Pick Your Own Story! Resurrection Edition

As a college student, I attended a liberal arts school and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.  Our curriculum included hours of classes in lots of different subjects, which was intended to make us well-rounded learners, not just in our major field of study but in a wide variety of topics. 

One semester, as I was selecting classes for my upcoming term, I needed to fulfill an elective requirement. One of the choices was a basic Religion class.  The exact name of the course escapes me, but the lessons were all based on the Bible. The professor had previously gone to Seminary and had spent decades as a church pastor before transitioning into academia.  I was excited to sign up and see what I could learn.

Considering the professor’s background, I was a bit dismayed when, in the first class of the semester, he drew our attention to many instances of conflicting information within the pages of the Bible.  In other words, how many times the same story is recounted by multiple sources but result in variances between writers.

And … (here’s the dismaying part) … he drew the conclusion that if the Bible offers so many inconsistencies within itself, he, as a professor, is obligated to throw out all biblical material that has a conflicting story. 

And, since he was teaching our college-level course, he was encouraging us to do the same.

Bewildered, I walked out of class that day, pondering my options.  Should I drop the class immediately and try to pick up another elective that fulfilled the requirement?  Should I go back with an open mind and see if he would convince me to eliminate the Bible as a valid source for my religion?

In the end, I returned to class, learned the material enough to complete the course successfully, and stubbornly refused to allow the professor to shake my belief in the sacred Word of God.

As we’ve learned, the four gospels each tell stories about the life of Jesus.  Some of the stories are repeated across multiple gospels and some only appear in one.  The four authors of the gospels all had different backgrounds, education levels, and degree of involvement with Jesus.  So, it’s understandable that each one might remember an event with slightly different details.  Does that mean we throw out each story that differs slightly between tellers?

No.  To me, it means that although the Bible is the Word of God, it was written by humans, and therefore, it is subject to the different viewpoints, understanding level and writing skill of the author.

Today we’re looking at Jesus’s resurrection, the singular event in Jesus’s life that defines our faith.  After all, if Jesus was born, taught people in his earthly ministry, healed the sick, and was crucified, <<end of story>> Christianity wouldn’t exist, these thousands of years later. The current number of Christians worldwide sits at two point six five billion people – if the resurrection hadn’t occurred, that number would be zero.

We are Christians because of Jesus’s resurrection.  He was crucified as the ultimate sacrifice, taking on the sins of the earth to seek redemption from the Father for all of us.  But he conquered death.  He beat death and rose again, and that’s at the center of our faith.

Of course, all four gospels tell the resurrection story!  I won’t quote the four different versions for the sake of space but here are the locations of each story for you to look it up in your own Bible:

·       Matthew 28:1-10

·       Mark 16:1-8

·       Luke 24:1-10

·       John 20:1-18

But they’re all slightly different.  Let’s take a look at the differences.  (My big thanks to Cholee Clay’s article, Comparing the Gospel Accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ for the help.) I’ll list the specific area of inconsistency, and then list what each gospel says on that topic:

Time of Day:

·       Matthew: At dawn on the first day of the week

·       Mark: Very early on the first day of the week (just after sunrise)

·       Luke: Very early on the first day of the week

·       John: Early on the first day of the week (still dark)

My analysis:  all pretty consistent, with miniscule differences in the way the author describes the time. 

Who Went to the Tomb:

·       Matthew: Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

·       Mark: Mary Magdalene, Mary (James’ mother), and Salome

·       Luke: The women

·       John: Mary

My analysis: Mary Magdalene’s name was common between all four gospels, so we know that she was one of the first to go to the tomb.  Also, we know from gospel accounts of the crucifixion that Mary was there, at the foot of the cross, never leaving Jesus throughout the horrible ordeal.  We know she was a common traveler with Jesus and the Twelve as they preached. We know Jesus saved her from demon possession – that’s how they first met – so she was extremely devoted to him.  So, it’s logical that she would want to dress his body with oils to preserve it in the tomb. 

Remember that he died on Friday, and Saturday is a Jewish day of rest (the Sabbath) so they would not have been allowed to dress the body for burial on Saturday. Sunday was the first day to do that kind of work on Jewish law.

What’s also clear is that none of the gospel writers were present, so they are writing this part of the story based on what they heard later.  They didn’t necessarily document every attendee of the tomb that morning, because they didn’t witness it firsthand, and it wasn’t as important as what the women discovered … the empty tomb!

Events that occurred:

·       Matthew: Violent earthquake; Angel speaks to them; Women meet Jesus

·       Mark: Women bought spices; Angel speaks to them; Women fled tomb, but said nothing

·       Luke: Women take spices to tomb; Two angels appear, Angel speaks them; Told the disciples what they found

·       John: Mary Magdalene ran to get Simon Peter; Simon Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb; Disciples left and Jesus appears to Mary

My analysis: Although there are some differences between the telling of the same event, I don’t see any conflicting information between the four. Obviously, it was a supernatural event, with lots going on.  And again, none of them were eyewitnesses!  They heard Mary’s excited report and made their own opinions as to the most important information to document.

This could be attributed to the viewpoint of each author, focusing on the one detail that most spoke to him.  It will be different by author, as I witness any time we do writing prompt exercises in my writing groups.  The leader reads a short prompt, and we are given five minutes to write wherever our imagination leads us.  The exercise always leads to a wide variety of results.

The angels:

·       Matthew: One Angel came down from heaven, whose appearance was like lightning; clothes were white as snow

·       Mark: Young man dressed in white robes sitting on the right side

·       Luke: Two men appeared in clothes that gleamed like lightning, stood beside them

·       John: Two angels in white seated where Jesus’ body had been (one at the head, the other at the foot)

My analysis: If we look at the common factors among all four gospels, we know that at least one angel was present, that he looked like a young man, that he was dressed in white and his appearance gleamed like lightning.  Why did two of the gospel writers include a second angel? Here’s what author Cholee Clay has to say about this: “It is likely that one angel was designated to speak to the group of women, despite there being two present at the time. Matthew and Mark may have known there were two, but it was unnecessary to talk about the second, as the second angel never spoke to the women. They simply say one spoke, which does not discount the fact that there could very well be two angels in the tomb.”

Jesus’s words:

·       Matthew: “Greetings”; “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, there they will see me.”

·       John: “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”; “Mary.”; “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. I am returning to my Father, and your Father, to my God and your God.”

My analysis: Again, I can contribute this to writers’ viewpoints.  What is similar among both these sets of dialogue from Jesus is his kindness; his desire to calm and comfort the women; to explain and teach what is happening and what will happen next.

So with all these differences, what is the same?  I’ll give Cholee Clay the final word: “It is safe to say that the four accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ agree on all the main and important points. It is because of this that we can trust in the truth of the Resurrection, for there are no contradictions in the fundamental truths of this occurrence.

“The variations can be explained away simply by the author's impression of what was witnessed that day. There are far more similarities between the four accounts than first appear on the surface, and for this, we can be truly grateful. It is because of these similarities that we can find and know the truth of what happened to Jesus Christ during that time.”

What do you think? Do the slight differences in the tellings of this amazing story make you doubt the event itself?  Or do you accept by faith that they’re all true, though slightly different, descriptions of the key element of Christianity?

Let’s pray:  Dear Jesus: thank you for going to the cross for us, and an immense thank you for not allowing death to stop you.  We adore you, the risen Christ who conquered death to save us from the sins of the world.  Help us every day to remember your teachings and to live our lives in a way that would make you proud. Amen.