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There were no direct witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus. Everyone is agreed on that. We have six different accounts of it in the New Testament, that date from approximately 20-70 years after the event; one in each of the four Gospels, in the book of Acts, and in Paul’s first Letter to the Corinthians.1
In the fourth century the Resurrection account in Mark’s Gospel was considerably expanded by someone who added eleven interesting verses to chapter 16. There are major inconsistencies in these accounts. Mark’s Gospel says in the original ending of that Gospel that it was a group of women who discovered what had happened on that first Easter morn, but they were so terrified they said nothing to anyone. Matthew says that it was Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” who went to the tomb. Luke says it was a group of women who rushed back immediately to tell the disciples what had happened but they thought it was “an idle tale” and didn’t believe them. John’s Gospel says the discovery was made by Mary Magdalene alone and that she told Peter and “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (So much for those who identify her as that disciple in Leonardo’s painting!).
The resurrection accounts are also disjointed on what these people saw at the empty tomb. John says Mary Magdalene saw two angels and then Jesus, who asked her not to touch him as he had not yet ascended to his Father. Matthew says the two Marys saw a young man at the tomb and then Jesus. Luke says a group of women, three of whom he names, saw two men in brilliant white, but not Jesus himself. All the Gospels describe him appearing to a group of disciples later. But Luke and John say that appearance happened in Jerusalem, while Matthew and Mark said it took place miles away in Galilee. Whatever we may make of these inconsistencies in the New Testament it would be hard to construe it as a well orchestrated program to deceive.
The earliest written account of the Resurrection comes from Paul who wrote it down about 20 years after the Passion of Jesus. Paul, or Saul,2 as he previously was, had a brisk career harassing the early followers of Jesus before they were yet called Christians. He became “Paul” after a conversion experience he had on the road to Damascus, which was followed by what must have been the contemporary version of going into rehab – fifteen days in Jerusalem with Peter and James whom (at the risk of scandalizing many contemporary Christians), he referred to as “the brother of the Lord.” This visit may have taken place as early as 35-37, but it certainly was well within a decade of the Passion.
To add to the confusion Paul, who was the earliest to write about the Resurrection of Jesus, says nothing at all about an empty tomb, or about angels or young men dressed in white garments. The Gospel of Thomas, written by the twin brother of Jesus, is becomingly increasingly acknowledged as a very early document. It’s interesting to note that Thomas not only not mentions the miracles of Jesus during his ministry, or the appearances at the empty tomb, but omits all mention of the resurrection entirely. Given that Thomas regarded what he did write as information that was of central importance about Jesus, this should give us much food for thought.
However, leaving all that aside for now, the accounts we do have and the extraordinary transformation of the Apostles from a group of terrified and disillusioned men into powerful preachers and workers of extraordinary phenomena within a very short space of time, must lead us to conclude that something extraordinary did happen, and that at least part of that was that Jesus was alive after the Passion.
Various ways to account for this of course have been produced down through history; I’d sum them up as follows:
- The disciples stole his body from the tomb.
- Someone else stole the body without the knowledge of the disciples.
- The disciples hallucinated when they thought they saw Jesus.
- Jesus managed to survive the Crucifixion and was resuscitated in the tomb after which he traveled to the East.3
- Jesus truly did rise from the dead.
- Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion, but was substituted for by Simon of Cyrene on the way to Calvary, so that while tortured he was never actually crucified.4
With regard to the last suggestion, if you believe that the reason Jesus came here was to suffer and die for us so as to appease the vengeance of God against us, then this cannot be good news. On the other hand if you believe that Jesus came here for something much more powerful and sublime both for himself and for us, then this suggestion opens up a range of fascinating possibilities.
We will look further at this in the next issue.
An expanded and illustrated version of this article can be read at hamburgeruniverse.com under “Articles by Miceal Ledwith.”
Footnotes
1 Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; Acts 1, John 20-21; I Cor 15.
2 Saul was Jewish and a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, a coastal region in present day south-eastern Turkey. The taking of a Greek or Latin name in addition to their Hebrew names was a common practice among Jews of the Diaspora. “Paul” was a Roman patrician name, so it would have been judged to add status to Saul as he set out to make his message known in the wider Roman world.
3 One of the sources making this case is “The Essene Elder’s Letter” stated to have been discovered in an ancient library in Alexandria and published in 1880, republished in Kessinger Publishing’s “Rare Reprints” series.
4 The Qur'an says: [4.157] And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure.”
Miceal Ledwith, L.Ph., L.D., D.D., LL.D. (h.c.) has been a Professor of Theology and University President of MaynoothCollege in Ireland, a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, and has lectured extensively throughout Europe and North America. He has been a long-time member of the Ramtha School of Ancient Wisdom, and was featured in the movie What the BLEEP Do We Know!? He has released two DVDs. For an extended version of this article, please visit Miceal's website: www.hamburgeruniverse.com
