Did you ever play the game of “Gossip”? One person tells a story then the next person repeats it, then the next and the next and on it goes. The fun is in seeing how the story changes as it is passed along.
In the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, known as the Gospels, many of the stories are the same but are told from different points of view. Some events were not witnessed by the disciples personally, but were told to them, making some of the details quite different. Such is the case of the events that took place following the resurrection of Jesus.
In Matthew, chapter 28, he tells how there was a great earthquake and the angel of the Lord came and rolled back the stone from the tomb where Jesus’ body had been placed, then sat upon it. Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” came to see the sepulchre. The angel told them that Jesus wasn’t there for He had risen as He said He would. “Go quickly, he said and tell his disciples that He has risen.”
As they went to do as the angel said, Jesus met them and they went and held Him by the feet and worshipped Him.
In Mark; 16, he tells us that Mary Magdelene and Mary the mother of James and Salome went to the sepulchre and saw that the rock had been rolled away. A “young man clothed in white” was sitting on the right side. He told them to go to Galilee and Jesus would meet them there, and to tell the disciples.
Mark goes on to say that He appeared first to Mary Magdalene and when she told the disciples, they didn’t believe her. In verse 12 we learn that He appeared unto “two of them” as they walked and went into the country. They told the others, but they didn’t believe it. He then appeared to eleven of them as they ate proving to them that He was Jesus.
Luke 24 relates that Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James and “the other women that were with them” had gone to the sepulchre to bring spices and when they found that the stone had been moved away. They entered the tomb and two men stood there in shining garments. The women returned and told all these things to the disciples. Not believing them, Peter went to the sepulchre and saw for himself.
The two that Mark mentioned Him appearing to were Cleopas and Simon (Peter). They were convinced after talking and eating with Him, that He truly was Jesus. They went and told the other disciples and while they were talking, Jesus appeared unto them all.
In John, we read that Mary Magdalene saw the stone had been moved away and she ran and told Peter, “and the other disciple whom Jesus loved” and they ran to see for themselves. Once they saw, they returned to their homes.
Mary Magdalene then looked into the sepulchre and saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the foot of where Jesus had lain. Then, she turned and saw Jesus standing there, but supposed him to be the gardener. “Mary,” He said.
She then turned and saw that it was Jesus. “Touch me not,” He told her, “for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethern and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father; and to my God, and your God.”
As we see, some of the details, such as the number of angels and the identity of some of the women are different, but the important facts of each account are the same: Jesus had risen from the grave on the third day, just as He’d said He would and the Gospel truth is that He lives still today. His Holy Spirit lives in the heart of every believer and it is our job to continue to spread the Good News so that all may accept this truth and be saved.
As we celebrate this Easter, or Ressurection Sunday, may we all be reminded and thank God for His supreme sacrifice. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17
