On that First Easter Morning (An Attempt to Reconcile the Story of the First Easter Morning as Told in All Four Gospels) By Crag Jensen
On the Sunday after the crucifixion – Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the sepulcher. When they arrived at the sepulcher – there arose a great earthquake and also appeared an angel of the Lord who rolled away the stone in front of the entrance to the tomb where Jesus had been interred. The angel then sat down upon the stone. (From Matthew 28.)
And when Mary Magdalene and Mary (mother of James) as well as a woman named Salome then arrived at the sepulcher they wondered “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher?” (Mark 16) “And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.” (Mark 17) And even though they had seen the angel of the Lord roll away the stone and then sit on it directly after they first arrived (according to the account in Matthew) – they somehow immediately forgot about this in all the other Gospel accounts of that morning. Maybe it is because the Lord made them forget what they had just seen for some mysterious reason or maybe because after they first arrived they left, then forgot what happened the first time they arrived and then came back again or maybe because this was a different Mary Magdalene and a different Mary (other than Mary the Mother of James) – I do not know. And also, a woman named Salome came with them in Mark’s account but must be that Matthew forgot about or did not like Salome (or something) because he just left her out of his account of the story. One must also wonder if this isn’t the same “Salome” that Mark mentions in chapter six verses 21 – 29. According to that account - Salome was the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, who pleasured her step-father (Herod) and her mother (Herodias) by dancing before them on Herod’s birthday. This act gave Herodias the opportunity to insure the execution of John the Baptist.
Matthew also didn’t seem to know much about Mary – the mother of James, or so it would seem, because he simply refers to her as “the other Mary.” Unless, of course, he was referring to another Mary that was not the Mother of James - in this case – Matthew and/or Mark would either be in conflict and/or in error.
Yet – lest we digress any further, let us continue with our story:
And the angel of the Lord said unto the two (or three) women - “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.” (Mathew 28) And the angel told them that Jesus was not in the tomb but had risen and then invited the two (or three) women to inspect the inside of the sepulcher where Jesus was laid. And then he told them to go tell the disciples that Jesus had risen and that he is in Galilee.
And so when they entered the tomb to see where Jesus was interred (while they wondered just how the great stone was rolled away –even though they had personally witnessed how the great stone was rolled away) they encountered a “young man” dressed in white (Mark 16:5). This man also told them that Jesus was not there and he asked them to look at the spot where Jesus had been laid to rest. And this young man also told them to go tell the disciples that Jesus had risen and was to be found in Galilee. Here, I feel I must point out, we find that while Matthew tells us an “angel of the Lord” was present outside the tomb – the other Gospels refer to a man or men or angels inside the tomb. So, in essence – the “angel of the Lord” who caused the great earthquake to occur and then was powerful enough to roll away the stone and knowledgeable enough to know what had happened to Jesus that morning – was not really important except to Matthew. Evidently - the other Gospel authors really just felt that whole angel of the Lord rolling away the stone Et Al. stuff was either not important or just didn’t occur. You decide which one.
And so when “Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the other women that were with them… told these things unto the apostles,” (by the time we get to Luke’s account (incidentally) – we suddenly find that there were at least six women who went to the tomb that day – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and the “other women that were with them,” – (Luke 24:10) – in any event, when they finally found the disciples and told them that Jesus had risen from the dead and was in Galilee – the “eleven” apostles considered their words to be naught more than “idle tales” and “they believed them not.”
But Peter (or Simon Peter) seemed to then have a bit of a change in attitude shortly thereafter, because he then suddenly jolted from his chair and then rushed off to the tomb to find the “linen clothes laid by themselves.” (Luke 24:12) Of course before he got there the other disciple (that Luke forgot to tell us about) well- he outran Simon Peter and got there first and discovered the burial clothes laying there by themselves and then Simon Peter came in and discovered the same thing. But it was “that other disciple” (John 20 vs. 8) that is purported to have seen the “linen clothes” first and the separate “napkin” first and thus “believed” even before Jesus’ beloved Peter (his Rock) did. How in the world old Luke forgot about this “other disciple” well – I suppose we will just never know – except that this particular disciple, whoever he was, couldn’t have been all that important because even John (who claimed him to be the first disciple to believe in the resurrection) – couldn’t even remember this particular disciple’s name. Either that or he just purposely neglected to enter the name of the one particular disciple who was the first man ever to believe in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Which case do you prefer to believe?
