The Resurrection Challenge, Part One

I did an initial attempt of this on Heissaling's blog, but figured I'd give it a better attempt here, going line-by-line.

It's from the Complete Jewish Bible. Now, the posting is a little disjointed, because trying to organize this is ... well, very difficult. 'Talmid' means disiciple.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark (which in Greek means ‘At dawn, the day-break, early (in the morning)), Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb (John). So she came running to Kefa and the other talmid, the one Yeshua loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him. (John). Then Kefa and the other talmid started for the tomb (John). They both ran, but the other talmid outran Kefa, and reached the tomb first (John). Stooping down, he saw the linen burial-sheets lying there but did not go in (John). Then, following him, Kefa arrived, entered the tomb and saw the burial-sheets lying there, also the cloth that had been around his head, lying not with the sheets but in a separate place and still folded up (John). Then the other talmid, who had arrived at the tomb first, also went in; he saw, and he trusted (John.) They had no yet come to understand that the Tanakh teaches that the Messiah had to rise from the dead (John). So the talmid returned home, but Mary stood outside crying (John). AS she cried, she bent down, peered into the tomb, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Yeshau had been, one at the head and one at the feet (John). “Why are you crying?” they asked her. “They took my Lord,” she said to them, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” (John)

After Shabbat, as the next day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the grave (Matthew). When Shabbat was over, Mary Magdalene and Miryam the mother of Jacob, and Salome brought spices in order to go and anoint Yeshua (Mark). Very early in the morning, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb (Mark). They were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us? (Mark)” But the next day, while it was still very early, [Mary Magdalene, Johanna, Mary the Mother of Jacob, and others in their circle] took the spices they had prepared, went to the tomb (Luke). Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, for an angel of Adonai came down from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it (Matthew). His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow (Matthew). The guards were so terrified at him that they trembled and became like dead men (Matthew). But the angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know you are looking for Yeshua, who was executed on the sake. He is no here, because he has been raised – just as he said. Come and look at the place where he lay. The go quickly and tell the talmidim,’He has been raised from the dead, and now he is going to the Galilee ahead of you. You will see him there.’ Now I have told you (Matthew).” Then they looked and saw that the stone, even though it was huge, had been rolled back already (Mark). They found the stone rolled away from the tomb (Luke). Upon entering the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right and they were dumbfounded (Mark). But he said, “Don’t be so surprised. You’re looking for Yeshua from Nazareth, who was executed on the stake. He has risen, he’s not here. Look at the place where they laid him. But go and tell his talmidim, especially Kefa, that he is going to the Galilee ahead of you. You will see him there, just as he told you. (Mark).” On entering, they discovered that the body of the Lord Yeshua was gone (Luke). They were standing there, not knowing what to think about it, when suddenly two men in dazzlingly bright clothing stood next to them (Luke). Terror-stricken, they bowed down with their faces to the ground (Luke). The two men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has been raised. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, ‘The Son of Many must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be executed on a stake as a criminal, but on the third day be raised again’? (Luke)” Then they remembered his words (Luke);

--So here’s what we’ve got. Regardless of who or how many showed up to the tomb, it happened very, very early. There’s not enough time for Mary to go by herself, and then come back with the other woman and still have it be just after sunrise. Plus, if it doesn’t happen that early in the morning, the event loses its symbolism. Matthew has the stone rolled away before the women – between the verb tense and how the passage flows, I find it hard to read it any other way. The angel in Matthew spoke to the women almost as soon as he appeared. We can tell this because the guards got terrified as soon as they saw the angel, so the angel tells the women to not be afraid. “But the angel said …” Plus, the angel also says, “Come and look where he lay,” which invites them inside, so he would’ve had to say this before the women even stepped into the tomb.

-- Mark has no angel outside, and a young man sitting inside, one that they women see right when they enter. Luke has them entering, and then standing, puzzled, and then two men appear, standing next to them. Depending on how one wants to interpret this, there can be up to four angels/messengers here. One outside on the stone, one sitting inside right when the women walk in, and then another two showing up, standing next to the women. The problem with that harmonization is that the individual texts don’t read that way. Luke shows them absolutely confused and alone, until the two men appear – it’s also interesting that they suddenly get terror-stricken at the appearance, if one goes with harmonization. They already saw the earthquake and the stone moving, no body and two other angels telling them things. But Mark shows someone immediately obvious as soon as they walk in.

-- [Correction to this section] I originally had it that Mary had to be in the tomb, except Mark has three women -- Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, so the 'them' could just refer to Mary the mother of James and Salome. However, what does lend credence to Mary being a part of the 'them' is the flow in Mark. They get there, the stone is rolled away, they go into the tomb and the text seems to imply they see a young man immediatly. All the actions seem consecutive.

-- John is what makes everything fun, and does do an interesting with with the grammar. She’s the only woman mentioned, but when she runs to the beloved disciple and Peter, she says that, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!” The ‘we’ could modify the other potential women with Mary. But it could also be her way of including Peter and the beloved disciple, along with herself. Because later with the angels, she just says ‘I.’
Trembling but ecstatic they went out and fled from the tomb, and they said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid (Mark). So they left the tomb quickly, frightened yet filled with joy; and they ran to give the news to his talmidim (Matthew). Suddenly Yeshua met them and said, “Shalom. (Matthew)” They came up and took hold of his feet as they fell down in front of him. Then Yeshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galil, and they will see me there. (Matthew)” When Yeshua rose early on Sunday, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he expelled seven demons (Mark). As she said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there, but she didn’t know it was he (John). Yeshua said to her, “Lady, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for? (John)” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you’re the one who carried him away, just tell me where you put him; and I’ll go and get him myself. (John).” Yeshua said to her, “Mary. (John)” Turning, she cried out to him in Hebrew, “Rabbani! “John” “Stop holding onto me, “Yeshua said to her, “because I haven’t yet gone back to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. (John).” She went and told those who had been with him, as they were crying and mourning (Mark). And, returning from the tomb, they told everything to the Eleven and all the rest (Luke). Mary Magdalene went to the talmidim with the news that she had seen the Lord and he had told her this (John). But when they heard that he was alive and that she had seen him, they wouldn’t believe it (Mark). But the emissaries didn’t believe them; in fact, they thought that what they said was utter nonsense (Luke). However, Kefa got up and ran to the tomb (Luke). Stooping down, he saw only the burial clothes and went home wondering what had happened (Luke).

--Matthew includes Mary Magdalene, grammatically. Her counter with Jesus is on the way to the disciples, because it says they left the tomb and ran to give the news. John has Mary encounter Jesus almost right outside the tomb. Plus, Mary is crying out of fear and bewilderment, because she doesn’t know where the body is. Matthew and Mark show that they do know what happened, because the angels told them, so they’re frightened (for a different reason) yet also ecstatic/joyful.

--John has Peter and the BD show up way before they receive any news of a resurrection. Yet Luke has Peter go there after the news, and it’s written as though he’s confirming the story of no body. But, if harmonized, he already did that, so why the second visit? Because Luke’s giving the impression that the emissaries are finding the entire story, including the no body, nonsense, and then goes , “However …”