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 who Jesus had cast 7 demons out of. There was another Mary, who was the mother of Joseph and one of the apostles, James the younger. There was Salome, who was Jesus’ aunt, the wife of Zebedee, who was the mother of Jesus’ cousins, the apostles John and James the elder, known as Bonarges, the sons of Thunder. Johanna, whose husband managed Herod’s household, was also with them. When Jesus died, they had purchased spices and now they 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. The soldiers guarding the tomb appeared like dead men, either passed out or catatonic with fear.
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 who Jesus had cast 7 demons out of. There was another Mary, who was the mother of Joseph and one of the apostles, James the younger. There was Salome, who was Jesus’ aunt, the wife of Zebedee, who was the mother of Jesus’ cousins, the apostles John and James the elder, known as Bonarges, the sons of Thunder. Johanna, whose husband managed Herod’s household, was also with them. When Jesus died, they had purchased spices and now they 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. The soldiers guarding the tomb appeared like dead men, either passed out or catatonic with fear.
The women found the angel sitting there on top of the rock, to the
right of the tomb, wearing bright white robes. He invited them to look inside,
to see the place where Jesus had been laid. The ladies entered the tomb, but Jesus’
body was not there. Suddenly Two angels in dazzling clothing with the
appearance of young men appeared among them and asked the women why they were
seeking the living among the dead? The messengers told them Jesus had risen
from the dead, reminded them of His words that he would be betrayed,
crucified and then rise on the 3rd day. The angels sent the women to
tell this news to the disciples and to let them know He would meet them in
Galilee. Then the women ran to the 11 disciples, to the place where Jesus'
inner circle and other believers were gathered, perhaps the same home where the
Lord’s last supper had been taken, or maybe back to the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany where they had been staying throughout the week. 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.
Meanwhile, the women reached the home were the disciples were
staying. Mary Magdalene, overwhelmed and having seen the empty tomb blurted out
that they had taken her Lord and she did not know where they put him. I’m not
sure if Mary had even seen the angels yet,
but if she did, She thought they were just men and did not believe what they had
said. At the prompting of the angels, the other women remembered the words Jesus had
spoken. They were able to calm down just enough from the incredible shock and
excitement of seeing angels to 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. Most
of the disciples did not believe them and their words seemed to make no sense.
It’s almost as if the words were falling in ears that were still spiritually
deaf and needed to be opened.
After Mary Magdalene told Peter and John that Jesus was not in the grave, they sprinted out the door and raced to the tomb with Mary following closely behind. John arrived first. The boy John Mark, the writer of the Gospel of "Mark," may have followed them back as well, the young man had a knack for being a silent observer after all, as he had been in the garden on the night of Jesus’ arrest when he narrowly escaped by leaving his clothing in a Roman soldier’s grasp. Peter entered the tomb first, followed by John. They found the white linen which Joseph of Arimethea had wrapped the body in and found the face cloth folded and laying separately. They did not see the angels, almost as if they were still spiritually blind and needed their eyes to be opened and then they left.
After Mary Magdalene told Peter and John that Jesus was not in the grave, they sprinted out the door and raced to the tomb with Mary following closely behind. John arrived first. The boy John Mark, the writer of the Gospel of "Mark," may have followed them back as well, the young man had a knack for being a silent observer after all, as he had been in the garden on the night of Jesus’ arrest when he narrowly escaped by leaving his clothing in a Roman soldier’s grasp. Peter entered the tomb first, followed by John. They found the white linen which Joseph of Arimethea had wrapped the body in and found the face cloth folded and laying separately. They did not see the angels, almost as if they were still spiritually blind and needed their eyes to be opened and then they left.
After Peter and John left, Mary Magdalene, who had carefully
watched over Jesus body a few nights earlier as it was laid in the tomb, who had come earlier with the other women bringing burial spices for the body, now stood outside of it, overwhelmed with grief, 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 the 2 angels all dressed in white. The angels repeated
their message, affirming that Jesus was alive, reminding 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 upset and in denial and disbelief,
she ran into JESUS. At first, Mary thought he was the gardener, the one with
the keys and responsibility for watching over the place. Still in shock but
determined to finish her mission, she asked if he was the one who had carried
Jesus away and asked him to give her the body, but when Jesus said her name, her
spiritual eyes and ears were opened and she recognized him, grabbing on to his
feet, worshipping Him and exclaiming “Teacher.” She was clearly not seeing a
ghost, she physically touched his resurrected, corporeal body. 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. She is the first person recorded under the New Covenant to be told
that she was a child of God. Mary had shown love and care for Jesus in his
death by seeking his body relentlessly. But instead, she found the Living Lord.
Jesus showed great compassion and loving care for Mary in allowing himself to
be found by her. He sent her to tell these things to his brothers. 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. After hearing the word preached and breaking bread, their spiritual ears and eyes were opened to the reality of the risen Lord. 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.
One week later, he appeared to them again and this time Thomas, who hadn’t seen him yet, was able to see and touch his nail scarred hands and the sword scar in his side which proved that 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 appeared to over 500 eyewitnesses. He affirmed the Law of Moses as well as the Prophets and also affirmed the Psalms as being Holy Scripture and opened the minds of his followers 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 which happened on Pentecost. He delivered the Great Commission, calling all of us who are believers to go into all the world, bringing the good news of His Resurrection and of repentance for the forgiveness of sins through His name to every nation, Baptizing and making disciples as we go.
Here are links to the other articles in this series:
