IF WE ATTEMPT TO HARMONIZE THE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS OF THE RESURRECTION APPEARANCES, THEN APPEARANCES IN JERUSALEM WOULD HAVE TO PRECEDE THOSE IN GALILEE.

(1) THEN MATTHEW'S AND JOHN'S DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENTS WITH THE WOMEN AT THE TOMB IS CONTRADICTED BY LUKE'S DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENTS WITH THE WOMEN.

MATTHEW'S DESCRIPTION: JESUS APPEARS TO TWO WOMEN AT THE TOMB,MARY MAGDALENE AND ANOTHER MARY, 28:10;

JOHN'S DESCRIPTION: JESUS APPEARS TO MARY MAGDALENE ONLY, 20:11-18.

LUKE'S DESCRIPTION:

ON THE DAY OF THE RESURRECTION, TWO DISCIPLES ARE WALKING FROM JERUSALEM TO A SMALL TOWN CALLED EMMAUS. THEY MEET THE RISEN JESUS, BUT THEY DO NOT RECOGNIZE HIM. THEY TELL HIM OF THEIR SADNESS ABOUT THEIR LOSS OF THIS PROPHET WHO WAS MIGHT IN WORK AND WORD BEFORE GOD AND ALL THE PEOPLE. THEY TELL JESUS THAT THE WOMEN AT THE TOMB FOUND AN EMPTY TOMB. JESUS WAS NOT THERE, BUT THERE WERE ANGELS WHO SAID THAT JESUS WAS ALIVE. MEN WENT TO THE TOMB, THEY TELL JESUS, BUT NO ONE SAW JESUS. (CH 24, V. 24) SO LUKE IS TELLING THE EVENTS OF EASTER SUNDAY IN A WAY THAT CONTRADICT WHAT MATTHEW AND JOHN CLAIM ABOUT APPEARANCES TO WOMEN.

THE DISCIPLES ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS RECOOGNIZE JESUS IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD (AN APPARENT REFERENCE TO THE CHRISTIAN REENACTMENT OF THE LAST SUPPER. THEY IMMEDIATELY RETURN TO JERUSALEM TO TELL THE OTHEWRS, BUT UPON THEIR RETURN THEY LEARN, `THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED AND HAS APPEARED TO SIMON.' SO THE POINT OF LIKE'S NARRATIVE IS THAT PETER SAW JESUS FIRST. HOWEVER, JON CLAIMS THAT MARY MAGDALENE SAW JESUS FIRST IN THE GARDEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER JOHN AND PETER FIND THE TOMB EMPTY.THE INTENTION BEING TO ASSERT THE PRIORITY OF THE APPEARANCE TO PETER.

(2) THE NARRATIVE OF LUKE ABOUT THE MANIFESTATION OF JESUS TO TWO DISCIPLES ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS IS NEITHER CONTRADICTED NOR AFFIRMED BY THE OTHER GOSPELS. SO THIS APPEARANCE ITSELF IS CONSISTENT WITH THE OTHER ACCOUNTS BECAUSE THE OTHER WRITERS COULD HAVE LEFT THIS EVENT OUT. (STILL, THE DENIAL BY THE TWO DISCIPLES THAT THE WOMEN HAVE SEEN JESUS DOES NOT FIT MATTHEW AND JOHN.)

(3) NEXT WE HAVE THE APPEARANCE TO THE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS, THE ELEVEN, IN LUKE 24:36-49 AND JOHN 20:19-24. THERE ARE TWO SIMILAR FEATURES: (a) THE PRROF THAT JESUS OFFERS OF HIS OWN IDENTITY OF THE RISEN CHRIST AS ONE AND THE SAME AS THE HISTORICAL JESUS (LUKE 24:36FF AND JOHN 20:19FF) AND (b) THE COMMAND OF JESUS TO THE DISCIPLES TO GO OUT AND TO CONVERT PEOPLE. (LUKE 24:48 AND JOHN 20:21-23).

THERE ARE, HOWEVER, SOME IMPORTANT TENSIONS OR EVEN CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN LUKE AND JOHN. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ONE IS THAT JEJSUS BESTOWS THE SPIRIT IMMEDIATELY IN JONHN, CH. 20, BUT LUKE DELAYS THE SPIRIT'S DESCENT UPON THE DISICIPLES UNTIL PENTECOST, 50 DAYS AFTER EASTER. LUKE TELLS THIS EVENT TWICE IN LUKE 24:49 AND IN ACTS CH. 2.

THE STUDENT OF THE GOSPELS WHO TRIES TO MAKE LUKE AND JOHN CONSISTENT WITH EACH OTHER HAS DIFFICULTY HERE. tHE TWO NARRATIVES ARE TOO SIMILAR TO BE TWO DIFFERENT EVENTS, BUT THERE ARE CLAIMS MADE ABOUT THE SPIRIT THAT ARE NOT RECONCILABLE WITH EACH OTHER:

IS LUKE CORRECT THAT THE DISCIPPLES WERE FIRST DOUBTFUL, (LUKE 24:36), OR IS JOHN CORRECT THAT THEY IMMEDIATELY FILLED WITH JOY(JOHN 20:20)?

