New Testament 352

Matthew 28:1-8

Mark 16:1-8

Luke 24:1-12

John 20:1-13

Compare Matthew 26:32; 28:10; Mark 14:28; Luke 23:56; John 20:17-18

1.

I’ve been aiming to finish this reading of the four gospels before the end of the year, but it’s led to some seemingly quite un-Christmas-like discussions (e.g., of the scourging and crucifixion of Christ) during the holiday season.  Now, though, we’ve arrived at the pay-off –truly glad tidings of great joy.

This story ends very, very well.

2.

The first Christian witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus were women — which, to my mind, is an argument for the truth of the accounts.

In ancient Judaism, as elsewhere, the frankly sexist attitudes of the day granted women second-class status.  Their opinions and testimony were not highly valued, where, indeed, they were accepted at all.  (Consider the attitude of the apostles themselves to the first reports from the women of the empty tomb and the risen Lord, as recorded at Luke 24:11: “Their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.”)

Had the author of Luke simply been making this up out of thin air, he wouldn’t have chosen women as the first witnesses to this absolutely pivotal event.