The Resurrection of Christ in Four-Part Harmony

Since the earliest centuries, Christians have been interested in the question of how to reconcile what seem to be discrepancies in the four Gospels. Especially around Holy Week and Easter, Christians are keen to understand on which day each event of the Passion took place. Was the Last Supper on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday? Could it be considered a Passover meal or a prequel to the Passover proper? But often, once our Easter feasts have been digested and the world moves on, these questions withdraw to foreign pastures where we forget them.

The Resurrection, however, was not the last event of Christ’s earthly life, and more events followed it. And so, while the chronology of the Passion is a fascinating question in and of itself, and one I’ve devoted time to over the last years, I’ve recently been especially interested in the Resurrection and post-Resurrection events, and how they fit together. 

This “alignment” of the four Gospels has often been called “harmonization,” and RT France comments that this is a helpful and fitting designation. For, harmony “is what is created when a number of voices sing their own different parts at the same time. It is not the same as unison, where all sing the same notes. Because the voices are different there is a greater richness than in unison, but because they sing together under the direction of a single composer, what we hear is not a collection of discordant notes, but a richly satisfying harmony.”^a Indeed, each Evangelist highlights different things he is interested to communicate, while passing over other things that the others deem more important. And in reading them together, these themes ought to come together so that they can be read in one key, time signature, and tempo.

Frequently, however, those engaging in some sort of “harmony of the Gospels” will simply cut and paste passages together, to be able to read the whole account chronologically, without repeating anything, and without inserting editorial comments.^b Others will do the same, and add a comment here or there,^c which often leaves the reader wondering how exactly they arrived at a particular decision in their harmony. St. Augustine takes up his “harmony” in a more in-depth manner, but sometimes brushes over important points rather too quickly for my liking. He is often helpful on these questions, but on the points he passes too quickly, the reader is left with questions.^d Many times then, we are left to search for answers to individual question hidden in larger works. For instance, Theodore Zahn has an excellent treatment of the day of the Last Supper and some of the other Passion events, but it is nestled in the midst of a massive three-volume New Testament introduction, and as such is not interested in every minute, chronological detail.^e Various commentaries will likewise treat some of the questions, but typically only those associated with their particular Gospel—Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John—and have little interest in harmonizing the quartet.

What I intend to attempt here is a harmonized reading of the Resurrection and post-Resurrection events which is not a simple cut-and-paste of the text, nor a focus on one or other of the Gospels, nor even an attempt to wave a “magic wand” over the texts and make the chronological problems disappear.^f Rather, I hope to present a “canonical” reading which paints an “embodied”—that is, a “real, human”—picture of the events following Good Friday. I consider some of this a tentative suggestion, one possible reading among many, which I hope adds to the discussion. I cannot hope to answer every question, and I cannot hope that my suggestions will content every reader. Yet I can hope that you, dear reader, walk away with confidence that the Gospels are trustworthy, and with a deeper appreciation of the fact of the Resurrection.

There is a lot here, but you will find a heading indicating the day (or time frame), with discussion of that time’s events beneath. You may wish to read in depth, skim some of the details, or hone in on other particular points.

Good Friday

In order to arrive at the Resurrection, we need to make a few points about the events surrounding the Crucifixion, because they impact our later readings. 

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ . . . And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.” (Mt 27:45-46, 50)

With this momentous death, Christ had completed the perfect offering and sacrifice for sins. But in this moment, the wheels of Resurrection also began to turn, by which the sacrifice had its saving power (1 Cor 15:17). 

It was the “day of Preparation,” and because of John’s additional qualifier “of the Passover” (Jn 19:14) some have thought that the Crucifixion took place on the day before the Passover feast, and thus the Last Supper would have been two days before the Passover. Mark, however, tells us that the “day of Preparation” in view here is “the day before the Sabbath.” (Mk 15:42; cf. Mt 27:62) It was a death on a Friday afternoon, at or about 3pm (the “ninth hour,” Mt 27:45-46; Mk 15:33-34; Lk 23:44)^g. Counting days as beginning at sundown as the Jews typically did, the Sabbath was approaching (Lk 23:54), usually considered as the “twelfth hour,” around 6 o’clock. So time was short: roughly three hours from His death to complete the burial before the Sabbath.