Now – Mary, who evidently had followed the disciples to the tomb – went to the tomb again after the disciples left and went home. And, as she stood outside weeping, she looked in to see two angels in white (not young men or a man this time). And after she told them that she was weeping because they had taken her Lord away – Jesus appeared behind her. Now – even though one might imagine that Mary Magdalene knew her “Lord” Jesus extremely well – evidently she did not because she didn’t recognize him at all. No sirree-bob – as far as she could tell, well, he was probably just the gardener – so she just asked him to tell her where her Lord was so that she could “take him away.”
But then when Jesus thereafter said to her “Woman, why weepest thou?” – well - she all of a sudden remembered his face or voice or something and addressed him as “Rabonni” which is to say “Master” in the Hebrew they were accustomed to talkin’ back in those days.
Now, according to the Gospel of John – Jesus told Mary not to touch him because he had not, as of that time yet, ascended to the Father. And then he ordered her to tell his “brethren” that - “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” He also, before or after telling her these things, took the time to cast “seven devils” out of her because she, evidently, had some problems somehow or another. Matthew, Luke and John (by-the-way) all decided not to reveal the little business about the “seven demons” (Mark 16:10) and as to exactly why they did not reveal this – not-so-pretty-little-snippet-of info in their Canons - is not known.
And that much is all I need to read, research, inspect, dissect and strive to reconcile before I come to the complete realization that the four Gospel accounts of the first Easter morning and hence – the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is absolutely irreconcilable and therefore – in error!
If you don’t believe me then I think that you should then take it upon yourself to consider every chronological event and personage (or lack thereof) within the four Canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and then reconcile them. And then – go ahead and make a story that makes sense without dismissing any information listed in the four Gospels. (Please do not add any events or extra persons either).
When you have finished – then please send your completed story to Crag66@aol.com. And – if you can successfully pull this off – then I may even believe in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth myself.
However – if you cannot accomplish this small feat then I also think it best that you consider the following quotes from John (and/or Charles) Wesley: "Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand ... "Nay, will not the allowing there is any error in Scripture, shake the authority of the whole?”
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On that First Easter Morning
(An Attempt to Reconcile the Story of the First Easter Morning as Told in All Four Gospels)
By Crag Jensen
On the Sunday after the crucifixion – Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the sepulcher. When they arrived at the sepulcher – there arose a great earthquake and also appeared an angel of the Lord who rolled away the stone in front of the entrance to the tomb where Jesus had been interred. The angel then sat down upon the stone. (From Matthew 28.)
And when Mary Magdalene and Mary (mother of James) as well as a woman named Salome then arrived at the sepulcher they wondered “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher?” (Mark 16) “And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.” (Mark 17) And even though they had seen the angel of the Lord roll away the stone and then sit on it directly after they first arrived (according to the account in Matthew) – they somehow immediately forgot about this in all the other Gospel accounts of that morning. Maybe it is because the Lord made them forget what they had just seen for some mysterious reason or maybe because after they first arrived they left, then forgot what happened the first time they arrived and then came back again or maybe because this was a different Mary Magdalene and a different Mary (other than Mary the Mother of James) – I do not know. And also, a woman named Salome came with them in Mark’s account but must be that Matthew forgot about or did not like Salome (or something) because he just left her out of his account of the story.
One must also wonder if this isn’t the same “Salome” that Mark mentions in chapter six verses 21 – 29. According to that account - Salome was the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, who pleasured her step-father (Herod) and her mother (Herodias) by dancing before them on Herod’s birthday. This act gave Herodias the opportunity to insure the execution of John the Baptist.
Matthew also didn’t seem to know much about Mary – the mother of James, or so it would seem, because he simply refers to her as “the other Mary.” Unless, of course, he was referring to another Mary that was not the Mother of James - in this case – Matthew and/or Mark would either be in conflict and/or in error.
Yet – lest we digress any further, let us continue with our story:
And the angel of the Lord said unto the two (or three) women - “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.” (Mathew 28) And the angel told them that Jesus was not in the tomb but had risen and then invited the two (or three) women to inspect the inside of the sepulcher where Jesus was laid. And then he told them to go tell the disciples that Jesus had risen and that he is in Galilee.
