Gloss: I've read that, but it works if the idea was the tombs split open and the next phrases explain how that's important later--the bodies were like dry bones, not resurrected and going into the city, till Jesus was resurrected.
The raising of the dead still takes place during the crucifixion even with the gloss. That's the problem. If it were the case that the dead were not resurrected till the third day, then the gloss would have occurred in v. 52. As we have it, the raised dead remain in their tombs until Jesus himself is raised. There is also tension with v. 54. "The things that took place" (ta genomena) here includes the resurrection of the dead, but the centurion could not have reacted to something that was not seen till several days later. The gloss is awkward and its removal solves these problems, and it has a clear theological motivation.
There is some evidence that the story of the resurrection of the saints originally was associated with Jesus' resurrection in the source traditions but which the evangelist associated instead with the crucifixion. In Matthew there are two earthquakes, one at the crucifixion and one at Jesus' resurrection (which opened Jesus' tomb). In the Gospel of Peter, the centurion's confession occurs not at the crucifixion but in his witnessing of Jesus' resurrection days later, and the vision of the talking cross has a close connection with Matthew's reference to the raised saints:
Gospel of Peter 5:20-6:22, 9:35-10:42, 11:45: "And at the same hour the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was rent in two. And they drew the nails from the hands of the Lord and laid him on the earth. And the whole earth shook (hè gè pasa eseisthè) and there came a great fear. Then the sun shone and it was found to be the ninth hour....Now in the night in which the Lord's day dawned, when the soldiers two by two in every watch, were keeping guard, there rang out a loud voice in heaven, and they saw the heavens opened and two men come down from there in a great brightness and draw nigh to the tomb. The stone that had been covering the entrance started to roll by itself and give way to the side, and the tomb was opened (hè taphos ènoigè ), and both the young men entered in. When now the soldiers saw this, they awakened the centurion and the elders, for they also were there to assist at the watch. And while they were relating what they had seen, they saw again three men come out (exelthontas) from the tomb (apo tou taphou), and two of them supporting the other, and a cross was following them, and the heads of the two reached to heaven, but the head of the one held by them surpassed the heavens. And they heard a voice out of the heavens crying, 'Have you preached (ek è ruxas) to those who sleep (tois koimòmenois)?' and from the cross there was heard the answer, 'Yea'.... When those who were in the centurion's command saw this they immediately ran to Pilate in the night, abandoning the tomb they had been guarding, and reported everything they had seen, being full of fear and saying, 'Truly he was the Son of God' ".
Matthew 27:51-52, 28:2-4: "And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from top to bottom and the earth shook (hè gè eseisthè) and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened (mnèmeia aneòkhthèsan) and many bodies of the holy ones who had fallen asleep (t ò n kekoim è men ò n) were raised, and coming out ( exelthontes ) from the tombs (ex tòn mnèmeiòn) after he was raised they entered into the holy city and appeared to many....When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified and exclaimed, 'Surely he was the Son of God'...And behold there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. Those who were keeping guard were so afraid of him that they shook".
It has been suggested that the talking cross represents those who had slept that Jesus had preached to in Hades. There is a link here to another Petrine source: 1 Peter. We read in 1 Peter 4:6 that "the gospel was preached even to the dead (nekrois eu è ggelisth è)" and earlier we also read that Jesus "was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which he went and preached (ek è ruxen) to the spirits in prison" (3:18-20). Another text with a similar theme is Ephesians 4:8-9 which quotes Psalm 68:18 to claim that when Jesus "descended into the lower parts" he then "ascended on high leading a host of captives and gave gifts to men". Ignatius of Antioch (early second century AD) similarly wrote that Jesus "died in the sight of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Trallians 9:1), and the prophets "looked forward to him [Christ] as their teacher, and therefore he for whom they rightly waited came and raised them from the dead" (Magnesians 9:2). This connects the theme of Jesus preaching to the dead with the resurrection of the dead, which Ignatius here indicates has already occurred. This is quite close to the idea in the pericope in Matthew (notice for instance that while the dead Jesus preached to are sinners in 1 Peter, they are holy prophets in Ignatius), and that makes sense as well since there is a close literary relationship between Ignatius and Matthew (possibly because they originated in the same milieu, i.e. Syria). A similar tradition can be found in the Ascension of Isaiah (second century AD): "They will lay their hands upon him and hang him upon a tree, not knowing who he is. And thus his descent, as you will see, will be concealed even from the heavens so that it will not be known who he is. And when he has plundered the angel of death, he will rise on the third day and will remain in that world for five hundred and forty-five days. And then many of the righteous will ascend with him, whose spirits do not receive their robes until the Lord Christ ascends and they ascend with him" (9:14-17). Compare also Justin Martyr (middle of the second century AD): "The Lord God remembered his dead people of Israel (Isra è l t ò n nekr ò n autou) who slept ( t ò n kekoim è men ò n ) in their graves, and he descended to preach (euaggelisasthai) to them his own salvation" (Dialogue, 72.4). As one final example of this belief, consider Tertullian (late second century AD): "The patriarchs and prophets migrated from the lower regions (ab inferis migraverint) as appendages of the Lord's resurrection (appendices dominicae resurrectionis)" (De Anima, 55.4). This well-attested tradition associated the resurrection of the patriarchs with Jesus' resurrection. It appears that the author of Matthew misplaced this reference and moved it back a few days to coincide with the crucifixion itself, producing the contradiction that the gloss aimed to resolve.
