Epaggelia

The sequence of events at the tomb are harmonious if we coincide the reading of each gospel:

Matthew: Mary Magdalene & The other Mary, meet an angel, and run to tell others 28:1-8.

  “But” Jesus later appears to them Mt. 28:9

Mark: Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James & Salome meet an angel and run to tell 

others, Mk. 16:1-8

Luke: “The Women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary mother of James, meet two men in

 dazzling apparel. They leave to tell the 11 disciples. Peter runs to the tomb, sees only 

strips of linen cloth in the empty tomb and goes home, Lk. 24:1-12.

John: Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw the stone rolled away, Then went and

 told Peter. Peter & other disciple run to the tomb and go back home but Mary

 Magdalene stays at the tomb and meets two angels, reminding her that Christ has

 risen, and then she sees Jesus who at first seems to be “a gardener”. Then Mary goes         to tell the disciples that she has seen the risen Lord. Jn. 20:1-18.

When Christ’s resurrection is discovered, the first work God’s angels invoke is to ___________ the message! This should be our emphasis & priority, Mk. 16:7, 10 & 15. The subject of the resurrection is spoken of at least 440 times in the Bible, and without it our faith is futile, 1st Corinthians 15:12-34. From the beginning of Christ’s ministry, he points disciples to the resurrection, John 2:19-22. At the end of the New Testament, The risen Lord Jesus says “Surely I come quickly”, Rev. 22:20.

The promise (Mk. 14:28) of meeting the disciples in Galilee is fulfilled in (Jn. 21:1). Why do you think Jesus wanted to confirm his resurrection in the north of Israel? Perhaps Jesus knew in advance that in order for his disciples to become apostles, that they would need his appearance to strengthen them during their bewildered doubt in such a phenomenal world-changing event. The resurrection of a person resurrected in and of themselves is beyond our understanding, experience and even expectations, so it could be that God wanted to strengthen them in the fact of his miraculous life, so they could share it with the world, who would find it just as phenomenal. He couldn’t leave them alone, and he won’t leave us alone, Heb. 13:5.

There are at least 10 appearances of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament.  A couple times he seems to change his appearance but in most of his appearances he seems to look exactly the same as before his death, except for the scars and then of course much later, Jesus appears in visions to Stephen, Saul who becomes Paul and John in the Revelation. When Mark ends his gospel, it seems abrupt to end it in verse 8, afterall, previously in 15 chapters, Mark has written that Jesus promised to rise and repeated the promise at least 3 different times! So why would he end his gospel without a sighting of the resurrected Jesus appearing? Most scholars attribute the short ending of Chapter 16 to the fact that only 8 manuscripts show the short ending, whereas the majority of manuscripts have the long ending to verse 20. There are several ideas among scholars as to why the long ending is not in some very reputable manuscripts, but suffice it to say that there is nothing uniquely strange in verses 9-20, every thought corresponds harmoniously with the rest of the New Testament so it shouldn’t disturb the authenticity of the gospel as a whole.