chap15-burial and resurrection

8/10/2019 Chap15-Burial and Resurrection

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Chapter FifteenBURIAL

AND RESURRECTION

THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

We now turn to the central event of Christianity: the resurrection of Jesus. As thetraditional account of the resurrection is very closely tied to the burial account we willanalyze these together in this chapter. Before we start with a detailed analysis of theevents, we will first give a summary of the episode as depicted in ar!.

"t was the day before the #abbath, Joseph of Arimathea a member of the council$the #anhedrin%, as!ed &ilate for Jesus' body for burial. (he )oman governor, after

verifying that Jesus indeed was already dead, granted him the re*uest. Josephwrapped Jesus' body in linen and then placed him in a tomb cut out of roc!. (hen herolled a stone over the entrance of the tomb. (he two arys saw where Jesus waslaid. $ ar! + :- /-0%

1ery early on #unday morning, the two arys and #alome went to Jesus' tombto anoint his body with spices. When they arrived at the tomb they noticed that thestone had been rolled away. (hey saw a young man dressed in white in the tomb. 2etold them Jesus had risen and as!ed the women to tell Jesus' disciples that he willmeet them in 3alilee. (he women ran away from the tomb, frightened and did not tell

anyone what had happened. $ ar! +4:+/5%(hus, in a nutshell, is ar!'s version of Jesus' burial and resurrection.

THE BURIAL

(he account of Jesus' burial is given in all four gospels. As usual we will give ar!'sversion in full and use that as the starting point of our analysis.

ar! + :- /-0When evening had now come, because it was the &reparation 6ay, that is, the day

before the #abbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member who alsohimself was loo!ing for the 7ingdom of 3od, came. 2e boldly went in to &ilate,and as!ed for Jesus' body. &ilate marveled if he were already dead8 and summoningthe centurion, he as!ed him whether he had been dead long. When he found outfrom the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. 2e bought a linen cloth, andta!ing him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had

been cut out of a roc!. 2e rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. aryagdalene and ary, the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.

(he fundamentalist apologist, William 9ane Craig, argues that there are three reasonswhy the account of the burial in ar! is historical: first, it is based on an oldsource;8 second, the accounts of atthew and John provide independent attestation;of its historicity8 and third, there is no conflicting tradition to this account. +

+ Copan < (acelli, Jesus Resurrection : p=

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Before answering his claims we need to loo! at the account in greater detail.any problems and inconsistencies are present in the ar!an passage above and inits relation to the same episode in the other three gospels.

(he first problem starts with the very first verse of the above passage. Whenevening had come; means that it was already sundown $i.e. 4pm% and the new day,which was the #abbath, had already started. >ven if evening can be ta!en the meanan earlier time ?say about -pm@ the problem remains because according to thesynoptics that day, riday, was the first day of &assover. either on a #abbath nor a&assover is any business transaction allowed. et we are told that Joseph purchased alinen shroud on that day . (he wording and arrangement of the passage does not

permit the interpretation that Joseph bought the shroud earlier. And the wor!s of laying Jesus in a tomb and rolling a stone to close it are all the !ind of labor Jewsavoid on the #abbath and on the &assover . (hese difficulties led 6.>. ineham toconclude:

&erhaps the simplest eDplanation is that the story originates from a cycle of tradition which !new of no chronological tie/up between the crucifiDion and the&assover .=

What this means, when translated to lay terms is this: the story of Jesus' last few days being closely tied to the Jewish feast of &assover and the story of the burial of Jesusas told in ar! are mutually eDclusive8 they cannot both be true at the same time. Atleast one of these must be fictitious and the possibility that both of these being

unhistorical is not eDcluded on logical grounds.(he second problem involves the person of Joseph of Arimathea. According toar! he was the member of the council, i.e. the #anhedrin, who was also loo!ing for the !ingdom of 3od. (he gospel of John even made him a secret disciple of Jesus$John +E:=5%. But this is obviously incompatible with what ar! had describedearlier :-

ar! +-: ow the chief priests and the whole council sought witnesses against Jesus to puthim to death, and found none.

"f Joseph of Arimathea was in the #anhedrin, which according to ar!, unanimouslycondemned Jesus, it is unli!ely that he would be described as one who was loo!ingfor the !ingdom of 3od.; "t is even more unli!ely that he would be a disciple of Jesus, as John would have us believe. (he two evangelists who used ar! as their

William 9ane Craig, John 6ominic Crossan and the )esurrection;, in 6avis, 7endall $Anti*uities of the Jews +0:+G:+G%, in 44 C> at the brea!out of the Jewish revolt, the)oman procurator lorus crucified many Jews in a general slaughter which !illed=,4GG including women and children $Jewish War :+-:E% and in 0G C> during thesiege of Jerusalem, (itus allowed his troops to crucify in front of the city wallshundreds of Jews who tried to escape $Jewish War :++:+%. Josephus did not mentionwhether the bodies were eventually allowed burial, but the implication is that theywere not since they were left there to coerce submission of those who were stillalive. ++

"ndeed John 6ominic Crossan has theorized that this is what eDactly happenedto Jesus' body. (hat the corpse was most probably left on the cross and wasultimately devoured by crows and dogs. +

E ichael 3oulder, (he >Dplanatory &ower of Conversion 1isions; in Copan %:

" Corinthians + :=/-or " delivered to you first of all that which " also received:that Christ died for our sins according to the #criptures, that he was buried,that he was raised on the third day according to the #criptures,

&aul mentioned only that Jesus was buried with no elaboration as to the manner of his burial. As 3erd 9Ndemann pointed out in his debate on the resurrection with WilliamCraig, the statement about his burial belongs in the same section as the statementabout his death. 2is burial reinforces the account that he died and is separate from thestatement about his resurrection. + (his grouping of the verses above is logical andconsistent.

&aul formed a very clear/cut dichotomy in his theology between Jesus' death andresurrection:

&hilippians :5/E

+E 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of Jesus : p-=G 9Ndemann, &hat Really Happened to Jesus: p+ Copan < (acelli, Jesus Resurrection : p--

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And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death,yes, the death of the cross. (herefore 3od also highly eDalted him, and gave to himthe name which is above every name8

" Corinthians +: =?W@e preach Christ crucified8 a stumbling bloc! to Jews, and foolishness to 3ree!s

(he death of Jesus was a stumbling bloc!;, a form of foolishness; or madness .Jesus' eDaltation as we have seen in " Corinthians + :=/- #e!an with his resurrection,

prior to this we have his death as a stumbling bloc!; and foolishness.; (hus thestructure of the passage e%cludes the possibility that Jesus had an honorable burial L for that would imply that his eDaltation had already begun. "f the burial is part of Jesus' death, it was therefore part of the folly; or madness.; (his is consistent witha dishonorable burial.

>vidence from Christian writings outside the ew (estament attests to the presence of this alternate tradition: that the Jews who had Jesus !illed were those whotoo! him down and buried him and that his burial was a dishonorable one. We findsuch references in two early second century teDts, the Apocryphon of James and the3ospel of &eter: =

Apocryphon of James ?Jesus spea!ing@ r do you not !now that you have not yet been mistreated andhave not yet been accused unMustly, nor have you yet been shut up in prison, nor have you yet been condemned lawlessly, nor have you yet been crucified without

reason, nor have you yet been #uried shamefully( as was - myself , by the evil oneH3ospel of &eter 4: +And then the Jews drew the nails from the hands of the 9ord and laid him on theearth.

(he 3ospel of &eter also added that women were not allowed to mourn for Jesus bythe Jewish authorities - and planned to do so only in secret on the third day:

3ospel of &eter + :? n #unday morning@ And they ? ary agdalene and her women friends@ fearedlest the Jews should see them, and said, Although we could not weep and lamenton that day when he was crucified, yet let us now do so at his sepulchre.;

(hus there is a strong alternate tradition of Jesus being buried by the Jews who werenot friendly; to him and that he was buried dishonorably by the very same peoplewho had a hand in his arrest and ultimate crucifiDion.

According to artin 2engel, the word used by &aul, moria $translated asfoolishness;% does not denote lac! of wisdom or intelligence but is more a!in to mania$ madness;% ?2engel, Resurrection : p+@

= &eter 7irby, (he Case Against the >mpty (omb;, in &rice < 9owder, The ,mptyTom# : p -4/ -5

- c3rath, The Burial of Jesus : p0

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TRA!ECTORY OF THE BURIAL ACCOUNT

We find in the gospel accounts a tendency to ma!e the burial less and lessdishonorable. (able + .+ on the neDt page shows this evolution. (he story of the burialof Jesus can be seen above to have evolved towards ma!ing his burial more and morehonorable. A simple roc! tomb has become a new tomb in atthew, an unused tombin 9u!e and a new and unused tomb located in a garden in John. Jesus was simplywrapped in linen; in ar!. "n atthew it is added that this linen is clean;. While inJohn we are told Jesus' body was embalmed with +GG pounds of myrrh and aloesKJoseph of Arimathea, who was described in ar! as a member of the #anhedrin whowas also loo!ing for the !ingdom of 3od,; becomes a rich man who was a discipleof Jesus in atthew and a council member who was a good and righteous man; in9u!e. John added the point that Joseph was a secret disciple.

