Read: Eye-Witness Accounts of the Resurrection

Overview

In the New Testament, each Gospel describes the testimonies of the disciples who followed Jesus and experienced his resurrection. Jesus revealed himself to Mary at the tomb, two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and his other disciples multiple times.

The Record of the Resurrection in the Gospels

Each Gospel records the life and ministry of Jesus. Each culminates with testimony concerning his resurrection. They each saw Jesus’s resurrection as a significant event in the story of Jesus and God’s plan for history. While each Gospel focuses on different aspects, they share commonalities. Each records that Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. Each records Jesus appearing to the women and the apostles. The Gospels record these events to demonstrate the historicity of Jesus’s resurrection, which vindicates their claim that Jesus was the Messiah. In this way, the resurrection serves as Jesus’s final vindication of his identity, purpose, and mission.

The Women Find the Tomb Empty

Women played a unique role in Jesus’s life and ministry. They followed Jesus more faithfully than the disciples. While the disciples struggled to understand Jesus, the women who followed him had little doubt about Jesus or his identity.

Jesus was crucified during the celebration of Passover. Before sundown, any burial needed to be finished to observe Jewish customs and purity rites that the festival demanded; therefore, the Romans and religious leaders rushed his burial. As a result, his women disciples couldn’t properly prepare Jesus’s body. Now that the festival was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices to bury Jesus properly. They went to his tomb to anoint his body. They knew that there was a huge stone in the way of his tomb and wondered how they would remove it.

When they arrived, they found that the stone had been removed. Upon entering the tomb, they found two angels. The women were terrified, but the angels reassured them and asked them why they sought the living among the dead. Their question indicated that Jesus was no longer dead; he had been resurrected. They reminded the women that he told them he would be handed over and put to death, but he would rise from the dead after three days. The angels then told the women to tell the disciples what they had experienced and to meet Jesus in Galilee. The women ran to tell the disciples.

Peter and Another Apostle Visit the Tomb

Upon hearing this story, the disciples were confused, and most did not believe the women. They could not understand how the crucifixion and resurrection fit into Jesus’s messianic identity, purpose, and mission. But Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. When they arrived, they found what the women had said was true, and all that remained was the linens used to wrap Jesus’s body. The disciples had to see Jesus for themselves, and in the coming days, Jesus would appear before them, eat with them, and ascend to heaven.

Mary Magdalene Sees Jesus--Alive!

All four Gospels record the women witnessing Jesus’s resurrection. However, John’s Gospel presents Mary’s experience with Jesus’s resurrection in a more intimate and personal way. As mentioned earlier, the women had been faithful to Jesus during his life and ministry, and Mary Magdalene was at the center of these women. Mary was rewarded for her faith in Jesus by being the first eye-witness to Jesus’s resurrection.

When Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves, Mary followed behind them and waited outside the tomb. As she turned, she saw someone in the garden and mistook him for the gardener. He asked her why she was crying. She exclaimed that someone had moved Jesus’s body, and she wanted to know if he knew where they had put it. She asked him if he had moved it and where she could find it.

At this point, Jesus revealed himself to Mary by calling her by her name. Mary recognized Jesus and ran to him. She cried out in Aramaic, calling him her teacher. Most of the New Testament is written in Greek, and only important events are recorded in Aramaic. Most scholars believe that these moments were so important that they were worth recording in the language spoken by the individual instead of a translation.

Mary went to embrace Jesus, but Jesus told Mary not to hold onto him because he had not yet ascended to heaven. When he did ascend to heaven, he would be welcomed by God, his father, which revealed his true identity as the son of God. Instead, she should inform the disciples to be prepared to meet him in Galilee. Only the women had personally experienced Jesus after his resurrection. The disciples have had a trail of evidence to follow that would lead them to Galilee, where Jesus would make himself known to the disciples and others.

Expand: The Eye-Witness Accounts Continue

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to two disciples on the Emmaus Road and his disciples several times.

Two Disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)

After Jesus revealed himself to the women who visited his tomb the morning of his resurrection, he appeared to others. Two disciples decided to travel from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a seven-mile journey and a day's worth of travel. As they walked, they discussed what happened to Jesus. They debated the women’s claim of Jesus’s resurrection. They had not seen Jesus themselves or the angels at the tomb, and they were unsure of the news that he was resurrected. As they discussed, a man approached and asked what they were debating. They were unaware that this man was Jesus because his identity was hidden. Jesus wanted them to discover his identity as they fellowshipped with each other.

They were surprised by Jesus’s question. Word spread that Jesus was resurrected and all of Jerusalem and the surrounding region discussed these claims. They asked how he had not heard about what happened to Jesus. They explained that Jesus was a powerful prophet who was crucified. They hoped he was the Messiah, but after his death on the cross, how could he be? They heard reports that he was resurrected, and they discussed this report and its implications.

Jesus Explains the Meaning of the Old Testament Prophecies

As they walked, Jesus explained the reports of his resurrection from the Old Testament. Jesus appealed to the Old Testament to defend and interpret his resurrection because the Old Testament established the purpose and mission of God and his Messiah. It predicted that God would send a Messiah who would restore the world. Jesus began with Moses and continued through the prophets, teaching them how these writings foreshadowed, predicted, and explained the death and resurrection of the Messiah. The disciples did not grasp that this man was Jesus, but they were amazed by his teaching. When they arrived at their destination, they asked him to stay and eat with them. Jesus agreed. As they sat to eat, Jesus prayed for the meal and broke the bread to serve it. As soon as he finished, the disciples' eyes were opened, and they recognized the man they walked with and spoke with as Jesus. As they marveled at him, Jesus vanished, and the disciples told the other disciples what they experienced.

He is Not a Ghost! (John 20:19-31)

With more reports that Jesus had resurrected, the disciples believed Jesus was alive, but some doubted. As the disciples gathered to pray with one another, Jesus appeared again. The disciples were amazed and believed. One of the disciples, Thomas, was not present and continued to doubt. How could someone come back alive after he was dead? His doubt earned him the nickname of doubting Thomas.

Later, the disciples again met with each other, and Jesus appeared to them. This time Thomas was present. Some were convinced that Jesus was a ghost and not physically resurrected. Jesus turned to Thomas and invited him to touch his hands and feet where he had been nailed to the cross. He invited him to touch his side where he had been stabbed with a sword. Ghosts cannot be touched or have scars, but Jesus did.

Even still, some of the disciples had their doubts about what they were experiencing. To convince them even further of his physical nature, he asked them to bring him something to eat. They brought him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it in front of them. Jesus ate it, and all who were there believed. Jesus instructed them to meet him in Galilee and vanished from their sight.

Jesus Revealed Himself Before His Ascension to Heaven (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)

The disciples gathered together along with 500 of Jesus’s followers in Galilee as Jesus had commanded. Jesus revealed himself, and they worshipped him. Jesus gave them final instructions to preach the gospel. After this, he ascended into heaven, leaving them behind to carry out his mission.

Module 8 Lesson 1 of 3