How is the ‘Resurrection of the Holy Ones’ in Mt.27:51-53 understood by those who do NOT consider it a literal, historical event?
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If Mark and/or Luke used Matthew as a source, then it seems most plausible to me to explain their omission as disagreement with Matthew---i.e., they thought it did not actually happen. If instead they did not use Matthew as a source, then they may simply have been unaware of the tradition. In this case, it was either an invention of Matthew, or comes from an earlier source independent of Mark and Luke.
Note that Mt 27:53 refers to a time after Jesus' resurrection. A minority of scholars believe this should be placed, furthermore, after Jesus' second coming, or some other significantly later date than the resurrection. However, this is a minority view and seems more speculation than anything supported by the text itself.
In the end, we just don't know the origin of this tradition, why Matthew's description is so brief and stingy on details, nor why other early Christian authors failed to mention it. Even the best answers I've seen, in my opinion, are little more than speculation.
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I have heard the following argument (which is not the traditional understanding of Christianly as far as I know):
What is described here is not a physical event: i.e., not a literal physical coming out of the graves; it is rather a description of the resurrection. The resurrection here is being a spiritual revelation - which is a one Jesus speaks about for example when he says:
Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.” (John 3).
Those who were close to Jesus received the resurrection in the context of the trauma they had following the crucifixion. Later appears the term Holy city, which again is not a physical city - in particular not Jerusalem after the crucifixion.
[I will mention, that in the broader context of this argument - namely that the resurrection is a revelation to be received before death - is contradictory to Christianity today, and akin to the stance we find in the Gospel of Philip (not in the Canon) for example:
"Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they will receive nothing."
Another possible support for this view, some find in Luke 20:
Crispin Fletcher-Louis takes one step further. According to him, “those worthy of resurrection” are already taking part in angelomorphic life. ... Luke is not anticipating a general resurrection but “a present (spiritual) resurrection of Christians from amongst a dead society.” This means that, for Luke, salvation is already experienced within the Christian community
The other side of the debate can be found in 2 Timothy 2:18:
men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
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