Burial Account: Jesus' body Joseph of Arimatheaar! + :- /-0$c. 0G C>%

/ wrapped in linen shroud and/ placed in a roc! tomb

/ A respectable member of thecouncil $i.e. #anhedrin%/ 9oo!ing for the 7ingdom of 3od

atthew 0: 0/4+$c. EG C>%

/ wrapped in clean linen shroudand

/ placed in a new roc! tomb

/ A rich man $ o mention madeof him being in the #anhedrin%

/ A disciple of Jesus9u!e =: G/ 4$c. E C>%

/ wrapped in linen shroud and/ placed in a roc! tomb where noone had yet #een laid

/ A member of the council/ A good and righteous man/ &ho had not consented to thedeed of the Sanhedrin 4

John +E:=5/-$c. +GG C>%

/ wrapped in linen shroud and/ anointed with vast *uantities of

perfume/ placed in a new rock tom#

where no one had ever #een laid located in a !arden

/ A secret disciple of Jesus

(able + :+ >volution of the Burial Account

(his traMectory continues in the gospel of &eter.

cCane, Roll Back the Stone : p+G+, +G4 (his statement is possible because 9u!e avoided saying earlier that the whole

#anhedrin condemned Jesus

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3ospel of &eter 4: =/ -And the Jews reMoiced, and gave his body to Joseph that he might bury it, since hehad seen all the good things that he had done. And he too! the 9ord, washed him,wrapped him in linen and brought him unto his own sepulchre , called Joseph's3arden.;

2ere we are told that Joseph washed Jesus' body and he was placed in the tomb of Joseph's family. (hen we are told that the women came to the tomb with the intentionof mournin! for Jesus:

3ospel of &eter + : G/ +>arly in the morning of the 9ord's day, ary agdalene, a woman disciple of the9ord L for fear of the Jews, since they were inflamed with wrath, she had not doneat the sepulchre of the "ord what women are wont to do for their #eloved of themwho die / too! with her her women friends and came to the sepulchre where he waslaid.

"f we recall earlier, a dishonorable burial consists of not being buried in the familytomb and not being mourned. With the gospel of &eter the traMectory is complete /Jesus is now placed in a family tomb 0 $albeit Joseph's family% and he was to bemourned by the women L his burial is no longer dishonorable. 5

(hus we can see later gospels trying their best to reduce the dishonorableelements in Jesus' burial found in the ar!an account. ur *uestion now is this: isthe ar!an account already on this traMectory or was it the starting point, the historical

datumH ote that the ar!an burial account did not say that the tomb was new or thatit was unused. Jesus' body was probably not the only one in the tomb. "f one removesthe remar! about Joseph of Arimathea as one loo!ing for the !ingdom of 3od;,

0 "n GG0, 6iscovery Channel aired the documentary (he 9ost (omb of Jesus; inwhich some scholars $namely James (abor and Charles &ellegrino% claimed to havediscovered the family tomb of Jesus at (alpiot, a location close to the old city of Jerusalem. A boo! entitled The Jesus Family Tom# co/authored by &ellegrino and

Mournalist, #imcha Jacobovici, was published around the same time. (he documentaryand the boo! claimed that the tomb contained the bones of Jesus, ary and aryagdalene and other relatives of Jesus. "t must be mentioned that one of the claimants,James (abor, is a legitimate biblical scholar. 2is blog on the (alpiot tomb can beaccessed via this F)9: http:PPMesusdynasty.comPblogPcategoryPtalpiot/Mesus/family/tombP?accessed on ebruary +=, GG5@. 2owever it is unli!ely that the claim is correct. At aconference in Jerusalem in January GG5 on Jewish burial practices during the #econd(emple period, seventeen prominent biblical scholars and archaeologists issued a Mointstatement in order to ma!e it clear that the maMority of scholars in attendance L including

all of the archaeologists and epigraphers who presented papers relating to the tomb /either reMect the identification of the (alpiot tomb as belonging to Jesus' family or findthis claim highly speculative.;?(he full teDt of their statement is available at http:PPdu!ereligion.blogspot.comP GG5PG+Ptalpiot/tomb/controversy/revisited.html /accessed on ebruary +=, GG5@

5 cCane, Roll Back the Stone : p+G /+G=


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ar!'s description is that of Jesus' dishonorable burial in a common undergroundtomb reserved for criminals performed by a (orah/observant council member . E =G

(his leads us naturally to the neDt *uestion: was Joseph of Arimathea anhistorical personH We can immediately see the difficulty involved here, when we notethat even the town of Arimathea is probably a fictitious townK As the scholar >.3oldin 2yman pointed out, there is no record in the ld (estament, (orah, (almud or anywhere else eDcept in the gospels of a place called Arimathea. =+ Attempts to identifythe place with )amathaim $" accabees ++:=-% and )amathaim/Oophim $" #amuel+:+% are based on pure conMecture.= 2ow certain can we be of the eDistence of a

person who came from a non/eDistent townH #ome theologians have neverthelessemployed some rather convoluted reasoning to enforce the opposite view:

?Joseph of Arimathea@ Apart from this incident, an entirely un!nown figure8 if hesubse*uently became a Christian, he does not appear to be a particularly well/

!nown one, so there would #e no o#vious reason for attributing the burial of Jesusto him unless he had in fact been responsible for it. == ?emphasis added@

(he passage above shows how even critical historians, as ineham doubtless was,could lose their obMectivity when dealing with fundamental issues crucial to their faith. (here is an obvious reason. ur analysis above on Jewish practice and on thealternate tradition of Jesus' burial showed that Jesus very probably was buried by thevery people who had a hand in having him eDecuted. (his was probably the traditionthat ar! had. 2e was in a dilemma. 2ow to present Jesus' burial in as positive a

light as possible given the fact that the tradition !nown to him, and probably to somein the potential audience of his boo!, is that Jesus was buried by his enemiesH (hesolution, as John 6ominic Crossan suggested, is the invention of an in/between;character, a member of the council who was nearly a disciple of Jesus $i.e. one alsoloo!ing for the !ingdom of 3od.;%. =-

(his also answers Craig's rather naQve rhetorical *uestion about the burial byJoseph in his summary of the debate with 9Ndemann:

#o why no burial account of burial by some faithful disciple of Jesus or by hisfamily or by )omans as the direction of a sympathetic &ilateH =

(he answer is simple: ar! was constrained by the tradition available to him. Andthat tradition stated that Jesus was buried by the same people who had a hand in hiscondemnation. (he best he could do, li!e what atthew, 9u!e and John did with his

E cCane, Roll Back the Stone : p+G=G f course, to say that Jesus was buried; by a (orah/observant council member does

not mean that the latter actually did the burial himself. 2e probably arranged for othersto do it. (hus to say that Joseph buried; Jesus would be a!in to saying #olomon built;the (emple. ? c3rath, The Burial of Jesus : p0 @

31 >. 3oldin 2yman, (he Case of the azarene )eopened;, ew or! +E-5 *uoted inerby, Judas( My Brother : p G5

= ineham, Saint Mark : p-=-== ineham, Saint Mark : p-=-=- Crossan, &ho 'illed Jesus) : p+0 /+0== Copan < (acelli, Jesus Resurrection : p+5

=


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account, was to nudge and change the tradition in such a way that his redactional purpose is served.

or our purposes it is not important whether the name of the Jewish councilmember who buried Jesus was actually Joseph . What is important is that ar!'sdescription of him / as a respected council member who had not consented to their actions and as one loo!ing for the !ingdom of 3od.; L is the evangelist's fictionaladdition.

CONCLUSION ON THE BURIAL OF !ESUS

All the evidence points to the fact that Jesus was dishonorably buried in a tombreserved for common criminals by Jews who were probably involved in his eDecution.As is the case with such tombs, Jesus' body would not be the only one interred there.

MATTHEW"S INTERLUDE

atthew added a further episode between the burial of Jesus and the discovery of theempty tomb. "n atthew 0:4 /44 he tells us that the chief priests and the &hariseesas!ed &ilate to place a guard on the tomb so that the disciples cannot steal Jesus' bodyand claimed that he was resurrected. (o further ensure against the eDpected theft, theysealed the tomb. (his episode is not found in any of the other gospels. 9et us firstloo! at the passage in full:

atthew 0:4 /44 ow on the neDt day, which was the day after the &reparation 6ay, the chief priestsand the &harisees were gathered together to &ilate, saying, #ir, we remember whatthat deceiver said while he was still alive: RAfter three days " will rise again.'Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhapshis disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, R2e is risenfrom the dead8' and the last deception will be worse than the first.; &ilate said tothem, ou have a guard. 3o, ma!e it as secure as you can.; #o they went with theguard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.

)emember that Jesus died on a riday, so the neDt day; is #aturday L the Jewish#abbath. We are thus as!ed to believe that devout Jews would be holding their meeting with &ilate on a #abbath day L an improbable proposition. (his fact alone

proves that the story is fiction. =4

"n the synoptic gospels, Jesus' own disciples were portrayed as notcomprehending his words predicting his resurrection on the third day. =0 et in this

passage we are as!ed to believe that the chief priests and the &harisees were not Mustaware of these sayings of Jesus but completely understood what he meantK =5

(here are further problems with the story. or in inserting this episode atthew

had had to alter the straightforward account of ar!, which was supported by 9u!e.