Joseph of Arimathea along with Nicodemus (Jn 19:38-39; Mk 15:42-49) receive Christ’s body and bury Him in Joseph’s own tomb (Mt 27:60). Although it is described as “evening” in Matthew 27:57, it can’t yet be dark because it is still the Day of Preparation (Mk 15:42) and the Sabbath was “beginning” (Lk 23:54; Jn 19:31, 42), meaning the sun was going down, and sundown (and the start of the Sabbath) was approaching.

While Joseph and Nicodemus are burying Jesus, using large amounts of spices and oils already (Jn 19:40)^h, the Gospels describe women watching. Matthew records that Mary Magdalene and the “other Mary”ⁱ were watching the burial, “sitting opposite the tomb” (Mt 27:61). Likewise in Mark, “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid” (Mk 15:47). 

But Luke expands on this slightly. They are not named, but “the women who had come with him from Galilee” observed the burial (Lk 23:55) which would seem to imply more than just the two women mentioned in Matthew and Mark. Perhaps also Salome (who was at the Cross, Mk 15:40, and is the mother of the disciples James and John, Mt 27:56; cf. Mt 20:20), and maybe others who were unnamed. Luke 8:1-3 tells us that along with the Twelve disciples, there were also women with Jesus: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and “many others.” We should probably think of a larger number of women: many people had been following Him from Galilee, so this group of women could even have numbered more than a dozen.^j

And Luke adds an important detail here: this group of women watch the burial, “then they returned and prepared spices and ointment” (Lk 23:56). That very evening, there is a group of women preparing these things to anoint His body. Time is limited, but they must be doing this prior to the Sabbath’s beginning, because in the same verse it says “they rested according to the commandment” on the Sabbath. Whatever they prepare, they prepare before the Sabbath rest begins.

Holy Saturday

As mentioned above, the women (and no doubt the rest of the men) rest on the Sabbath—Saturday—as they were required to do (Lk 23:56). The only other thing we are told happens on Saturday is that the chief priests and Pharisees ask pilate to secure the tomb “until the third day.” They were aware of Christ’s claims that He would rise on the third day, and wanted to avoid a hoax. So they set a guard at the tomb, and sealed the stone (Mt 27:62-66).

Easter Sunday

As the day begins after sunset on what we would call “Saturday night,” Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome—the same three who had observed the Crucifixion (Mk 15:40)—bought spices to anoint Jesus’s body (Mk 16:1). They did this (16:1) before going to the tomb in the morning (16:2). Were spices available for purchase before sunup on Sunday morning? While possible, it seems most likely to me that they did this on “Saturday night” after the Sabbath was over. In harmony with Luke 23:56 which describes spice preparation before the Sabbath, we either have a situation where that preparation was incomplete (they lacked some necessary ingredients), or that the spices prepared before the Sabbath were prepared by a different group of women than Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome (namely, “the women who had come with him from Galilee,” Lk 23:55). Given what we will see shortly, I lean towards the latter: that there is more than one spice preparation taking place. Some had prepared what they planned to bring to the tomb on Friday evening, while Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome had waited until they could purchase spices Saturday night.

Either way, by the time the women are on the way to the tomb, all the spices are prepared (Lk 24:1). They don’t appear to be making stops along the way.

