My problem: I can't reconcile the accounts in my mind, the events of that weekend are without definition, and together the accounts have less coherence than even I after a few too many.
And when the sabbath was past, Marty Magdalene , and Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome, had brought spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came into the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves , Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away; for it was very great.
Mark 16 1-4
And returned from the sepulchre, and told these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of Jesus and the other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
Luke 24:9-11
In the end of the sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. Matthew 28:1
So Mary Magdalene was there, and presumably Mary (identified twice as the mother of Christ). But the overwhelming sense is that no-one knows who was really there!
Now upon, the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing they spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. Luke 24:1
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome, had brought spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. Mark 16:1-2
And they said among themselves, Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away; for it was very great.
Mark 16 3-4
Matthew is clear: it was opened by an angel in their view.
And behold, there was a big earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. Matthew 28:3
as is Luke: it was open And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre." Luke 24:2
John also suggests it was open, or does he: the ambiguity of the English here is astounding!-
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalane early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
John 20:1
This is the magic: that which was closed is opened in full view by an angel. That which is closed has been opened somehow previously without explanation. That all is truth is attested but cannot be believed. We must accept by faith.
And Mary saw, at the tomb?
A young man?
And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man seated on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrightened And he saieth unto them, be not affrightened: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen;he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
Mark 16:5-6
An angel.
And his countenance was like lighning, and his clothing as whiteas snow. And the guards shook for fear of him and became white as snow. And the angel answerre and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, He is risen, as He said. Come see the place where he lay."
Matthew 28:3-6
Two Angels?
( upon returning to the cave with the disciples Simon Peter and the 'disciple Jesus loved': the disciples, predictably, have given up looking and gone off 'unto their own home'.
But Mary stays on and sees.) But Mary stood without at the sepulchure weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre. And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest though? She saieth unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing,and knew not that it was Jesus.
John 18: 11-14
And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold two men stood by them in shining garments. And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek you the living among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he ws yet in Galilee. Saying the Son of man mustr be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again. Luke 24:4-7
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And, as importantly: the Lord would reappear during the next days, at least twice, and apparently a total of seven or more seperate times.
The rest is up in the air, confused. It may be possible for a pastor to reconcile the accounts, but clearly the complexity and apparent contradiction of the above is such that the only reconciliation be through faith. Others may conclude the Bible writers didn't know what they were talking about at this moment, relegating the writers to chroniclers of events, because the apostles/ church leaders never truly caught up with what happened that day in the 'real' physical sense.
Some attempt to reconcile all accounts with one explanation. Any attempt to reconcile all is like a compromise with our literary skills and intelligence: if we are truly to integrate all the faculties we have: we must take some of the details as being, as evidence, untrue...
This is easier for the later stories and earlier ones, where you can just multiply the images and events, and compare the few accounts of the same events. But here at the tomb, where all things come together, we find the stories a mush and no-one who reads all this can reconcile it all. So it leaves us with this questioning: is this a natural mess-up in the recounting, or a reflection of the unreliability of the sources. Such is faith, and we will never have an end to the questioning. But we must take sides.
I walk away, unconvinced.