=4 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of $hrist : pE+=0 #ee ar! 5:=G/= $ atthew +4: +/ =%, ar! E:E/+G < E:=G/= $ atthew +0: / =8

9u!e E:-=/- %=5 c3rath, The Burial of Jesus : p5-/5

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"n ar! $and 9u!e% the women went to the tomb on #unday morning to anoint the#ody of Jesus $ ar! +4:+8 9u!e -:+%. atthew had changed this to say that thewomen simply went to look at the tom# $ atthew 5:+%. (his change was notaccidental. (he writer of atthew was probably aware of the inconsistency in hisstory had he left it the way it was recorded in ar!8 for it was most unli!ely that thewomen would have been unaware of the fact that a guard had been put on the tomb.

"n fact it can be seen that atthew's insertion serves a purely apologetic purpose. or after relating the account of Jesus' appearance to the women, he addsanother little episode:

atthew 5:++/+ ow while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and toldthe chief priests all the things that had happened. When they were assembled withthe elders, and had ta!en counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers,

saying, #ay that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. "f this comes to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and ma!e you free of worry.; #o they too! the money and did as they were told. (his saying was spreadabroad among the Jews, and continues until this day.

ow the purpose of atthew's earlier insertion becomes clear. "t was meant as adefense against stories that were circulating among the Jews around the last decade of the first century8 i.e. that the disciples stole the body of Jesus.

ot only is the account of the guard at the tomb incompatible with that of theother gospels, the story itself is ludicrous. 2ow is it that &ilate, himself no friend of the Jews, could so readily agree with posting a guard at the tombH 2ow could thechief priests convince the Roman guards of their ability to get them off the hoo! withthe Roman governorH

atthew's story is fundamentally incompatible with the other gospels and iswritten for a very clear apologetic purpose. urthermore the internal logic of the storydoes not sound plausible. "n short, this athean interlude is pure fiction. =E

THE EMPTY TOMB

(he fact; that the tomb Jesus was laid in was empty on that #unday morning is oneof the most often touted proof; of the fundamentalists for Jesus' actual resurrection.(o *uote a typical remar! by apologist Josh c6owell:

2ow can we eDplain the empty tombH ...on overwhelming historical evidenceChristians believe that Jesus was bodily resurrected.. . -G

#o what is this overwhelming historical evidence; the fundamentalists spea! ofHne would thin!, based on such overconfident assertions, that the accounts in the

39 CadouD, The "ife of Jesus : p G4 Craveri, The "ife of Jesus : p-G= 3uignebert, Jesus : p-E= 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of $hrist : pE4/E0-G c6owell, More Than a $arpenter : pE


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gospels support each other to such an eDtent that it would be impossible to deny theactual historical occurrence of the empty tomb.

According to the harmonized version, the women; discovered the empty tomb.(he obvious *uestion would be: which women) 9et the gospels spea! for themselves:

ar! +4:+When the #abbath was past, Mary Ma!dalene( and Mary the mother of James( and Salome , bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.

atthew 5:+ ow after the #abbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the wee!, Mary Ma!dalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

9u!e -:+, E/+GBut on the first day of the wee!, at early dawn, they ?i.e. the women@ and someothers came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had preparedI ow theywere Mary Ma!dalene( Joanna( and Mary the mother of James . (he other womenwith them told these things to the apostles.

John G:+ ow on the first day of the wee!, Mary Ma!dalene went early, while it was stilldar!, to the tomb, and saw the stone ta!en away from the tomb.

ar! said that there were three women, namely ary agdalene, ary the mother of James and #alome who saw the tomb empty. atthew however said that only the twoarys were there. 9u!e simply said the women; he later identified their number asmore than three, but the only three names he gave do not coincide with ar!'s.According to 9u!e they were the two arys and Joanna. John contradicts all thesewhen he mentioned that only one woman witnessed the empty tomb, aryagdalene. (hus we have different names and no agreement as to the num#er of women who witnessed the empty tomb.

(he overwhelming historical evidence; begins to crumble: the gospels couldnot even agree on the fundamental issue as to whom $and how many% the witnesses tothe empty tomb wereK (his is not the only difficulty regarding the accounts of theempty tomb.

"n what condition was the tomb actually discoveredH ar! says that the stone atthe tomb was already rolled away when the women arrived $ ar! +4:-%. 9u!e is inagreement with ar! $9u!e -: %. John, too, said that the stone was already removedwhen ary of agdala arrived $John G:+%. atthew who, if you remember, had thetomb guarded by sentries narrated the accounts in such a way that would lead animpartial reader to conclude that the women witnessed the stoned being rolled away

by an earth*ua!e and an angel from heaven $ atthew 5:+/ %. (his account $of theearth*ua!e and the angel% comes from the same author who mentioned dead peoplecoming to life when Jesus died, an event uncorroborated by the other gospels. (he

presence of angels, in itself, ma!es the historicity of the story eDtremely doubtful.(he evangelists can't even agree on the eDact setting in which the news of Jesus'

rising was conveyed to the women. ar! said it was a person dressed in white in thetom# who told them this:

ar! +4: /4

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>ntering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in awhite robe, and they were amazed. 2e said to them, 6on't be amazed. ou see! Jesus, the azarene, who has been crucified. 2e has risen. 2e is not here. Behold,the place where they laid himK

atthew said it was an angel who sat on the stone L hence outside the tomb / he had Must rolled away from Jesus' tomb.

atthew 5: /4Behold, there was a great earth*ua!e, for an angel of the 9ord descended from thes!y, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it. (he angelanswered the women, 6on't be afraid, for " !now that you see! Jesus, who has

been crucified. 2e is not here, for he has risen, Must li!e he said. Come, see the place where the 9ord was lying.;

9u!e had two men in dazzling clothing; tell the women Jesus had risen.

9u!e -: /4(hey found the stone rolled away from the tomb. (hey entered in, and didn't findthe 9ord Jesus' body. "t happened, while they were greatly perpleDed about this,

behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing. Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. (hey said to them, Why do you see! theliving among the deadH 2e isn't here, but is risen.;

John, although in agreement with 9u!e about the number of angels present, tells acompletely different story. 2ere the two beings did not more than as! ary why sheis crying. (he actual announcement of the resurrection was made by Jesus himself.

John G:++/+0But ary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. #o, as she wept, she stoopedand loo!ed into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head,and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. (hey told her, Woman, whyare you weepingH; #he said to them, Because they have ta!en away my 9ord, and" don't !now where they have laid him.; When she had said this, she turned around

and saw Jesus standing, and didn't !now that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her,Woman, why are you weepingH Who are you loo!ing forH; #he, supposing him to

be the gardener, said to him, #ir, if you have carried him away, tell me where youhave laid him, and " will ta!e him away.; Jesus said to her, ary.; #he turned andsaid to him, )abboniK; which is to say, (eacher; Jesus said to her, 6on't holdme, for " haven't yet ascended to my ather8 but go to my brothers, and tell them, R"am ascending to my ather and your ather, to my 3od and your 3od.'

(here is an episode in 9u!e about &eter running to the tomb when he heard the newsfrom the women $9u!e -:+ % that is not found in the other synoptics. (o a certain

eDtent 9u!e's story is corroborated by John. But this evangelist had &eter race to thetomb with the beloved disciple $John G:=/E%, whereas in 9u!e, &eter went to thetomb alone.

any more loose ends remain. (he gospels cannot agree as to what commandwas given to the women. ar! and atthew made the angel tell the women to

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(hen he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain untilnow, but some have also fallen asleep. (hen he appeared to James, then to all theapostles, and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to mealso.

ote in the above passage that there is neither any mention of an empty tomb nor of its discovery by the women. "f the discovery of the empty tomb was the essential

proof of Jesus' resurrection, &aul's silence in " Corinthians is ineDplicable. As thewhole of the + th chapter of this epistle to the Corinthians was a vigorous attempt by&aul to prove to some doubting (homases there of the reality of the resurrection. or &aul himself had said in the same letter:

" Corinthians + :+-"f Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in

vain.