One other interpretive problem appears in Matthew 28:1, which could be translated, “But late on the Sabbath day, at the beginning into the first day of the week.” It sounds as if Matthew is describing the sunset of Saturday evening, when the Sabbath was ending. The same word for “beginning” here (or “dawning” in many translations) is used in Luke 23:54 to describe the “beginning” of the Sabbath on Friday evening as they were completing Jesus’s burial. Modern translations like the ESV have sought to avoid the perceived problem by translating it, “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week,” (my emphasis) emphasizing the dawn to locate this on Sunday morning. While a possible translation, an easier answer is that Mary Magdalene and Mary “go to see the tomb” after the Sabbath had ended. This squares with the above, that Mark 16:1 has them buying spices Saturday night. So they buy spices, and swing by the tomb during the same trip. This also would answer the question as to how they know there is a stone sealing the tomb’s entrance when they’re on their way Sunday morning (Mk 16:3). The tomb had been sealed on Saturday (Mt 27:62-66), and as the women and disciples were “resting according to the commandment” (Lk 23:56), they would not have known about the stone. Thus the women discover the stone Saturday night when they buy spices and stop by the tomb. Then they go back and finish their spice preparation.^k

It is in the coming to the tomb on Sunday morning that things become much more complicated, and I again acknowledge that there are various ways to read these accounts together! But the basic data for the trip to the tomb are these:

a) Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb “while it is still dark” (Jn 20:1).

b) Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome go “when the sun had risen” (Mk 16:2).

c) “The women” (the “they” refers again to “the women who had come with him from Galilee,” Lk 23:55) go “at early dawn” (Lk 24:1).

Many harmonists pass over this discrepancy of the sun’s position. Some highlight John’s use of “light” and “dark” throughout his gospel and making it out here to be a thematic or symbolic rather than literal description.^l Others say that each of these expressions means basically the same thing: they all point to the general time of the dawn.^m Still others think that they harmonize because they could have started their journey from Bethany “while it was still dark” and arrived at the tomb “when the sun had risen.”ⁿ These interpretations, while possible, seem all too convenient in places, and do not seem to me to take the statements as seriously as they ought.

Given what we’ve already seen above, that more women are involved in the whole narrative than just the three named by Matthew and Mark, I suggest that the women are coming at slightly different times, perhaps from different places of lodging. Looking ahead just a bit, Luke 24:10 tells us that beyond Mary Magdalene and the Mary who has accompanied her at the Cross and on the Saturday night spice purchase (Mk 16:1), there was also Joanna (mentioned before in Lk 8:3) and “the other women with them.” So it is perfectly conceivable that there are two or even three groups of women going to the tomb Sunday morning. 

Note also that John only names Mary Magdalene as there while it was dark, while Mark names Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome (Mk 16:1) as the “they” who went to the tomb “when the sun had risen” (Mk 16:2). Matthew, Mark, and Luke are describing all the women generally as “going to the tomb,” not that they all went together, and so it is even possible that Mary Magdalene is a little bit ahead of the others, arriving in the dark, while the rest show up soon after, when the sun has risen.

This reading is also supported by what comes next:

First, Mary Magdalene sees the stone is gone, and immediately rushes away to report that the body of Jesus has been taken away (Jn 20:1-2). That is, she approaches the tomb, knowing there should be a stone there (Mt 28:1). And when she sees the stone gone (perhaps she can also see the body missing), she leaves right away. Unlike the other women, Mary doesn’t meet any angels or actually go and look in the tomb until later. She comes, sees the missing stone and the missing body, and goes to tell Peter and the Beloved Disciples (who I assume is John the son of Zebedee). As yet, she doesn’t even know that resurrection is on the table. She is only reporting an empty tomb and missing body.

Second, the other women arrive a bit later than Mary Magdalene (perhaps they passed each other as Mary is rushing away and the others are arriving?). They approach the tomb, see the missing stone (Mk 16:4), and unlike Mary Magdalene they don’t run away immediately, but enter the tomb (Lk 24:3; Mk 16:5), and see that Jesus’s body is missing. While they are in the tomb, “perplexed” at the missing body, they meet angels  (Lk 24:4; Mk 16:5; Mt 28:5).^o The angels tell them not just the obvious fact that Jesus’s body is missing (which is all Mary Magdalene knows by this point), but that “He is risen” (Mt 28:6; Mk 16:6; Lk 24:6)! Only after they’ve entered the tomb, met the angels, and heard of the resurrection do they leave.

