On this Monday after Easter we hear part of Matthew’s account of early Sunday morning at the empty tomb of Jesus. All four gospel accounts speak of the events of early Sunday morning after the resurrection, all but John in their final chapter (John’s gospel account contains the additional wonderful and mysterious final twenty-first chapter that was probably added later where Jesus meets the disciples on the beach of Lake Galilee, or the Sea of Tiberias as John calls it).
In a very intriguing way, the only thing that all four gospels agree about in these accounts is that Mary Magdalene was present in all of them and that the tomb was found empty. Virtually everything else is different. Only Mark, in the so-called longer ending, specifically states that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene (from whom he tells us Jesus had cast out seven demons). In Matthew, she is accompanied by “the other Mary,” in Mark, the other Mary is identified as the mother of James (James the son of Alphaeus, or James the Less as opposed to the son of Zebedee) along with another woman named Salome. In Luke it is the mother of James and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and in John it is Mary Magdalene alone. In all accounts but Matthew’s, the stone has already been rolled away. In Matthew when the women approach the tomb there is suddenly a great earthquake and a single angel descends and rolls away the stone and then sits upon it (a marvelous detail!) and speaks to the women (who never enter). In Mark, the one angel appears simply as a young man in a white robe (as opposed to Matthew’s angel whose appearance was like lightening and whose robe was white as snow) and is within the already opened tomb as the women enter. In Luke it is two angels (“Two men in brilliant clothes”) who appear at the sides of the women after they had entered the tomb. And in John, Mary Magdalene alone (who comes before the dawn, not after it as in the Synoptics) finds the tomb open and empty but does not enter. Rather she runs to tell Peter and the Beloved Disciple and they all (evidently) run back to the empty tomb, enter and see the burial cloths. Only after the disciples leave does Mary look back into the tomb to
see two angels dressed in white sitting at the head and the feet of where Jesus’ body had lain.
In all the accounts, the angels say different things to the women although all but the angels in John tell the women that “He is risen!” Only Matthew and John relate a meeting with the risen Jesus. In Matthew it is to all the women who on running from the tomb (which they did not enter, unlike the other accounts) meet Jesus coming toward them. In John, Mary alone turns from the tomb to encounter him though she initially fails to recognize him (as did the disciples in Luke at Emmaus). In both accounts, they clasp the feet of Jesus.
We might ask why do all the gospel accounts have such differing memories of that first Easter Sunday morning? It must be because Jesus’ resurrection is unlike any other event in history or any event to come. This is also the reason why none of Jesus’ disciples witnessed the actual resurrection. The tomb is always found empty- the resurrection had already occurred. No one could actually have witnessed the Lord’s resurrection because it is entirely an experience of faith. Even the post resurrection experiences of the disciples are all shrouded in this mystery of faith. That is why these memories differ. What exactly happened is impossible to say. It is not a matter of evidence but of witness and we are asked to believe the testimony, even if that testimony is somewhat different. If four people witnessed an occurrence of any kind you would get four different versions. Who can say what exactly happened? How much more, then, the events immediately following the resurrection? We put our faith in the witness of the Gospel, in the testimony of those who were with him. Let us hold fast to that faith, which Hebrews tells us is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For faith does not demand assurances or proof or even understanding. Faith just believes. We choose to believe what the Gospels tell us and as the Gospel of John also tells us, “Everyone who believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life.”