(he appearance of angels to the women announcing the risen Christ would have beenespecially convincing. (hen why didn't &aul say anything about the empty tombH -=

We have seen earlier in the analysis of the burial account that Acts +=: 5/=+ preservedan earlier tradition of Jesus' dishonorable burial8 this is the passage, redacted as asermon of &aul:

Acts +=: 5/=+(hough they found no cause for death, they still as!ed &ilate to have him !illed.When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they too! him downfrom the tree, and laid him in a tomb. But 3od raised him from the dead, and hewas seen for many days by those who came up with him from 3alilee to Jerusalem,who are his witnesses to the people.

ote that there are mentions of appearances but not of an empty tomb and thediscovery by the women. ne would eDpect the sermons such as the above to includea sentence regarding this. et, li!e the passage from &aul's epistle, this sermon issilent regarding the empty tomb. (hus, in these early testimonies we find no mention

of the empty tomb. (he balance of evidence strongly suggests that the earliesttestimonies of Jesus' resurrection were based on the appearances of the risen prophetnot on the empty tomb .--

.(. Wright tried to argue that, despite what we have seen above, the emptytomb account is presupposed in " Corinthians.+ :=/-. 2is argument is based on the

premise that &aul's statement that Jesus was buried and then raised; presupposes thestory of the discovery of the empty tomb in the same way that " wal!ed down thestreet; presupposes on my feet;. According to Wright, the empty tomb was whatalerted the followers that something eDtraordinary has happened .-

-= 3uignebert, Jesus : p GG 2elms, .ospel Fictions : p+=G44 CadouD, The "ife of Jesus : p+44 3uignebert, Jesus : p-EE/ GG- Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of .od : p= +

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Fnfortunately this is Must another case of a conservative theologian reading intothe teDt what is not there. As 3erd 9Ndemann has pointed out the statement aboutJesus being buried is tied to Jesus' death, as a way of saying he was really dead andnot someone who merely looked li!e he was dead. -4 "ndeed the passage in "Corinthians + :=/- can be naturally divided this way:

9ine +: that Christ died for our sins according to the #criptures, that he was buried9ine : that he was raised on the third day according to the #criptures

(hat burial is an indication that the person is really dead can be found from the(almudic tractate, Semahot +:-/ which states that preparations for burial can only

begin once one is certain that death has occurred. -0 (hus the very fact that Jesus was buried confirms to the hearers that he was actually dead and that his resurrection wasnot a mere resuscitation of someone who had fainted or had feigned death. (his fits

the whole conteDt better that Wright's hypothesis that the whole tradition of thediscovery of the empty tomb is somehow compressed in that one passage that he was

buried.;(he gospel accounts were all written after the destruction of Jerusalem when it

was no longer possible to ascertain whether there was such an empty tomb or not.(he actual location of the tomb, if it ever eDisted, is no longer !nown. At presentthere are two locations in Jerusalem that are being claimed by believers to be theactual burial site of Jesus.

&rotestant pilgrims favor the tomb discovered at the 3ordon Calvary;/ named

after the +Eth century British general, Charles 3ordon, who discovered the site. nthe site, situated north of the +4th century (ur!ish built wall of the city, sits a smallhill. (he hill has two caves, which viewed from a distance, loo!ed li!e a s!ull.2owever, there is not a shred of evidence in favor of this site as the actual burial siteof Jesus. "n fact, the tomb claimed to be the actual tomb in which Jesus was laid, has

been shown conclusively by eDperts to be of a later origin. -5

(he other location, at the Church of the 2oly #epulcher was discovered; byBishop arcarius of Jerusalem during the time of Constantine in = 4 as a result of divine revelation.; f course with such an inspiration there was no reason for the

discoverer to Mustify the choice of location.-E

"n short, no weight can be given to thissite allocated by tradition. "t certainly was not !nown before the -th century. G Allthese considerations had forced theologians, such as C.J. CadouD, to conclude:

-4 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of $hrist : p- , +=En-0 cCane, Roll Back the Stone : p=+-5 illard, /iscoveries From the Time of Jesus : p+ 4/+ 0-E (he >mpress 2elena, upon being informed of the discovery, duly found at

the site a chip from the original cross, the crown of thorns and the lance which piercedJesus' sideK

50 Craveri, The "ife of Jesus : p=E- 3uignebert, Jesus : p-E= ineham, Saint Mark : p- Wilson, Jesus: "ife : p +

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?"@t is impossible to be sure who, if anyone, actually saw an empty tomb . +

"t should also be !ept in mind that &alestinian Jews, as Jesus' original followers were,had no conception of the continuance of the life of the soul without the revival of the

body, which was a 3ree! concept. (he disciples of Jesus would have regarded theappearances of Jesus as proof that the tomb was empty L or at least empty of Jesus'

body ?the idea that the tomb was new and unused is a later development of the legendas we have seen@.

(he considerations above show that the story of the empty tomb was asecondary development in the early Christian apologetics for the resurrection of Jesus."t was closely connected to the story of the burial of Jesus, which historicity is alsodoubtful. We will now loo! at fundamentalist attempts to save; the empty tomb.

undamentalist apologists tend to mention two factors which they said guaranteethe historicity of the empty tomb story. irstly it is claimed that women's low social

status in &alestinian society means that they lac! *ualification to serve as legalwitnesses; and any invention of the empty tomb story would not have used them as

principle eye/witnesses. = #econdly it is claimed that the fact that the tomb was notvenerated means that it was empty. ne apologist wrote:

$(he early Christians% did not venerate it precisely because it was empty. (ombs assuch were not venerated. "t was the tombs containing remains of the deceased thatwas venerated. -

n the women, remember that the gospel of ar! mentioned that the women did not tell anyone else what they saw:

ar! +4:5(hey went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had comeon them. They said nothin! to anyone* for they were afraid .

(his is the ending of the original ar!, as we will see later, the account of theappearances of Jesus in the last twelve verses of ar! is not found in the earliestmanuscripts and is a later addition to the gospel. f course, atthew and 9u!e bothtried to correct this oversight; of ar! and had the women tell the disciples anyway.(heir additions are clearly redactional and add nothing of historical value.

(he account in ar! does not allow for this. #ince the women did not tellanyone, ar!'s purpose could not have been to claim them as relia#le eye/witnesses.(his points us to the clue as to why ar! narrated the story this way. #ince ar!,written circa 0G C>, is the earliest written source for the empty tomb story, it is li!elythat he anticipated being confronted by some of his audience with protestations li!e2ey, " have been a Christian a long time and have heard lots of stories about Jesus,

+ CadouD, The "ife of Jesus : p+44 CadouD, The "ife of Jesus : p+44

= William 9ane Craig, John 6ominic Crossan and the )esurrection;, in 6avis,7endall < Collins, The Resurrection : p E

- )obert 3undry, (aming the 6ebate; in Copan and (acelli, Jesus Resurrection : p++-n+G

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how come " have never heard of this one about the empty tombH; #o ar!'s ending ishis way of anticipating this, as if replying h, you !now what women are li!e,

brother, they panic!ed and didn't tell anyone for a long time. (hat is why nobody hasheard of this before.; As 3erd 9Ndemann noted:

By intimating that the women fail to relay the message of the resurrection, ar! implicitly identifies himself as the first to proclaim the story of the empty tomb. 4

As for the argument that the tomb not being venerated means that it was empty, JohnBarclay, 9ecturer of Biblical #tudies at the Fniversity of 3lasgow, noted that this:

completely bac!fires: the tomb would not have to contain Jesus' body for it to bevenerated $cf. (he 2oly #epulchre% and, indeed, the lac! of veneration mightsupport the case that the whereabouts of Jesus burial was simply un!nown. 0

Barclay's assertion is to the point. (he best evidence that empty tombs werevenerated is that of the 2oly #epulchre itself. When Jesus' tomb was rediscovered;in = 4 a shrine was immediately put around it and pilgrims have venerated the placesince this time . 5 As Joachim Jeremais noted:

(he world of sacred tombs was a real element of the environment in which theearliest communities lived. "t is inconceivable that, living in this world, it couldhave allowed the tomb of Jesus to be forgotten. (hat is all the more the case sincefor it the one who had lain in the tomb was more than one of those Must men,martyrs and prophet . E

(hus the two maMor arguments for the historicity of the empty tombs dissolve into thinair.

Another recent attempt to argue for this historicity of the empty tomb has beenforwarded by .(. Wright. 2e claimed that the empty tomb was a necessary conditionto ma!e the resurrection appearances believable. Without the empty tomb, sightingsof the risen Jesus would have been classified as visions of hallucinations, whichwere well enough !nown in the ancient world.; 4G

et this ignores the fact that in many instances of reported sightings, these visualeDperiences themselves are accepted as evidence of the reality of the occurrencewithout any accompanying physical or tangible evidence. (hus we have even inmodern times reports of sightings such as that of the 1irgin ary, F s, Bigfoot, and

essie all of which are generally accepted by believers to be evidence for their respective beliefs even without the availability of any other physical evidence. Wrightis claiming a level of scientific s!epticism on behalf of the ancients; that is unusual

ichael 3oulder, (he Baseless abric of A 1ision;, in 6'Costa, Resurrection Reconsidered : p 0/ 5

4 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of the $hrist : p500 John Barclay, (he )esurrection in Contemporary ew (estament #cholarship; in

6'Costa, Resurrection Reconsidered : p =5 illard, /iscoveries from the Time of Jesus : p+ 5/+ EE *uoted in 9Ndeman, &hat Really Happened to Jesus : p+=E4G Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of .od : p454

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even today. urthermore, as 3erd 9Ndemann pointed out, in the maMority of cases thereport that Jesus was seen alive was sufficient for the would/be believer in thosetimes .4+ (hat indeed this is the case can be surmised from John G: E in the story of doubting (homas where those who have not seen and yet believed; are praised for their faith.