To recap, by this point early Sunday morning, 1) Mary Magdalene knows the tomb is empty and has gone to tell Peter and John, and 2) the other women know the tomb is empty, have met angels, and have heard of Christ’s resurrection.

Leaving Mary Magdalene to the side for a moment, we next have different descriptions of what the other women do when they leave the tomb:

1) Some of the women flee with trembling and astonishment and “say nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” (Mk 16:8)

2) But others leave with “fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples” (Mt 28:8). On the way, these women—again, not including Mary Magdalene—meet the resurrected Jesus Himself, who tells them to “fear not” and to “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Mt 28:9-10).

It could be that this is all one group: Mary, Salome, Joanna, Susanna, and the “other women” flee in fear and tell no one on the way as they go (a la Mark), but then have their minds changed when they meet Jesus and then go to tell the disciples (a la Matthew; cf. Lk 24:9). But taking the two statements seriously, it seems that Mark and Matthew describe two different intentions when the women leave: Mark describes a fleeing to tell no one, and Matthew describes a departure to tell the disciples. In Matthew, they don’t change their minds along the way, but set out with the express design of telling the disciples. Further, Luke 24:8 says that “they remembered His words,” meaning that upon hearing the Angels’ message they would have realized that Jesus had predicted His resurrection (Lk 18:33; 24:7, 46), and it would be strange indeed if they—armed with this information—told no one. 

Again, if we have more women than just the few who are named, could it not be that some of them flee in fear and don’t tell anyone, while others go and tell the disciples? Would this not maintain the plain reading of both Mark and Matthew’s testimony? If so, we now have three “groups” of women: 1) Mary Magdalene who told Peter and John, 2) the fearful women who told no one, and 3) the joyful women who met Jesus and went and told the eleven disciples.

And so on Sunday morning, still unaware that anything had happened, and still mourning, the disciples begin to hear trickles of information from different women at different times. Mary Magdalene shows up first and gives the bare facts according to what she knows by now: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (Jn 20:2).^p After giving her report, she wanders off by herself, pondering these things. Next, the other group of women show up and tell the disciples not only that the tomb is empty, but also what the angels had said—“He is not here, but has risen” (Lk 24:6, 9)—and that they’d seen Jesus (Mt 28:9-10). 

To most of the disciples, hearing all of these frantic stories from different women, it seems like an “idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Lk 24:11). Emotions were certainly high after the highs and lows of the previous week, and the disciples likely think the women have seen something true enough, an empty tomb, but had let their imaginations run away with them. If the Jewish leaders had falsely accused Jesus and killed Him, the disciples probably wouldn’t put it past them to do something else devious like take His body. It can’t be more than that, they probably think. 

But two of them—Peter and John, named specifically in John 20:2—decide to go see for themselves, and they run towards the tomb (Jn 20:3). John, arriving first, stops short of entering the tomb and peers in, seeing the graveclothes (Jn 20:4-5). Peter arrives after him and enters, seeing everything (Jn 20:6-7). John follows him in, also seeing everything, and then believes the story of the women (Jn 20:8; Lk 24:12). Quite likely, they still only believe the story that the tomb is empty, but still doubt the resurrection, and they go back to their homes.^q 

By now, 1) Mary Magdalene saw the empty tomb and reported it the disciples, then wandered off on her own; 2) the other women have seen the empty tomb, met angels, heard of the resurrection, and some have fled in fear while others left in joy and met Jesus before telling the disciples; 3) most of the disciples have heard the tale but scoff at it; 4) Peter and John have gone to the tomb, seen it empty, believed the story, and returned to where they were staying, probably still doubting that the resurrection could be true.

So we return now to the first women, Mary Magdalene. She, of all the women and even all the men, knows the least. She knows the tomb is empty and the body gone, but that’s it. After she reported it to the disciples, she wandered off, and finds herself at length going back to the tomb. Whether she returns to the tomb before or after Peter and John have gone is unclear, but no one else seems to be there when she gets there. 