And so when they entered the tomb to see where Jesus was interred (while they wondered just how the great stone was rolled away –even though they had personally witnessed how the great stone was rolled away) they encountered a “young man” dressed in white (Mark 16:5). This man also told them that Jesus was not there and he asked them to look at the spot where Jesus had been laid to rest. And this young man also told them to go tell the disciples that Jesus had risen and was to be found in Galilee. Here, I feel I must point out, we find that while Matthew tells us an “angel of the Lord” was present outside the tomb – the other Gospels refer to a man or men or angels inside the tomb. So, in essence – the “angel of the Lord” who caused the great earthquake to occur and then was powerful enough to roll away the stone and knowledgeable enough to know what had happened to Jesus that morning – was not really important except to Matthew. Evidently - the other Gospel authors really just felt that whole angel of the Lord rolling away the stone Et Al. stuff was either not important or just didn’t occur. You decide which one.
Yet (again) let us continue:
And so when “Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the other women that were with them… told these things unto the apostles,” (by the time we get to Luke’s account (incidentally) – we suddenly find that there were at least six women who went to the tomb that day – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and the “other women that were with them,” – (Luke 24:10) – in any event, when they finally found the disciples and told them that Jesus had risen from the dead and was in Galilee – the “eleven” apostles considered their words to be naught more than “idle tales” and “they believed them not.”
But Peter (or Simon Peter) seemed to then have a bit of a change in attitude shortly thereafter, because he then suddenly jolted from his chair and then rushed off to the tomb to find the “linen clothes laid by themselves.” (Luke 24:12) Of course before he got there the other disciple (that Luke forgot to tell us about) well- he outran Simon Peter and got there first and discovered the burial clothes laying there by themselves and then Simon Peter came in and discovered the same thing. But it was “that other disciple” (John 20 vs. 8) that is purported to have seen the “linen clothes” first and the separate “napkin” first and thus “believed” even before Jesus’ beloved Peter (his Rock) did. How in the world old Luke forgot about this “other disciple” well – I suppose we will just never know – except that this particular disciple, whoever he was, couldn’t have been all that important because even John (who claimed him to be the first disciple to believe in the resurrection) – couldn’t even remember this particular disciple’s name. Either that or he just purposely neglected to enter the name of the one particular disciple who was the first man ever to believe in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
Which case do you prefer to believe?
Now – Mary, who evidently had followed the disciples to the tomb – went to the tomb again after the disciples left and went home. And, as she stood outside weeping, she looked in to see two angels in white (not young men or a man this time). And after she told them that she was weeping because they had taken her Lord away – Jesus appeared behind her. Now – even though one might imagine that Mary Magdalene knew her “Lord” Jesus extremely well – evidently she did not because she didn’t recognize him at all. No sirree-bob – as far as she could tell, well, he was probably just the gardener – so she just asked him to tell her where her Lord was so that she could “take him away.”
But then when Jesus thereafter said to her “Woman, why weepest thou?” – well - she all of a sudden remembered his face or voice or something and addressed him as “Rabonni” which is to say “Master” in the Hebrew they were accustomed to talkin’ back in those days.
Now, according to the Gospel of John – Jesus told Mary not to touch him because he had not, as of that time yet, ascended to the Father. And then he ordered her to tell his “brethren” that - “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” He also, before or after telling her these things, took the time to cast “seven devils” out of her because she, evidently, had some problems somehow or another. Matthew, Luke and John (by-the-way) all decided not to reveal the little business about the “seven demons” (Mark 16:10) and as to exactly why they did not reveal this – not-so-pretty-little-snippet-of info in their Canons - is not known.
And that much is all I need to read, research, inspect, dissect and strive to reconcile before I come to the complete realization that the four Gospel accounts of the first Easter morning and hence – the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is absolutely irreconcilable and therefore – in error!
If you don’t believe me then I think that you should then take it upon yourself to consider every chronological event and personage (or lack thereof) within the four Canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and then reconcile them. And then – go ahead and make a story that makes sense without dismissing any information listed in the four Gospels. (Please do not add any events or extra persons either).
When you have finished – then please send your completed story to Crag66@aol.com.
And – if you can successfully pull this off – then I may even believe in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth myself.
However – if you cannot accomplish this small feat then I also think it best that you consider the following quotes from John (and/or Charles) Wesley: "Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand ... "Nay, will not the allowing there is any error in Scripture, shake the authority of the whole?”
Think.
Thank you
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