We can conclude that the story of the empty tomb is, in all probability, aninvention of ar!. 2ow did ar! get the idea of the women at the tombH As we haveseen in chapter E, ar! was written by and for 3entiles. (hus the invention of thestory happened in a culture of worship of pagan gods and of adherence to mysteryreligions miDed with religions such as Judaism. As )obert &rice pointed out the storydeveloped from the amalgamation of a female mourning cult such as those whoworship the slain gods and the ancient apotheosis narrative where the hero turns upmissing and cannot be found by his companions. (he mourning of slain gods can befound in the ld (estament $e.g. (ammuz ?>ze!iel 5:+-@ < Baal 2addad ?Oechariah+ :++@% and in the legends of siris. (he pagan culture was filled with myths of searching goddesses; such as Cybele, "shtar, "sis, Aphrodite and Anat. #tories of amissing hero can be found in the legends of 2ercules, Aristeaus, Aeneas and)omulus. 4

"t seems very li!ely that none of Jesus' disciples were witnesses to the eventsfollowing his arrest .4= (his is firmly supported by the fact that it is in these episodesthat the evangelists had to rely on ld (estament passages to reconstruct the events asthey thought it might have happened. (he stories of Jesus' burial by Joseph of Arimathea and the discovery of an empty tomb by the women are products of the

Christian imagination. A fictional eDpansion of their hope historicized. (hisconclusion has been, albeit reluctantly, accepted by non/fundamentalist theologians.Bishop John #helby #pong in his boo! Resurrection: Myth or Reality) $+EE-% had thisto say about the empty tombs and the events surrounding it:

(here is a strong probability that the story of Joseph of Arimathea was developedto cover the apostles' pain at the memory of Jesus' having no one to claim his bodyand of his death as a common criminal. 2is body was probably dumpedunceremoniously into a common grave, the location of which has never been!nown / then or now. (his fragment in &aul's sermon in Acts thus rings withstartling accuracy...the empty tomb tradition does not appear to be part of the

primitive !erygma .4-

THE RESURRECTION

(he first account of Jesus appearances we will loo! at is the account in the last twelveverses of ar!:

ar! +4:E/ G

4+ 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of $hrist : p GG4 &rice, The -ncredi#le Shrinkin! Son of Man : p===/==4= Again ar! +-: G $(hey all left him, and fled.% comes to mind. (here were

no eyewitnesses because all his followers ran away after he was arrested.4- #pong, Resurrection: Myth or Reality : p

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ow when he had risen early on the first day of the wee!, he appeared first to aryagdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. #he went and told thosewho had been with him, as they mourned and wept. When they heard that he wasalive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved. After these things he wasrevealed in another form to two of them, as they wal!ed, on their way into the

country. (hey went away and told it to the rest. (hey didn't believe them, either.Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and herebu!ed them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn't believethose who had seen him after he had risen. 2e said to them, 3o into all the world,and preach the 3ood ews to the whole creation. 2e who believes and is baptizedwill be saved8 but he who disbelieves will be condemned. (hese signs willaccompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons8 they willspea! with new languages8 they will ta!e up serpents8 and if they drin! any deadlything, it will in no way hurt them8 they will lay hands on the sic!, and they willrecover.; #o then the 9ord Jesus, after he had spo!en to them, was received up into

heaven, and sat down at the right hand of 3od. (hey went out, and preachedeverywhere, the 9ord wor!ing with them, and confirming the word by the signsthat followed. Amen.

(he diligent reader will note that these twelve verses sounds very much li!e asummary of all of Jesus resurrection appearances given in the gospels of atthew,9u!e, John and the boo! of Acts. (his may seem surprising as we have shown inchapter E that ar! was written earlier than all of these. But there is really no

perpleDity here, for it is in fact proven that these last twelve verses were never part of the ori!inal !ospel of Mark and were added in much later . (he proofs are as follows:

+ (he style, content and whole character of the last twelve verses are clearlynon/ ar!an. "n fact the style, vocabulary and verses are completelydifferent from the rest of ar!. 4 As ineham pointed out:

>ven a cursory reading will ma!e clear that the passage is notcomposed of traditional pericopaes such as we have encountered in thegospel proper but of brief resumes of stories and sayings alreadyreported more fully in other written gospels particularly 9u!e andActs. 44

(he early church fathers such as Clement of AleDandria $c+ G/c + %,rigen $c+5 / -% and (ertullian $c+4G/c % never *uoted any versesfrom ar! after the eighth verse of chapter +4. "n fact down to the year = the passage from ar! 4:E/ G was *uoted only once, by "reneaus in+5G C>, in the whole of Christian literature .40

= "n the -th century the Christian historian, >usebius $c 4-/=-G%, in his wor! d Marinum 0 stated that in the accurate manuscripts ar! ended with the

4 ineham, Saint Mark : p-=E,--E44 ineham, Saint Mark : p- G67 Bentley, Secrets of Mount Sinai : p+05 ineham, Saint Mark : p--E/- G 3uignebert, Jesus : p GE/ +G

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words Rfor they were afraid' ? ar! +4:5@.; (his opinion is also shared bythe famous fourth century theologian #t. Jerome $c=-G/- G%. 45

- "n all the important and earliest eDtent manuscripts of the Bible, the $ode%1aticanus , the $ode% Sinaiticus and the $ode% Syriacus , the last twelve

verses of ar! are conspicuously missing. All these manuscripts end atar! +4:5 .4E

#ome later manuscripts to do have this ending add asteris!s to these lasttwelve verses, probably to show they need deleting. #ome even have notesstating that these verses do not appear in older copies. 0G

4 Both atthew and 9u!e used the ar!an gospel eDtensively $see chapter 4for proof of this%, both stic!ing to the basic narrative in that gospel. et

both atthew and 9u!e have completely different accounts of the

appearances of Jesus. (his also strongly suggests that the copies of ar! used by these evangelists ended at verse eight of chapter siDteen. 0+

All the above considerations present a compelling case for the spuriousness of ar! +4:E/ G. (here is no longer any respectable scholar that holds the opinion that theseverses may be part of the original ar!. (he *uotation by "reneaus in +5G C>mentioned above and the fact that it presupposes !nowledge of the other gospelssuggests a second century origin for these verses. 0

"n fact, from the -th century onwards there appeared another spurious ending toar! which ta!es the place of ar! +4:E/ G. (his ending can be found in some latemanuscripts $after the -th century C>%. 3iven below is that variant ending $placedimmediately after ar! +4:5 for they were afraid;%:

But they ?the three women@ briefly reported to those in the company of &eter allthey had been told. And after this Jesus himself appeared to them, and sent out bymeans of them, from the east to the west, the holy and imperishable message of eternal salvation. 0=

eedless to say, ar!an authorship is also completely ruled out here as well, both on

the lateness of its appearance $after the -th century% and on linguistic grounds.0-

(hese teDts $ ar! +4:E/ G and the other ending% are as spurious as the JohanineComma discussed in chapter 4. But because of its early appearance and itsacceptance into the Christian canon, which as we saw was not finalized until muchlater, these verses has been, rather paradoDically, described by the Catholic theologian.J. 9agrange as canonically authentic; though not literally authentic $i.e. it was not

68 ineham, Saint Mark : p--E/- G 3uignebert, Jesus : p GE/ +G4E Bentley, Secrets of Mount Sinai : p+050G Bentley, Secrets of Mount Sinai : p+0E artin, 2ew Testament Foundations - : p +E0+ ineham, Saint Mark : p-=E0 ineham, Saint Mark : p- G0= Bentley, Secrets of Mount Sinai : p+-0- ineham, Saint Mark : p- =

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9u!e -:+=/==Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named >mmaus, whichwas siDty stadia from Jerusalem. (hey tal!ed with each other about all of thesethings which had happened. "t happened, while they tal!ed and *uestioned together,that Jesus himself came near, and went with them. But their eyes were !ept from

recognizing him. 2e said to them, What are you tal!ing about as you wal!, andare sadH; ne of them, named Cleopas, answered him, Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn't !now the things which have happened there in thesedaysH; 2e said to them, What thingsH; (hey said to him, (he things concerningJesus, the azarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before 3od andall the people8 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to becondemned to death, and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he whowould redeem "srael. es, and besides all this, it is now the third day since thesethings happened. Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrivedearly at the tomb8 and when they didn't find his body, they came saying that they

had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. #ome of us went to thetomb, and found it Must li!e the women had said, but they didn't see him.; 2e saidto them, oolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets havespo!enK 6idn't the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his gloryH;Beginning from oses and from all the prophets, he eDplained to them in all the#criptures the things concerning himself. (hey drew near to the village, where theywere going, and he acted li!e he would go further. (hey urged him, saying, #taywith us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.; 2e went in to staywith them. "t happened, that when he had sat down at the table with them, he too! the bread and gave than!s. Brea!ing it, he gave to them. (heir eyes were opened,

and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight. (hey said one toanother, Weren't our hearts burning within us, while he spo!e to us along the way,and while he opened the #criptures to usH; (hey rose up that very hour, returned toJerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them

According to John Jesus first appeared to ary agdalene alone:

John G:++/+5But ary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. #o, as she wept, she stoopedand loo!ed into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head,

and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. (hey told her, Woman, whyare you weepingH; #he said to them, Because they have ta!en away my 9ord, and" don't !now where they have laid him.; When she had said this, she turned aroundand saw Jesus standing, and didn't !now that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her,Woman, why are you weepingH Who are you loo!ing forH; #he, supposing him to

be the gardener, said to him, #ir, if you have carried him away, tell me where youhave laid him, and " will ta!e him away.; Jesus said to her, ary.; #he turned andsaid to him, )abboniK; which is to say, (eacher; Jesus said to her, 6on't holdme, for " haven't yet ascended to my ather8 but go to my brothers, and tell them, R"am ascending to my ather and your ather, to my 3od and your 3od.' ary

agdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the 9ord, and that he hadsaid these things to her.

