Acts 1 Harmonizing those 40 days
| Matt 28 | Mark 16 | Luke 24 | John 20 |
| The Resurrection28 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” | The Resurrection16 , When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. | The Resurrection24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. | The Resurrection20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. |
What Happened?
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, three days after Jesus had been laid to rest in the tomb, there was an earthquake that rocked the area. Following the earthquake a brilliantly shining angel came down from heaven to the tomb and rolled back the stone which was covering Jesus’ tomb. The guards felt the earthquake and saw the angel like a bolt of lightening coming right for them. It scared them so bad, that they fainted. A little while later, as dawn was breaking Mary Magdelene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and some other women came down the trail to the tomb. They had hoped to properly prepare Jesus’ body for burial with spices, but they were worried as to how they would be able to role the stone away from the mouth of the tomb since it was so heavy. To their shock and amazement they noticed that there were no guards around and the stone was rolled away. Mary Magdelene was the first one there, as soon as she saw that the tomb had been disturbed she became very distraught and immediately she dropped everything and ran to find Peter and John to tell them the horrible news that someone had stolen the body. After Mary left the other ladies arrived and decided to look in the tomb, maybe there was some explanation. When they peaked in they saw an angel in a pure white robe sitting on the right side. This sight brought them no comfort. The ladies were absolutely terrified. The angel spoke gently to them. “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. The women were in an absolute state of shock, they didn’t know what to think. Suddenly two more angels appeared in dazzling white robes. The women fell to their knees. These angels again said to the women “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” The women remembered the teaching, glimmers of hope began to break through into their hearts. The angels smiled and said go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” The women fled from the tomb area, intending to head straight back to tell the disciples all that they had seen and heard, but as they ran their amazement was overcome by fear and their fear reduced them all to tears. Their run, slowed to a walk, finally they stopped altogether and sat down in the garden. Completely overcome with emotion and fear they said nothing to anyone.
Meanwhile Mary Magdelene raced back to the city. She kicked open the door where Peter and John were staying and exclaimed “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” In seconds, Peter and John were out the door and running full speed towards the tomb. They left Mary in the dust, breathing hard from her run to Peter and John house and with a heavy heart she made here way back slowly towards the tomb.
John was faster than Peter, he reached the tomb first. Sure enough the stone had been rolled away, As John was marveling about this Peter pushed passed him and ran right into the tomb. Inside there was nothing but neatly folded grave clothes. Jesus’ body was no where to be found. Glimmers of hope, could it be? Peter and John left the tomb and went home absolutely dumbfounded.
The Ladies had stopped crying, in fact they had resolved to carry out the angels wishes, they turned from their spot in the garden and began to make their way towards the city, as they did, a person blocked their path. He smiled and said “Greetings!” – It was Jesus! They came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Jesus vanished from their presence, and this time, they did not alter their course, they went straight to the disciples.
By this time, Mary had made it back to the tomb. Everyone was gone. She just cried and cried. The two angels returned and Mary saw them sitting on the place where Jesus’ body was supposed to be. The angels asked her “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary was so distraught that she didn’t even realize that these were angels she was talking to – all she wanted was the body of Jesus, so she could give her savior a proper burial, so she turned to go, and as she went she said “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” She stomped out of the tomb, and almost bumped right into what she thought was the gardener, who was standing just outside the tomb He said to her “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? With tears of frustration and sorrow streaming down her cheeks Mary said “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary had never run so fast in all her life. In fact she arrived to tell the disciples the good news just as the other ladies were arriving. About a half dozen very excited ladies, led to an unplanned meeting with many of the followers of Jesus. Most of the men were skeptical of these “tales of resurrection”. Leave it to over emotional women to come up with something like this! Dead people don’t come back to life! The midmorning meeting disbanded, and some of the disciples of Jesus started heading away from Jerusalem, back towards their homes. Cleopus was just such a disciple, Jesus was dead, and it was time to go home. He and a friend started the 8 mile walk to Emmaus around lunch time. As they walked they were joined by a stranger. A stranger who seemed to know nothing about what all had been going on in Jerusalem regarding Jesus. Cleopus filled the stranger in, including, telling him about the comments that these women had made this morning. As they walked the stranger began to teach many things about the Messiah from the Scriptures. At supper time, when the stranger broke bread, Cleopus realized the stranger was in fact Jesus. At that moment Jesus vanished. Cleopus and his friend bolted back to Jerusalem in record time, to the upper room where the followers of Jesus were assembled.
That night while everyone was buzzing in the upper room about this resurrection Jesus appeared to them all. Convincing them that he was alive.
Eight days passed, and then Jesus appeared again in the upper room, especially for the sake of Thomas who had refused to believe the stories of resurrection that were now beginning to circulate around Jerusalem.
The followers of Jesus then remembered the angel’s commands at the tomb, they needed to go to Galilee so they packed up their things and headed north. Once they arrived in Galilee, well, nothing happened. Since there were a lot of mouths to feed Peter and some of the disciples went fishing. Jesus appeared again on the shore, he helped them catch a bumper crop of fish, and taught Peter some valuable lessons. Jesus then told them to assemble at a special mountain in Galilee – when they did Jesus met them, they had a tremendous worship service together, however, some of the people assembled still doubted that this all could be real. Jesus concluded this special service by saying to his disciples “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
But Jesus was not finished, He sent his followers back to Jerusalem, back to the upper room where they had first seen their resurrected Lord. From there Jesus taught them diligently about the kingdom of God, and presented many proofs that he was in fact resurrected, in all Jesus ministered to over 500 people, finally after the forty days were up, Jesus took his disciples out to the mount of olives he said to them you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth
After saying this things, Jesus ascended into heaven.
What observations about the Gospels stories can we make?
They are different but still trustworthy
What observations about Jesus Christ can we make?
He cares for the “nobodies” of society
Everything is a part of his sovereign plan
What observations about believers can we make?