She is still in shock. She’d seen her Lord brutally beaten, then killed, then buried, and if that wasn’t enough, now on the third day He was taken away. She stands by the tomb weeping (Jn 20:11). 

She finally looks into the tomb after all of this, sees the angels, and speaks to them (Jn 20:12-13). Then Jesus appears to her (Jn 20:14-16), telling her to go tell the disciples that He is “ascending” to His Father (Jn 20:17). Overjoyed, she goes and tells them, but while the story of the empty tomb has been verified by multiple people by this point, they still doubt the resurrection (Mk 16:10-11).^r 

Sometime after all of this, Peter must be off by himself, pondering everything he’s heard and seen, and Jesus appears to him individually. This is gathered from a couple of considerations.

First, Cleopas and another disciple hear all that the women had said, and all that Peter and John had seen, and then they decide to go to Emmaus. Jesus meets them on the road, and they tell Him all of this (Lk 24:19-24). After breaking bread together, they realize it is Him (Lk 24:25-32), and they leave immediately and rush back to Jerusalem. When they arrive, they find the eleven disciples along with others (Lk 24:33), and before they can tell the others what they’d seen on the way to Emmaus, the eleven say, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” (Lk 24:34)^s Thus by the late afternoon when Cleopas and his friend return, Simon Peter has seen Jesus.

Second, Paul says that Peter (Cephas) was the first of the men to see the risen Christ (1 Cor 15:5). The details of Peter’s meeting with Christ have seemingly gone with Peter to his grave, but he seems to have had an individual, private encounter with Christ similar to Mary Magdalene’s.^t

So much for the morning and daytime of Easter Sunday, by far the day with the most details to harmonize! By Easter evening, when all of this activity has subsided, the eleven are all together in one place. Jesus finally appears to them all (but for Thomas), saying “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19; Lk 24:36). Though they’d come to terms with the truth of the resurrection by then (Lk 24:34), they’re still startled and frightened (Lk 24:37), until He speaks to them and shows them His hands and side and feet (Jn 20:20a; Lk 24:39-40), and eats a piece of broiled fish (Lk 24:42-43). Then “they were glad when they saw the Lord” (Jn 20:20), having finally believed that they were not seeing a spirit (cf. Jn 20:20-23; Lk 24:37-43).

The Following Week

This was not the end of things, however! The story does not end here. Eight days later (the next Sunday), Jesus appears to the eleven again, and this time to Thomas (Jn 20:26-29).

Sometime the Week After

The disciples return to Galilee. And while there, Peter (along with Thomas, Nathanael, James & John, and two others) go fishing (Jn 21:2-3).

They see Jesus on the shore and go to meet Him, have breakfast, and Jesus calls Peter to “feed my sheep” (Jn 21:4-23). This is the third time Jesus appeared to the Disciples (Jn 21:13), meaning 1) Easter night, 2) the week after with Thomas, and 3) now.

While in Galilee after this third meeting, they go “to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them” (Mt 28:16) and see Jesus again there (a fourth [?] time). Amazingly, some still doubt (Mt 28:17)! The shock and wonder has not worn off, even after a few weeks! Soon after, while still in Galilee, Jesus gives the Great Commission (Mt 28:19-20).

Nearing 40 Days after Easter

Jesus is with them again, back in Jerusalem (Acts 1:4), speaking about the Kingdom of God as He has been over those 40 days (Acts 1:3), and explaining the Scriptures (Lk 24:44-48). And He tells them not to leave the city until they are “clothed with power from on high (Lk 24:49), for they “will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” not many days from then (Acts 1:4-5).

Day 40 After Easter

Jesus takes them out of Jerusalem, as far as Bethany, blesses them, and ascends to heaven (Lk 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-11; Mk 16:19-20).