And &aul in " Corinthians + : mentioned no appearances to the women but insteadsaid that Jesus appeared first to &eter. (his again contradicts all the other three

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accounts in the gospels of atthew, 9u!e and John. 04 (here is thus no clear cutanswer from the gospels ?and &aul's epistles@ as to who was actually the first to seethe risen Jesus.

Another contradiction arises in where eDactly did the risen Jesus first meet hiseleven apostles. ar!, while not containing any actual account of Jesus appearances,made the angel tell the women that Jesus will meet his apostles in 3alilee:

ar! +4:0But go, tell his disciples and &eter, R2e goes before you into 3alilee. (here youwill see him, as he said to you.'

atthew ma!es Jesus himself convey that same message to the women $ atthew5:+G/see above%. And further adds an episode of the disciples' actual meeting withhim on a mountain in 3alilee:

atthew 5:+4/ GBut the eleven disciples went into 3alilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sentthem. When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted. Jesus cameto them and spo!e to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heavenand on earth. (herefore go, and ma!e disciples of all nations, baptizing them in thename of the ather and of the #on and of the 2oly #pirit, teaching them to observeall things that " commanded you. Behold, " am with you always, even to the end of the age.; Amen.

atthew made no mention of any meeting of the disciples with the risen Jesus inJerusalem. "ndeed the very flow of his last chapter implicitly eDcludes that

possibility, for he made Jesus command the women to tell the disciple to go ahead andmeet him in 3alilee.

9u!e, on the other hand, made the first appearance of Jesus to his discipleshappen in Jerusalem:

9u!e -:==/=4(hey rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem , and found the eleven gathered

together, and those who were with them, saying, (he 9ord is risen indeed, and hasappeared to #imonK; (hey related the things that happened along the way, and howhe was recognized by them in the brea!ing of the bread. As they said these things,Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, &eace be to you.;

John did not eDplicitly mention where the meeting too! place, but it is *uite obviousthat Jerusalem was implied as the appearance too! place on that very #unday evening.

John G:+E

04 9u!e -:=- ?the response of the disciples to the story by Cleopas and hiscompanion that (he 9ord is risen indeed, and has appeared to #imonK;@ might be ta!ento support the passage in " Corinthians. (his in no way solves the problems for thecontradiction of whether it was the women, ary agdalene alone or &eter who first sawthe risen Jesus remains.

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When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the wee!, and when thedoors were loc!ed where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesuscame and stood in the midst, and said to them, &eace be to you.;

(he ew (estament sources can't even agree on the num#er and se3uence of theappearances. 3iven below is a list of the number and se*uence of the appearances. "tcan be seen that there is no agreement whatsoever in the numbers and se*uence of appearances:

Matthe#+% 5:E/+G (o the two arys% 5:+4/+0 (o the eleven apostles in 3alilee

L$%e

+% -:+=/= (o the two travelers to >mmaus% -:=- $#tatement% (o &eter =% -:==/=E (o the eleven apostles in Jerusalem

!&hn+% G:+-/+5 (o ary agdalene% G:+E/ = (o the apostles in a house=% G: -/=G (o the disciples and (homas-% +:+/ = (o the disciples at the #ea of (iberias

I C&rinthian'+% + : (o &eter % + : (o the twelve=% + :4 (o GG followers-% + :0 (o James% + :0 (o all the apostles;4% + :0 (o &aul

(he duration of the resurrected Jesus' stay on earth is also something which thegospels cannot agree on. "n atthew the duration is only a few days needed for thedisciples to travel from Jerusalem to 3alilee. 9u!e had the whole resurrection andascension occur over that one #unday. 00 Acts contradicts this by asserting that theduration was -G days $Acts +:=%. John did not eDplicitly state the duration but made itmore than one wee! $John +: 4%.

(here is thus no agreement among the ew (estament sources as to :05

00 Jesus appeared to the two on the way to >mmaus on #unday evening $9u!e-:+=/+ %. (he two traveled immediately to Jerusalem $9u!e -:==%. When they foundthe eleven it was probably late that #unday night. (here Jesus appeared to them $9u!e-:=4%. After this Jesus led them to Bethany where he was ta!en up to heaven $9u!e-: G/ =%.

05 3uignebert, Jesus : p ++

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+. The p(a)e &f !e'$'" appearan)e . ar! implicitly, and atthew, eDplicitlystate that 3alilee was the eDclusive location of the resurrectionappearances. 9u!e and John both assert Jerusalem as the place where theresurrected Jesus was first seen.

. The n$*+er &f appearan)e' . atthew mentioned two, 9u!e impliedthree, John said four and &aul counted siD.

=. The per'&n #h& fir't 'a# the ri'en !e'$' . According to atthew it wasthe two arys, according to 9u!e it was either &eter or the two travelers to>mmaus, John said it was to ary agdalene alone and &aul said &eter had that honor.

- The ,$rati&n &f the ri'en !e'$'" 'ta- &n earth . 9u!e said it was one day,Acts put it as forty. John and atthew had it somewhere in between.

(hese discrepancies have serious repercussions. We note that there is some unanimityin how the gospels tell the story of Jesus' passion yet when it comes to the accounts of the empty tomb and resurrection appearances the evangelists go off in all differentdirections.; As )oy 2oover, &rofessor of Biblical 9iterature at Whitman College

pointed out:

9oo!ed at from the perspective of what we !now about how the gospel's authorswent about their tas! of composing their narratives, the variant character of their >aster narratives, especially in contrast to the similarity of their passionnarratives, strongly suggests that there is no common tradition behind them. (hatundoubtedly indicates that their empty/tomb and appearance stories are later inorigin than are the testimonies to the appearances of the risen Jesus noted by &auland that they are intended to ma!e the claim that Jesus had indeed risen

believable to popular religious imagination. 0E

(hus the very variant nature of the reports of Jesus' appearances in the gospels spea!sagainst their historicity. "t cannot be too heavily stressed that the resurrectionappearances are the fundamental sheet anchor of the Christian faith. Without the

reality of this, the whole edifice of Christianity $liberal theologians not withstanding%collapses. But here, in a !ind of supernatural situation where the burden of proof would be eDtraordinarily heavy, the gospels and other ew (estament sources can'teven present us with a harmonious witness to the event surrounding the appearancesof the risen Jesus. "t goes without saying that no weight can be given to accountswhich contradict each other in every maMor detail.

0E )oy 2oover, A Contest Between rthodoDy and 1eracity; in Copan and (acelli, Jesus Resurrection : p+= /+=4

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THE NATURE OF THE APPEARANCES

When evangelical Christians tal!ed about the resurrected Jesus they mean that he was physically raised from the dead. (his resurrected Jesus can be touched and canconsume food. "n other words, his was a tangible presence and not some ghost or spirit $or worse, figments of the disciples' imaginationK%. or evidence, thesefundamentalist Christians normally refer to the resurrection accounts found in 9u!eand John. "n 9u!e, Jesus was made to tell his disciples to touch him to ma!e certainhe is real. 2e was also able to eat:

9u!e -:=4/-As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them,&eace be to you.; But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed thatthey had seen a spirit. 2e said to them, Why are you troubledH Why do doubts

arise in your heartsH #ee my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. (ouch me andsee, for a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones, as you see that " have.; When he hadsaid this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they still didn't believe for

Moy, and wondered, he said to them, 6o you have anything here to eatH; (hey gavehim a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 2e too! them, and ate in frontof them. 2e said to them, (his is what " told you, while " was still with you, thatall things which are written in the law of oses, the prophets, and the psalms,concerning me must be fulfilled.;

"n John's account the resurrected Jesus was also a tangible being who allowed

doubting (homas to touch his hands and his side:

John G: -/ EBut (homas, one of the twelve, called 6idymus, wasn't with them when Jesuscame. (he other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the 9ordK; But hesaid to them, Fnless " see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand intohis side, " will not believe.; After eight days again his disciples were inside, and(homas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being loc!ed, and stood in the midst,and said, &eace be to you.; (hen he said to (homas, )each here your finger, andsee my hands. )each here your hand, and put it into my side. 6on't be unbelieving,

but believing.; (homas answered him, y 9ord and my 3odK; Jesus said to him,Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have notseen, and have believed.;

"n another resurrection account in the same gospel, set by the sea of 3alilee, Jesus isdescribed as eating brea!fast with &eter and siD other disciples $John +:+ /+ %.

2owever, we do not find such strong statements of the resurrected Jesus' physical nature in the other two gospels. (he gospel of atthew contains only twovery brief accounts of encounters with the risen Jesus. 9et us loo! at these two in turn.