ALSO THERE IS THE PROBLEM OF WHICH NARRATIVE TELLS THE WORD OF JEJSUS CORRECTLY ABOUT JESUS SENDING THE DISCIPLES OUT TO MAKE CONVERTS (LUKE 24:48-49 ANDJOHN 20:21-23).

DID JESUS GIVE THEM THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THEN(JOHN 20:22), OR 50 DAYS LATER(LUKE 24:36-49)?

(4) JOHN ALONE TELLS OF THE APPEARANCE TO THOMAS A WEEK LATER (JOHN 20:26- 29). BUT SUCH A DELAY FOR A WEEK IN JERUSALEM AND EVEN FOR 50 DAYS UNTIL PENTECOST TO WAIT FOR THE SPIRIT CONTRDICTS THE COMMAND OF JESUS IN MATTHEW THAT THE DISCIPLES ARE TO GO DIRECTLY TO GALILEE WHERE THEY SHALL SEE JESUS. FURTHERORE THE APPEARANCE OF JESUS TO THE MEN IN GALILEE IS APPARENTLY THR FIRST TIME THAT THEY HAVE SEEN JESUS. ALSO, MATTHEW HAS JESUS GIVE THE COMMAND TO GO OUT TO THE WHOLE WORLD AND MAKE CONVERTS, WHEREAS LUKE AND JOHN HAVE THIS COMMAND GIVEN ON EASTER NIGHT.

(5) THE APPEARANCES IN GALILEE:

(i) THE APPARENTLY FIRST APPEARANCE TO THE MEN, THE ELEVEN DISCIPLES, ON THE MOUNTAIN IN GALILEE WHERE JESUS ASCENDS INTO HEAVEN (MATTHEW 28).

(ii) THE APPEARANCE TO PETER AND SIX OTHER DISCIPLES ON THE OCCASION OF THE MIRACULOUS CATCH OF FISHES AFTER WHICH PETER TELLS JEJSUS THREE TIMES THAT HE LOVES HIM. (JOHN 21).

THE DIFFICULTY WITH THESE NARRATIVES IS THAT THEY CLEARLY CONTRADICT LUKE. IN LUKE, JESUS EXPLICITLY COMMANDS THE DISCIPLES TO REMAIN IN JERUSALEM. LUKE EXLICITLY ELIMINATES THE APPEARANCES IN GALILEE IN 24:6. THIS IS A VERSEW FROM MARK WHICH HE HAS REWRITTEN FROM MARK 16:7. MARK HAS A STATEMENT BY AN ANEGEL TELLING THE DUISCIPLES TO GO TO GALILEE WHERE THEY SHALL SEE JESUS. BUT LUKE REWRITES THE VERSE TO HAVE THE ANGEL SAY THAT HIS DISCIPLES SHOULD REMEMBER THAT JESUS IN GALILEE HAD PREDICTED HIS SUFFERING, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION.

LOOKING AGAIN AT THE OVERALL NARRATIVES, WE FIND SERIOUS PROBLEMS:

THE APPEARANCE IN MATTHEW TO THE MEN SEEMS TO BE THE FIRST THEY HAVE, BUT LUKE AND JOHN HAVE PRIOR APPEARANCES. THE LAST 8 VERSES OF MARK';S GOSPEL ARE NOT IN SOME OF THE MOST ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF MARK AND ARE OBVIOUSLY A FUTILE ATTEMP TO RECONCILE MARK WITH LUKE AND MATTHEW EVEN THOUGH MARK EXPLICTLY HAS THE ANGEL SAY THE DISCIPPLES SHOULD GO DIRECTLY TO GALILEE.

ALSO, THERE IS THE PROBLEM OF WHY JESUS REPEATS THE COMMAND TO MAKE CONVERTS IF HE HAS ALREADY GIVEN IT IN LUKE AND JON ON EASTER NIGHT.

FURTHER, THERE IS THE PROBLEM OF WHY THE DISCIPLES ARE FISHING IN GALILEE IN JOHN'S NARRATIVE IF THEY ALREADY HAVE THE SPIRIT AND THE COMMAND TO MMAKE CONVERTS. LUKE HAS THE DISCIPLES IMMEDIATELY MAKE CONVERTS ON PEMNTECOST IN JERUSALEM.

Paraphrased from Willi Marxsen, The Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, pp. 72- 74.

THE FOLLOWING REASONABLE CONCLUSION MAY BE DRAWN: A CONSISTENT COMBINATION OF THE FOUR GOSPELS ON THE EVENTS IN THE APPEARANCES OF JESUS CANNOT BE ACHIEVED. SOME SCHOLARS SUCH AS RAYMOND BROWN ARGUE THAT THE APPEARANCES ALL TAKE PLACE IN GALILEE AND THAT THE GOSPEL WRITERS HAVE TAKEN EDITORIAL LICENSE TO TELL THESE EVENTS WITH THEIR DIFFERENT EDITORIAL LICENSE. SEE

The virginal conception and bodily resurrection of Jesus, by Raymond E. Brown(1973)

Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913) (An Attempt to Harmonize and Reconcile Apparent Contradictions in the Four Gospel Accounts of the Appearances of the Risen Christ, Written Prior to the Acceptance of Critical Historical Scholarship by Catholic Biblical Scholars)

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Links to Scripture Scholarship on the Historical Jesus and the Christ of Faith