, Chapter 37, note 1 end of chapter.

The more correct translation of that phrase, as I understand it, is “embrace be not” instead of “touch me not”. The Lord had already resurrected, and no doubt Mary was hugging him and sobbing on his shoulder, prompting him to suggest that she needed to let him be about his other business. If you look in the footnote it shows the JST translation which renders it “hold me not”, implying the same thing.

Christ had already resurrected, but had important business to take care of and so He told Mary to let go of him.