(he first encounter with the risen Jesus happened to the two arys who were runningaway from the empty tomb:

atthew 5:5/+G(hey departed *uic!ly from the tomb with fear and great Moy, and ran to bring hisdisciples word. As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying,

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)eMoiceK; (hey came and too! hold of his feet, and worshiped him. (hen Jesussaid to them, 6on't be afraid. 3o tell my brothers that they should go into 3alilee,and there they will see me.;

(he second passage tells of the disciples meeting Jesus on a mountain in 3alilee.

atthew 5:+4/ GBut the eleven disciples went into 3alilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sentthem. When they saw him, they bowed down to him, #ut some dou#ted . Jesus cameto them and spo!e to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heavenand on earth. (herefore go, and ma!e disciples of all nations, baptizing them in thename of the ather and of the #on and of the 2oly #pirit, teaching them to observeall things that " commanded you. Behold, " am with you always, even to the end of the age.; Amen.

ote how brief these two accounts in atthew are compared to the elaborateaccounts in 9u!e and John. "n the first passage, the only physical manifestation wasthat the women were able to clasp Jesus' feet. (he second passage has no eDplicitindication of physicality. Jesus was said to come to them and spo!e to them; briefly.urthermore the point made in atthew 5:+0 $ but some doubted;% about the

presence of doubt among some of his disciples seems to point to a lac! of corporealityin the appearance of the risen Jesus.

inally, the oldest gospel, ar!, does not have any account of the resurrectionappearance of Jesus .

(his leaves us with one last source on Jesus' resurrection. Fnli!e the gospels, wedo have, in the authentic epistles of &aul, an eyewitness report from someone whoactually saw; the resurrected Jesus. (he most important passage from the &aulineepistles on the resurrection is found in " Corinthians + . Although we have already*uoted this passage above, it is of primary importance in our current considerations,so here it is again:

" Corinthians + :=/5or " delivered to you first of all that which " also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the #criptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the thirdday according to the #criptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.(hen he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain untilnow, but some have also fallen asleep. (hen he appeared to James, then to all theapostles, and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to mealso.

(he 3ree! word translated above as he appeared to; is ophthe . &aul's choice of theword ophthe $he was seen( he was o#served % is significant. " *uote 3uignebert:

(his word does not necessarily imply the actual appearance of a person, but mayonly indicate an unusual phenomena...the use of the word ophthe in enumeratingother visions in the &auline lists...eDcludes such details as prolonged conversations,meals and resumption of ordinary life, on which the gospels dwell. 5G

5G 3uignebert, Jesus : p =

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An eDample of how &aul's eDperience of the risen Jesus can be seen in this, probablyautobiographical, passage:

"" Corinthians + :+/-"t is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. or " will come to visions andrevelations of the 9ord. " !now a man in Christ, fourteen years ago $whether in the

body, " don't !now, or whether out of the body, " don't !now8 3od !nows%, such aone caught up into the third heaven. " !now such a man $whether in the body, or outside of the body, " don't !now8 3od !nows%, how he was caught up into&aradise, and heard unspea!able words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

&aul's description above shows that his visions of the 9ord; was not somethingwhich could be described easily. 2is euphoric phrases about being out of body;,

being caught up into &aradise; and of having heard unspea!able words; shows that

it was not a simple physical meeting he was tal!ing about.5+

(he Acts of the Apostles provides further indication of such an intangible natureof Jesus' appearance to &aul. 2ere the account of &aul's vision of the risen Jesus isgiven in the form of a speech by the apostle:

Acts :4/++ $Also Acts E:=ff8 4:+ %"t happened that, as " made my Mourney, and came close to 6amascus, about noon,suddenly there shone from the s!y a great light around me. " fell to the ground, andheard a voice saying to me, R#aul, #aul, why are you persecuting meH' " answered,RWho are you, 9ordH' 2e said to me, R" am Jesus of azareth, whom you

persecute.' (hose who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, butthey didn't understand the voice of him who spo!e to me. " said, RWhat shall " do,9ordH' (he 9ord said to me, RArise, and go into 6amascus. (here you will be toldabout all things which are appointed for you to do.' When " couldn't see for theglory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, " came into6amascus.;

owhere in the accounts given in Acts are we actually told that &aul saw the risenJesus. All he saw was a blinding light and a voice which his companions either didnot hear or understand. (he eDperience of &aul, which can be best eDplained as some!ind of ecstatic vision , was nowhere near the tangible person of the resurrected Jesusdescribed in the gospels of 9u!e and John.

ow if we provide a timeline on the resurrection accounts in the ew (estamentwe will notice a peculiar development. (he earliest account, the epistles of &aul,written in the Gs, described an intangible resurrected Jesus. (he earliest gospel,ar!, written two decades after the epistles of &aul, does not have any narration of the resurrected Jesus. (hen circa EG C>, in the gospel of atthew, we find two very

brief accounts, only one of which $ atthew 5:5/+G% can be unambiguouslyinterpreted as a physical manifestation of Jesus. "t was only around +GG C>, or 45

5+ (here is nothing uni*ue about this type of eDperience. uhammad, the founder of "slam, was said to have eDperienced a similar !ind of heavenly rapture where he wastransported miraculously to the site of the Jerusalem (emple and lifted up into heavenwhere he spo!e to both oses and Jesus. ?Armstrong, Holy &ar : p=E@

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or " rec!on that " am not at all behind ?or inferior to @ the very best apostles.

or &aul, the seal of apostleship comes from having seen the risen Jesus. "n thisrespect, as is evident in these two passages, he did not consider himself the least bitinferior to the apostles. #uch confidence on &aul's part would be very hard to eDplainif the apostles actually ate with and touched the resurrected Jesus while he only hadvisions which he could not properly describe in words. #urely he would not have

placed his eDperience on par with theirsK (he precedent of the &auline epistle strongly suggests that the appearances

witnessed by the original followers of Jesus amount to nothing more than the typedescribed by &aul. We have absolutely no reason to believe that &aul understoodJesus' appearances to the apostles as anything different from his own eDperience. 5- As7aren Armstrong noted:

"t is interesting to note that &aul ma!es no distinction between his own vision of Jesus and those apparitions to &eter and the others. Where the gospels show Jesusas physically and inconvertibly present to the apostles, able to eat drin! and betouched, &aul, who was writing much earlier, shows the events as entirely similar tohis own violent vision, which he compares to an abnormal childbirth. (heapparitions to &eter and James and the rest were probably visions li!e &aul's on theroad to 6amascus, rather than physical manifestations of the risen 9ord. &aul doesnot suggest that they were any different .5

"f, as we have seen is very li!ely, the actual resurrection appearances of Jesus werenothing more than hallucinatory visions, it becomes clear why there were s!epticsamong the original followers of Jesus as to stories and claims of seeing the risenChrist. We have noted this s!epticism in atthew 5:+0. We see this doubt eDpressedeven in the passages from 9u!e and John given above. 2ad the appearance of Jesus

been in a tangible form it is highly unli!ely that such doubts would have arisen.We can now summarize our findings. "nitially, the stories that were in circulation

about Jesus' resurrection were li!e those of &aul's L they never mentioned a Jesuswho could be touched and who shared meals with the disciples. 6ue to the advent of Christian heretical; groups L such as the 6ocetists L who denied a physical Jesus,

stories about the tangibility of a resurrected Jesus started to appear in the writings of the groups who were opposed to them. We have no reason to believe that the traditionof a corporeal physical resurrected Jesus was part of the earliest Christian tradition.(he resurrection appearances of Jesus, as described in the gospels, are not historical.

5- 3uignebert, Jesus : p -5 Armstrong, The First $hristian : p

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THE PSYCHOLO ICAL ORI INS OFTHE RESURRECTION APPEARANCES

We have seen that in " Corinthians + : /0, &aul recounted the resurrection appearanceof Jesus. According to this Jesus appeared first to &eter and then to the twelve;, thento five hundred;, to James to all the apostles; and finally to &aul himself. We haveseen above that &aul made no distinction between what he eDperienced and what therest saw. (hus we can safely call all these visions of the resurrected Jesus. "n other words, these are internal e%periences not eDternal supernatural manifestations.

"t would, of course, be more satisfying if we could also eDplain the psychological origins of these visions. "n other words, what triggered the whole seriesof Jesus sightings;H #ince &eter, the twelve, James, the five hundred; and all theapostles; were all followers of Jesus, we can say that &eter's vision was the trigger;for the rest of this. (hus being able to eDplain why &eter had the vision is the starting

point to eDplain the vision of the rest of Jesus' disciples.&aul's vision had to have a different origin, for he was not a follower and could

not have felt what &eter and the rest felt. (hus we have to eDplain the psychologicalorigins of the appearances to &eter and to &aul8 two visions that did not have anyeDternal catalyst.

)ecently some critical historical scholars such as John 2ic! 54, ichael 3oulder 50

and 3erd 9Ndemann 55 have used the findings of modern psychology to analyze andeDplain the resurrection appearances of Jesus. 2ic! compares the eDperiences of thefirst disciples, in particular &aul's as described in Acts $E:=/5, :4/++ < 4:+ /+5% tomodern studies of near death eDperiences where reports of seeing a bright light or a

brightly shining figure seems to be common. 5E ichael 3oulder compares these withmodern studies of mass hysteria and collective delusions. But by far the mostcomprehensive attempt to get to the psychological origins of the visions of theapostles has been that of 9Ndemann. EG ur presentation below on the psychologicalorigins of &eter's and &aul's visions is based on &rofessor 9Ndemann's wor!, while

54 John 2ic!, The Metaphor of .od -ncarnate: $hristianity in a 8luralistic !e , John7noD +EE=

50 ichael 3oulder, (he Baseless abric of a 1ision;, in 6'Costa, Resurrection Reconsidered : p-5/4+

ichael 3oulder, (he >Dplanatory &ower of Conversion 1isions; in Copan < (acelli, Jesus Resurrection : p54/+G=

55 3erd 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of Jesus: History( ,%perience( Theolo!y , ortress+EE-

3erd 9Ndemann, &hat Really Happened to Jesus , Westminster John 7noD +EE 3erd 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of the $hrist: Historical -n3uiry , &rometheus GG-5E 2ic!, The Metaphor of .od -ncarnate : p -EG As a result of his intensive study into the birth, resurrection of Jesus and the heresies

of early Christianity, 9Ndemann made a public statement renouncing his Christian faith in+EE5, as he could no longer believe what his research has shown to be untrue. As a result&rofessor 9Ndemann was subtly removed from his chair $ ew (estament% by a renamingof his chair to that of 2istory and 9iterature of >arly Christianity;. (he new positionwould not be one that would attract research funds. "n effect this change in name has theeffect of stifling his research.