Conclusion

As we’ve seen, there was a frenetic flurry of activity that Easter day! Women running to and fro giving frantic reports. Disciples running to and fro. Disciples traveling towards Emmaus and back. Jesus appearing to people all over the place, but yet not to others. The chief priests bribing the disgraced tomb guards to spread a false story (Mt 28:11:15). Often, as we read an individual gospel account, we might get the impression that it was a somewhat peaceful, springtime Sunday on which a few people take leisurely strolls to the tomb and see some amazing things, while the birds sing and the air smells of lilies. But when we read the gospels all together, the picture emerges of tensions high and overflowing into doubt, disbelief, fear, despair, realization, joy, and excitement! It’s quite likely that the entire city of Jerusalem was in a foment as rumor spread! It’s probable that many conflicting stories were flying around that day, too, as the followers of Christ began to piece together what had happened, the chief priests initiated their propaganda campaign, and perhaps many “folk” exaggerations or “fish stories” took shape. 

Imagine yourself as a disciple on that day, trying to put everything together. It would have been for them a bit like your experience of some momentous world event: you hear that smoke is pouring from the Twin Towers in New York City, and throughout the day, all kinds of reports are coming out, emotions are high, and you might go from shock and disbelief to acceptance as the picture gets clearer. So it was for the disciples of Christ (the men and the women) on Easter Sunday.

This is not a serene, coloring book picture. This is not a fanciful fable of the miraculous, borne of the over-excited imagination of some random fishermen.

This is a real, embodied, event. An event in which Christ took on His real, flesh-and-blood-but-glorified resurrection body, never to die again, and no longer under the dominion of death (Rom 6:9). He rose as the firstfruits of a final bumper crop of resurrected saints (1 Cor 15:20-23)! 

And He rose among real men and women. In a real city. With real experiences of a real day of confusion and, in time, real joy. These things took place, not in a corner (Acts 26:26), but in the center of the world, from which the good news of resurrection life spread from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, to the very ends of the earth (Acts 1:8); impacting rulers and emperors, and witnessing that their authority was now disarmed and placed far beneath Christ’s (Col 2:15; Eph 1:20-21; Mt 28:18), finally to be destroyed when He returns in glory and puts them beneath His feet (1 Cor 15:23-26; Ps 110:1). 

Those events were real. They affect the world. And the world will have to give an account for its rejection of them. 

Submit to this risen Lord, while it is called “today” (Heb 3:13). And in this Eastertide, take joy in the fact that Jesus Christ was raised, and in Him, you will be too.

