Something to Ponder on the Lord’s Day!          

New Testament reading: Luke 24:1-12 - The resurrection revelation

There are similarities in the resurrection stories, but the accounts also vary in detail. In Luke, the women are silent. They simply reach the tomb and discover that the stone has been rolled away (v. 2). Matthew resembles Luke in that the women are silent, but Matthew's narrative reads as if the stone is moved after the women arrive (Matthew 28:1-2). Mark is the only Synoptic to report that the women were talking on their way to Jesus' grave, asking, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" (Mark 16:3).

Some disbelieve scripture because of these subtle anomalies. Still, they actually strengthen the overall credibility of their unified claim, the resurrection revelation, namely that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Even now, whenever the testimony of witnesses agrees in every detail, law enforcement agents and officers of the court tend to suspect a conspiracy and thus doubt whatever claim is being made — whether accompanied with solicited or unsolicited oaths. Consequently, it's sensible to underscore these discrepancies rather than harmonize them due to some ill-advised devotion to perfect agreement between the gospel accounts.

Several years before I answered the call to ministry, I sat with a father as he watched his daughter resting in a hospital bed. Out of grief, he picked up a copy of a Gideon Bible and read where it opened, Matthew's reading of Jesus' crucifixion. After a couple of minutes, he stopped, turned to me, and said, "this Bible isn't right; this is not how the story goes. The thieves don't both insult Jesus; this is a bad translation.” He gave me the Bible to see it, and I turned to Luke's version of the story and showed him the version he remembered.

The difference in the reading does not weaken the unified claim. The resurrection stories may vary in detail, but the revelation that Jesus is alive is evident in each account.

Something to Ponder on the Lord's Day!