SUNDAY: A Harmonic Narrative of Events

  Imagine that you had been following Jesus as He taught around Galilee, in Jerusalem and throughout Judea. What if you had seen the miracles, heard the teachings, experienced the compassion felt the love, known the man and were convinced that he was the promised Messiah? It must have felt like devastating, soul crushing despair for them to watch their friend be crucified. Imagine that Sunday comes and people are seeing angels, the saints of old come out of their graves and walk around Jerusalem, and Jesus, the man you saw crucified and pierced through with the sword, the man you watched die is seen, ALIVE. There must have been excitement, fear, joy, chaos and every emotion known to man that morning. 

Four people wrote down the events of that epic morning. In order to get the full story of what happened on the day of Jesus' Resurrection, we need to read all 4 Gospel accounts. This post is my humble attempt to combine and harmonize the reports of Luke the Historian, Matthew and John the Apostles and John Mark who was a young man who witnessed many things and in whose house the Last Supper and other gatherings likely took place.

Early Sunday morning, after the Sabbath day of rest was over, a group of women from the region of Galilee who were followers of Jesus came to his tomb. This group included Mary Magdalene; another Mary, who was the mother of James the younger & Joseph, Salome, the wife of Zebedee, who was the mother of Jesus’ cousins, the apostles John and James the elder and Johanna was also with them. They purchased spices and brought them to Jesus' grave to make sure the body was given a proper and respectful burial. As they walked along in the twilight before dawn, they wondered how they would move the very large and heavy stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb, but as they arrived at sunrise, suddenly there was a great earthquake, an angel from heaven came like a flash of lightning and rolled the stone away from the tomb. Upon seeing the tomb open, Mary Magdalene ran back to Peter overwhelmed, crying out that Jesus had been taken and she did not know where his body was.

The other women found the angel sitting there on top of the rock, to the right of the tomb, wearing bright white robes. The soldiers guarding the tomb appeared like dead men, either passed out or catatonic with fear. Two angels in dazzling clothing with the appearance of young men told the women Jesus had risen from the dead, reminded them of His words, and invited them to look inside the empty tomb, telling them to let the disciples know He would meet them in Galilee. Then the women ran to the disciples, to the place where Jesus' inner circle and other believers were gathered, they were so overwhelmed that they did not mention these events to anyone along the road.

While the women ran to the disciples, the Guards of the tomb gathered themselves up and went to the Jewish leaders who paid them off to tell a lie that the disciples stole the body while they were sleeping. It wasn't a very good lie, because if they were sleeping then they would not have known what happened to the body. The Jewish religious leaders also promised to bribe Pilate, the governor, to keep the guards out of trouble if necessary. Fortunately, both Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus were prominent members of the Sanhedrin, and secret followers of Christ. As members of the Jewish high council, they were probably aware of these dirty dealings and they are most likely the ones who informed the disciples of the devious deception. In future years, other Jewish leaders would come to believe, so they could have told the truth as well. Sadly, this lie has caused many Jews through the centuries not to believe in Jesus as their Messiah.

As soon as Mary told Peter and John that Jesus was not in the tomb, they sprinted out the door and raced to the tomb, John got their first. Mary Magdalene followed closely behind. John Mark, the writer of "Mark," may very well have followed them back as well, the young man had a knack for being a silent observer after all. Peter and John entered the tomb, found the white linen which Joseph of Arimethea had wrapped the body in and found the face cloth folded and laying separately. Then they left.

Meanwhile, the other women reached the home were the disciples were staying and were able to calm down from the incredible shock and excitement of speaking to angels and explain everything they had seen and experienced, proclaiming the good news about Jesus' rising from the dead to the disciples.  But no one had actually seen Jesus yet.

After Peter and John left, Now Mary Magdalene, who had carefully watched as Jesus was put in the tomb, stood outside of it, sobbing that they had taken Jesus out of the tomb and she did not know where they had put him. Upon bending down to look inside the cave, she saw 2 angels all dressed in white. The angels affirmed that Jesus was alive, reminded Mary of Jesus' own words that He would be resurrected on the 3rd day and sent her to tell the other disciples the Good News. As she ran out, joyful, fearful, excited and astonished, she ran into JESUS and grabbed onto his feet worshipping Him. She was not seeing a ghost either, she physically touched his resurrected, corporeal body. At first, Mary M. thought he was the gardener. Still in shock, she asked if he had carried Jesus away and asked about the body, but when Jesus said her name, she recognized him and grabbed on to him. He had to ask her not to cling to his feet because he had not yet ascended to the Father. He told her that he was ascending to his Father and her Father, to His God and her God. He told her to tell these things to his brothers and as the first person to ever encounter the resurrected Christ, she went back with the honor of proclaiming to all those gathered together “I have seen the Lord.”  

That day many of the bodies of the Old Testament saints were raised from the dead, came out of the tombs and entered Jerusalem, appearing to many people. They had been resting in Abraham’s bosom, or paradise as Jesus called it on the cross when He promised the repentant thief they would be together there. They were able to see the Holy City of Jerusalem before they went to heaven. They serve as witnesses that the resurrection of the dead is now possible for everyone because of Christ. Jesus probably ascended to the Father just as he said he was going to and delivered them to heaven to the Father before this next series of events.

Later, that same Sunday, Jesus appeared to Peter and Cleopas as they walked the 7 mile road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. He explained to them all of the things about Himself in the Scriptures from the first 5 books of Moses and all of the Prophets, affirming the validity of the Old Testament canon of Scripture that is in our Bible today and confirming its value remains under the New Covenant. They didn't recognize Him at first, but when He broke bread together with them, they realized it was Jesus and then He vanished into thin air. They immediately went back to Jerusalem to the place where the other disciples were gathered together.

That evening while they were telling the other believers about these things, Jesus suddenly appeared right in the middle of them and spoke Peace to them. They thought He was a ghost, so he let them touch his very real body, showed them the scars on his hands and feet and then ate a piece of fish right in front of them, so that there could be absolutely no doubt He was not merely a ghost, but was raised bodily from the dead. He then affirmed again the Law of Moses, the Prophets and also affirmed the Psalms as being Holy Scripture and opened their minds to understand the Bible. He declared that repentance for forgiveness of sins was to be proclaimed in His Name to all nations. He appointed them as witnesses to these things and told them he was sending them out to be his messengers, but then told them to wait for the Holy Spirit to clothe them with power.

One week later, he appeared to them and Thomas, who hadn’t seen him yet saw and touched his nail scarred hands and the sword scar in his side that proved his lungs and heart had been punctured and he had been truly dead. Later, he met with the disciples in Galilee as He promised, restoring Peter and having breakfast on the seashore. In all, Jesus would appear to over 500 eyewitnesses. and then before ascending into heaven, He delivered the Great Commission, calling all of us as believers to go into all the world, bringing the good news of His Resurrection and of forgiveness of sins through His name to every nation, Baptizing and making disciples as we go.