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the analysis on the visions of the early community following &eter's vision is basedon &rofessor 3oulder's analysis.

The Ori.in &f Peter"' Vi'i&n

ost scholars agree that &eter must have been one of the first to have seen the risenJesus. "t would otherwise be difficult to understand his primacy among the apostles.(his is consistent with the earliest recorded list of the resurrection appearances in "Corinthians + : .

3iven below is 9Ndemann's construction of a psycho/causation profile of theresurrection vision $hallucination% by &eter :E+

We are sure that &eter must have mourned Jesus' death.

We also !now, from studies by psychologist of the process of mourning,that mourners, due to their love for the lost one, tend to feel in their mindsthe presence of the loved one. A successful mourning is when the mourner slowly parts, psychologically, from feeling the presence of the lost one. "nother words, their lives slowly return to normal as thoughts about therecently deceased slowly recede into the bac!ground.

2owever there are cases where successful mourning is hindered and thefeeling of the presence of the loved ones becomes more intense and beingunable to bear the pain, the mourner actually see; the dead person assomehow being alive again. )esearch at 2arvard Fniversity on cases li!ethese show unsuccessful mourning is more li!ely if the followingconditions are present:

o (he death is suddeno An ambivalent attitude towards the dead person associated with

feeling of guilto A dependent relationship between the mourner and the dead.

We notice that these three factors are all present in &eter's case.

o Jesus death was sudden.o &eter denied Jesus Must before the latter was eDecuted. (his must have

caused tremendous guilt in the 3alilean fisherman.o &eter, of course, was a follower of Jesus. 2e left his wor! and home

to follow him. (hus it was a deeply dependent relationship.

(o *uote 9Ndemann directly:(he mourning hindered by the three factors mentioned was enormously helped inthe case of &eter by a seeing.; (he mourning first led to a real, deeper understanding of Jesus, and this in turn helped toward a new understanding of thesituation of mourning. )ecollections of who Jesus had been led to the recognition

E+ 9Ndemann, &hat Really Happened to Jesus: p5=/E- 9Ndemann, The Resurrection of the $hrist : p+4=/+44

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of who Jesus is. #eeing Jesus thus already included a whole chain of theologicalconclusions .E

(hus &eter's vision of the risen Jesus is very li!ely the result of an unsuccessfulmourning.

The Ori.in &f Pa$("' Vi'i&n

(he psychological origins of &aul's own hallucinations $his visions of the resurrectedJesus% are different from &eter's. )emember that we have &aul's own words in hisgenuine epistles. (hus we are able to derive a lot about the inner wor!ings of his mindthrough his writings.

irst let us note that &aul had some !ind of illness. 2e said as much in his epistleto the 3alatians:

3alatians -:+ /+- $)#1%Brethren, " beseech you, become as " am, for " also have become as you are. oudid me no wrong8 you know it was #ecause of a #odily ailment that - preached the

!ospel to you at first* and thou!h my condition was a trial to you( you did not scorn or despise me , but received me as an angel of 3od, as Christ Jesus.

&aul must have also been frail loo!ing, for this is what he *uoted his opponentsdescribing him:

"" Corinthians +G:+Gor, 2is letters,; they say, are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence iswea!, and his speech is despised.;

ow let us loo! into a very revealing passage from "" Corinthians $portions of whichwe have seen earlier%:

"" Corinthians + :+/+G"t is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. or " will come to visions and

revelations of the 9ord. " !now a man in Christ, fourteen years ago $whether in the body, " don't !now, or whether out of the body, " don't !now8 3od !nows%, such aone caught up into the third heaven. " !now such a man $whether in the body, or outside of the body, " don't !now8 3od !nows%, how he was caught up into&aradise, and heard unspea!able words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.n behalf of such a one " will boast, but on my own behalf " will not boast, eDceptin my wea!nesses. or if " would desire to boast, " will not be foolish8 for " willspea! the truth. But " refrain, so that no man may thin! more of me than that whichhe sees in me, or hears from me. By reason of the eDceeding greatness of therevelations, that " should not be eDalted eDcessively, there was given to me a thorn

in the flesh , a messenger of #atan to torment me, that " should not be eDaltedeDcessively. Concerning this thing, " begged the 9ord three times that it mightdepart from me. 2e has said to me, y grace is sufficient for you, for my power ismade perfect in wea!ness.; Most !ladly therefore - will rather !lory in my

E 9Ndemann, &hat Really Happened to Jesus: pE-

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Although he claimed to be faultless in following the law, he suffered frominner turmoil and fought to suppress his instincts. (he passage belowclearly shows this:

)omans 0:0/++

What shall we say thenH "s the law sinH ay it never beK 2owever, "wouldn't have !nown sin, eDcept through the law. or " wouldn't have!nown coveting, unless the law had said, ou shall not covet.; Butsin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all!inds of coveting. or apart from the law, sin is dead. " was alive apartfrom the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and" died. (he commandment, which was for life, this " found to be for death8 for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceivedme, and through it !illed me.

2is obvious hatred of his own situation is turned outwards towards theChristians. &aul probably saw within the Christian movement the veryantithesis of his position towards the law. (his is more so in its preachingof a crucified messiah in eDpress contradiction to the law $6euteronomy+: = anyone hung under a tree is under 3od's curse;%. "n zeal he

persecuted the Christians. $3alatians +: =%

(his inner turmoil came to a climaD on his trip to 6amascus where, probably suffering from sunstro!e or an epileptic seizure, &aul had hisvision which released; him from his inner turmoil and converted him.

(o again *uote 9Ndeman directly:&aul's appearance did not depend on &eter's vision, since here it was not a follower

but an enemy; of Jesus or his supporters who was affected. 2ere &aul's biographygives strong indications that his vision of Christ is to be eDplained psychologicallyas an overcoming of a smoldering Christ compleD; which led to sever inner $unconscious% conflicts in him and finally released itself in this vision. E

(hus &aul's vision arose from an entirely different set of circumstances from &eter's.&aul's vision was a release; from an inner dialectic tension in his subconscioustheological paradigm.

The S$'tenan)e &f S$+'e/$ent Vi'i&n'

ur neDt tas! would be to eDplain the subse*uent visions described in " Corinthians+ :=/5. (hese visions are not primary in the sense that people who eDperienced thesevisions have already heard of others $such as &eter and &aul% having similar eDperiences. ichael 3oulder labeled the visions of the early disciples, including thealleged appearance to the GG, as collective delusions . #uch phenomena have beenwell studied by modern social psychology and its basic characteristics are !nown.(hese characteristics can be found in various F sightings, visions of the 1irgin inCatholic ariology and in sightings of creatures such as the 9och ess onster and#as*uatch $or Bigfoot%.

E 9Ndemann, &hat Really Happened to Jesus: p+=G

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disagree on whether it first too! place in 3alilee $ ar! +4:0 and atthew 5:+4/ G%or Jerusalem $9u!e -:==/=4 and John G%. (he tradition of the first sighting ta!ing

place in 3alilee is more li!ely to be historical for a few reasons. irstly it comes fromthe earliest source $ ar!%. #econdly the 3alilean appearance is complete in itself andmore consistent with the aw!ward fact following Jesus' arrest / namely, that hisdisciples all deserted him after he was apprehended. $ ar! +-: G, atthew 4: 4%inally, the stories of the Jerusalem appearances have clear apologetic motif L to

place the appearances of Jesus nearer and closer to the time and place of his death. E5

6o we !now when it happenedH (he formula in &aul's epistle that Jesus wasraised on the third day according to the #criptures; $" Corinthians + :-% does notimply that Jesus was actually seen on the third day following his death. (he *ualifier,according to the scriptures,; shows that there this timing was not based on actualeyewitness accounts but the result of later theological reflection. EE #o we do not !nowwhen the first sighting of the resurrected Jesus happened L it could have been a fewdays or a few wee!s after the crucifiDion. +GG

We have seen above that it was &eter who had the first vision of the resurrectedJesus. "n the gospels there is a story of a resurrection appearance to &eter, in the + st

chapter of John. 9et us loo! at the passage in full below:

John +:+/+-+:+ After these things, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the sea of (iberias. 2e revealed himself this way. +: #imon &eter, (homas called 6idymus,

athanael of Cana in 3alilee, and the sons of Oebedee, and two others of hisdisciples were together. +:= #imon &eter said to them, "'m going fishing.; (heytold him, We are also coming with you.; (hey immediately went out, and enteredinto the boat. (hat night, they caught nothing. +:- But

chap15-burial and resurrection

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