DAY 42
CHALLENGE
The Gospel accounts of what happened at Jesus’ tomb contradict one another.
DEFENSE
They do not contradict. They agree on all the core facts, and the differences in detail are due to the literary choices that ancient authors regularly made.
All four agree that women went to Jesus’ tomb after the Sabbath, around dawn on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1–2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). The stone was rolled away, the body was gone, and they encountered an angel (Matt. 28:2–7; Mark 16:4–7; Luke 24:2–7, 10; John 20:1, 11–13).
The evangelists do mention different details. All the Gospels indicate Mary Magdalen was among the women, but Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention her companions. Which ones are mentioned was likely determined by who an evangelist knew to be there, who he thought his audience would recognize, and who he wanted to emphasize.
Matthew and Mark mention one angel, while Luke and John indicate there were two. The formers’ omission of the second angel is an omission, not a contradiction (see Day 37). Mark refers to “a young man . . . in a white robe,” but leaves it to the reader to infer that he was an angel. The others make this explicit, and also take note of his clothing, which is described as “white as snow” (Matthew), “dazzling” (Luke), and simply “white” (John).
The evangelists record different parts of the angels’ message. Mat- thew and Mark mention that Jesus will appear to the disciples in Gali- lee (see Day 115), while Luke and John omit this.
Matthew mentions the guards at the tomb, which he previously mentioned in Matthew 27:62–66. He also records that an angel rolled back the stone. This is implicit in the other three. The way Mat- thew records the angel’s action could be read as a flashback (i.e., what happened before the women arrived). Even without this reading, the evangelists were not bound to record events in chronological order (see Day 89).
John mentions that between the time the women first visited the tomb and the angelic encounter, Peter and John visited the tomb. Peter’s visit is also confirmed in Luke 24:12.
Such variations are choices that an ancient author would be expected to make. None involve contradictions.