The Resurrection
The resurrection story has many
details that can be gleaned from the four gospel accounts. In this paper I have indicated which gospel
account adds more detail to the story by the following method. Matthew is regular text, Mark is bold, Luke
is underlined, and John is in italics.
When Jesus dies on the cross a rich
man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, named
Joseph who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, prominent
council member, and a good and just man, asks Pilate for his
body. Mat. 27: 57-58, Mark
On
Saturday the chief priests and the Pharisees want Pilate to give them a guard
to secure the tomb until the third day.
They didn’t want Jesus’ disciples to come and steal the body and then
claim that He had risen from the grave.
Pilate grants their request and they go and seal the tomb and set a
guard. Mat. 27:62-66.
On
Sunday morning the women, who included Mary Magdalene, the mother of Zebedee’s son, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna,
and other women started out early to the tomb before day break. They brought spices so they might
anoint him. On their way to the tomb
they wondered who would roll away the stone for them. Mat. 28:1, Mk. 16:1-3,
Luke 24:1,10, Jn. 20:1.
Before the women arrive at the tomb there
is a great earthquake and an angel of the Lord descends from heaven and rolls
back the stone and sits on it. The
soldiers on duty saw this and were very scared.
It seems that the soldiers don’t hang around long and they go into the
city to tell the chief priests all the things that happened. The chief priests
bribe the soldiers to say that the disciples took Jesus in the night when they
were sleeping. Mat. 28:2-4, 11-15.
The women arrive at the tomb and
find the stone rolled away. They go
into the tomb and they did not find Jesus.
The women encounter some angels that are recorded as saying different
things. I want to put their saying in an order that makes sense to me. First of all, I think the women come back out
of the tomb when the two angels appear and say Why
do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember
how he told you, while he was still in
Now we have to back track and pick up another aspect of the story. Mary Magdalene did go with the women to the tomb and she saw that Jesus’ body was not there. Apparently she left before the angles appeared based on what John tells us. Mary runs to where Simon Peter and John are. She tells them that someone has taken Jesus out of the tomb and she doesn’t know where they have taken him. Peter and John run to the tomb to investigate. John gets there first and sees the linen cloth lying there but he doesn’t go in the tomb. Peter goes into the tomb and sees the linen cloth and the face cloth, which was on Jesus head. It was folded up in a place by itself away from the linen cloth. John comes into the tomb and believed. At this point the disciples leave and go back home. When Peter and John came to the tomb apparently the other women had already left the tomb on their way to where the disciples were staying. Peter and John apparently make it back to the house before the women arrive there. While Peter and John make their way back home, Mary stays at the outside of the tomb and weeps. Now Mary has her first encounter with these two angles that the other women had already seen and heard. One was sitting where Jesus feet were and the other where his head was. They asked her why are you weeping? She said to them, they have taken away my lord and I do not know where they have laid him. At this point Mary still doesn’t understand that Jesus has been raised from the dead. When she said these things to those angels she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she didn’t know that it was him. Jesus asked her, Woman why are you weeping? Whom are seeking? Mary thought he was the gardener so she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus calls her name, Mary. At this point she realizes that it’s Jesus and calls him Rabboni! which means teacher. She grabs on to him not wanting to let him go, but Jesus tells her to go tell his disciples that he is ascending to his Father and your Father to my God and your God. Jesus appeared to Mary first. He appeared to the other women second. So, Mary goes and tells the disciples that she had seen the Lord. Both Mary and the other women tell the apostles about what happened and how they saw Jesus (Lk 24:10). However, the disciples did not really believe them at this time. We have to realize at this point only these women had encountered the angels and Jesus. The apostles and the other disciples were only sure that Jesus body was gone. They had not seen any evidence to suggest that Jesus was raised from the dead other than these women’s word. Jesus put their doubts to rest as he appears to many of his disciples. Mat. 28: 5-11, Mark 16: 4-11, Lk. 24:4-12, John 20:2-18 Here is listing of Jesus’ appearances starting with Mary.
1. To Mary
Magdalene, as earlier indicated (John
2. To the other women on their way to tell the disciples (Matt. 28:9-10)
3. To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Mark 16:12-13; Luke 24:13-32)
4. To Simon (Luke 24:33-35; 1 Cor. 15:5);
5. To the ten apostles, Thomas being absent (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19,25)
6. To the eleven apostles with Thomas present (Mark 16:14; John 20:26-29)
7. To the seven apostles at the
8. To the eleven apostles on a mountain in
9. To over five hundred brethren at once (1 Cor. 15:6)
10. To James the Lord's brother (1 Cor. 15:7)
11. To all the apostles at the ascension (Mark 16:19-20; Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:3-11).
I have tried my best to harmonize the four gospel accounts of Jesus resurrection. We have to keep in mind that each writer was writing to a different group of people and not each writer gives all the details. That is why it is important to examine all four gospels closely to get the full story. No matter which account you look at the same basic principle is found there. The disciples find and empty tomb because Jesus had been raised from the dead.
Cougan Collins