1. R.T. France, “Chronological Aspects of ‘Gospel Harmony’,” Vox Evangelica 16 (1986): 57.  (back)
2. See for example Loraine Boettner, A Harmony of the Gospels (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1976).  (back)
3.  So A.T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1922). Robertson does deal in more detail in notes at the book of the book, but the “harmony” proper is simple alignment of all of Gospel texts themselves.  (back)
4. St. Augustine, The Harmony of the Gospels, NPNF 1.6.  (back)
5. Theodor Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, trans. Melancthon Williams Jacobus, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, T&T Clark, 1909), 254ff.  (back)
6. cf. France, “Chronological Aspects,” 37.  (back)
7. As a fascinating aside, Luke also records some other ninth-hour events in Acts 3:1 and 10:3.  (back)
8. Note that 75 “pounds” of spices and oils are used, reminding us of the “pound” of pure nard Mary of Bethany had used in John 12:3. If that single pound of nard was worth 300 denarii (about a year’s wages), we can assume that the seventy-five pounds of various spices were a pricy ordeal indeed. Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the council (Lk 20:50; Mk 15:43), and must have been a wealthy man.  (back)
9. Probably the mother of James and Joses/Joseph: Mt 27:56; Mk 15:40. I take this “other Mary,” the mother of James and Joses/Joseph to be the same Mary who is with the Blessed Mother at the Cross, and called that Mary Mary’s “sister” (rather, sister-in-law), who was also the wife of Clopas (Jn 19:25).  (back)
10. Luke 19:37 tells us that it was the “whole multitude of his disciples” who were the ones saying “Hosanna” at the Triumphal Entry, and John 12:17 describes a crowd who had been there when He raised Lazarus who were also present at the Triumphal Entry. Certainly more locals took up the cheer, but it seems evident that more than just 12 Disciples and a few others were in the “crowd” that came from Galilee. Likely the 70/72 who had previously been sent out were still around (Lk 10:1-17), and doubtless many more.  (back)
11. This option for the translation and time of Matthew 28:1 is favored by AT Robertson, Harmony, 289. The connection to the purchase of spices in Mark 16:1 is my own.  (back)
12. So Arthur Just, Luke 9:51-24:53 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1997), 959.  (back)
13. So Augustine, Harmony, 3.24.65  (back)
14. Mclellan, in Robertson, Harmony, 287.  (back)
15. The angel in Matthew 28:5 is the same angel who had appeared with an earthquake and rolled the stone away (Mt 28:2-4), before any of the women had arrived.  (back)
16.  The “we” of “we do not know where they have laid him” implies that she has seen at least some of the other women at some point. Most likely, she passed them as she was leaving and they were arriving at the tomb, told them what she’d seen, and continued to Peter and John while the others continued on to the tomb. Here, she knows that by now the others will have seen what she saw—an empty tomb—and concluded what she had concluded, that someone had absconded with the body. She doesn’t yet know about their angelic meeting, or the angels’ message of resurrection.  (back)
17. Incidentally, they go to their own “homes,” the ESV says, but literally they go “toward their own.” This is reminiscent of the language of John 19:27 where John takes Mary the Blessed Mother “into his home”—“into his own.”  (back)
18. For my purposes, I’m assuming the canonicity of Mark 16:9-20, though that is a different question. Disregarding the relevant passages of Mark 16:9-20 would, frankly, make harmonizing the accounts a good deal easier. Verse 9 says He appeared “first” to Mary Magdalene, which I haven’t addressed in the body of this article. If the passage is extra-canonical, there is no issue. But if it is canonical, we must assume that in order for Mary to be the “first” she has 1) made her initial announcement, 2) returned to the tomb, and 3) had her interaction with Jesus (Jn 20:14-17) some time before the other women have met Jesus (Mt 28:9-10). This would likely mean that a) Mary sees Jesus, b) the other women see Jesus, c) the other women go tell the disciples, and d) Mary has her second visit to the disciples, all before Peter and John go and see. Because when Mary returns the second time they still don’t believe (Mk 16:11). Peter and John hear of the empty tomb from Mary Magdalene (and don’t believe); of the empty tomb, angels’ message, and Jesus’s resurrection from the other women (and don’t believe); of Mary’s meeting Jesus (and don’t believe); and then they go to see the tomb, and believe (at least) the bare story that the tomb is empty and something strange is going on (Jn 20:8-9).  (back)
19. The language is odd here, making it unclear whether the Emmaus road disciples say “He is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon” or if the eleven say it. On balance, it makes much more sense that the eleven say it, otherwise the Emmaus road disciples would be telling the eleven (which included Simon) that the Lord had appeared to Simon! That the eleven speak these words is agreed upon by Morris (TNTC), Lenski, Bock (IVPNTC), MacEvilly, Calvin, Geldenhuys (NICNT), Jeffrey (Brazos), and certainly many others.  (back)
20. Mark 16:12-13 again presents problems. It seems to be the Emmaus road story in shorter form, and when these two disciples return to Jerusalem and tell the others their story, the others still “did not believe them.” This is contrary to their excited cries of “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon” in Luke 24:34. Could it be an “unbelief” of shock and amazement? Mark 16:11 says they “disbelieved” (ἀπιστέω) Mary Magdalene’s story, while 16:13 says they “did not believe” (οὐδὲ ἐκείνοις ἐπίστευσαν, not them believed, the last word being from a negation of πιστέω rather than from ἀπιστέω). Perhaps they were actively disbelieving Mary, but in shocked disbelief at the stories of Peter and the Emmaus road disciples. Or perhaps the “two disciples” mentioned here are a different pair than Luke 24 describes.  (back)

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