Johnny Scholar

In Losing Faith in Faith, Dan barker gives a challenge to Christians everywhere. The Easter Challenge is straightforward: recount what happened on Easter.

The conditions of the challenge are equally simple (and reasonable). First, read each account of the resurrection found in the Bible. He gives the references: in the Gospels - Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20-21; other sources – Acts 1:3-12 and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.

Then, without omitting any details of these separate accounts, write a simple, chronological narrative of the events between the resurrection and the ascension.

Barker says that not all of the times of day are made clear in the accounts, so it is okay to make educated guesses when necessary. The important thing is that no detail is omitted.

Sounded fair enough. So I did that very thing. After 12 years of vocational ministry, I can honestly say I was shocked by what I found. This account is plain ludicrous and full of irreconcilable problems.

I used the New International Version and omitted only Mark 16:9-20, since it is missing from the earliest manuscripts and scholars agree that it is probably inauthentic. I didn't even get to the Acts or 1 Corinthians passage. There was no need.

I also gave concessions whenever possible. For instance, in John’s account, only Mary Magdalene is mentioned at the tomb. In Matthew, there are at least two women present, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. In Mark, present were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Luke is nonspecific. Therefore, rather than assume a contradiction in this case, I concede that the greatest number of women mentioned in any Gospel is present in each.

Here’s what happened on Easter, according to the Bible…

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, prepared them, and went to look at the tomb early Sunday morning. It was just after sunrise and still dark (that’s right—after the sunrise but still dark). The women had bought the spices to anoint Jesus’ body. On their way to the tomb they asked each other, who will roll back the stone for us?�

There was an great earthquake (only not great enough for three of the four Gospels to mention it), caused by an angel. Going to the tomb, the angel rolled back the stone and sat on it. His clothes were white and he looked like lightning. The guards were scared stiff.

When the women looked up they saw that the stone had been rolled away. The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.�

When they entered the tomb, they did not find the body of Jesus. While they wondered about this, two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down, but the men said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’� The women remembered his words.

Then they saw a man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side of the tomb, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,� he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter: ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’�

Trembling and bewildered, full of both fear and joy, the women ran away to tell the disciples. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. Suddenly, Jesus met them. “Greetings,� he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me.�

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went to town and told the chief priests everything. The chief priests and elders met and devised a plan: they gave the soldiers lots of hush money and said, “You are to say: ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If the story gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. The soldiers took the money and did what they were told. This story is still being circulated.

When the women came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. Present were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them. Mary Magdalene told Simon Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!� But the apostles didn’t believe them because their words seemed like nonsense.

Peter, however, ran to the tomb with John. John outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went in. Bending over, he saw strips of linen lying there, along with the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally, John, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Peter went away, wondering what had happened.

He and John went back to their homes, but Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?�

“They have taken my Lord away,� she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.�

At this, she saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize that it was Jesus.

“Woman,� he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?�

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.�

Jesus said to her, “Mary.�

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!� (which means Teacher).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’�

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!� And she told them that he had said these things to her.

On the same day, two disciples were going to Emmaus (about seventy miles from Jerusalem). They were talking to each other about everything that happened, when Jesus came up and walked beside them, but they were kept from recognizing him.

Jesus asked, “What are you discussing?�

They stood still, downcast. Cleopas asked, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?�

“What things?� Jesus inquired.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,� they said. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazing us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.�

Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?� Then Jesus explained to them, beginning with Moses and the prophets, what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached Emmaus, Jesus acted as if he were going further. But they strongly urged him “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.� So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were open and they recognized him. He then disappeared from their sight.

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?�

Meanwhile, when the disciples in Jerusalem were together that evening, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “�Peace be with you!� After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again, Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.� And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.�

Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.�

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.�

The disciples in Emmaus got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled, saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.� Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how they recognized Jesus when he broke the bread.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.�

They were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a ghost. But Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do you have doubts in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?� They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.�

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.� Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.�

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!�

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.�

Later, Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together by the sea of Tiberias.

"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize him. He asked if they caught any fish, and they said, “no.� So he told them to throw their net on the right side of the boat, where they would find some. They did as Jesus instructed, and they caught so many that they could not bring in the net.
John told Peter, "It is the Lord!" Then Peter jumped into the water.

The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish (about a hundred yards off shore).

When they got to shore, they saw that Jesus had a fire going with fish frying. Jesus told them to bring some of their fish, and Simon Peter fetched them. Jesus told them to join him for breakfast.

None of them dared ask who he was, because they knew it was Jesus. Jesus served breakfast. This was the third time he had appeared to his disciples since he raised from the dead. (Even if you don’t count the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, there are three appearances before this one.)

After breakfast they visited some more.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the designated mountain where the angel and Jesus had told Mary Magdalene he would appear. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.�

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Chili

That's easy to do but he probably won't pay if the interpretation doesn't suit him.

Johnny Scholar

I think the point is that it cannot be successfully done without showing gross inconsistencies between gospels.

Chili

You mean that's his point. According to me it was a metaphysical event and there the apparent inconsistencies become obvious compliments towards each other.

Jehanne

It cannot be done because none of that stuff ever happened! It's first century "story-telling". :notworthy

Johnny Scholar

No, his point is that if you try to string all of the accounts into one, you have a mess. There's no other way around it. Even metaphysical events (which there is no evidence to substantiate) should occur in logical fashion.

Will you please show me the obvious compliments? I'm not seeing them.

Plognark

For what it's worth, i'd also like to see it... :thumbs:

Chili

Yes, I have no problem comitting to that even if I did not read the whole challenge. Having said this it may be more difficult to explain Acts 1:3-12 and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 in that context because that is when the secrecy of the myth is moved forward into religion. But I do not know that for sure just yet but will deal with that when I get there.

I'll try for tonight.

Chili

If there is a place the bible can be substantiated it is in this context. If one can explain all passages in a logical common sense fashion it must be right.

The problem will be that it must be unaccepatable because it proves theology kind of wrong.

Johnny Scholar

I have no idea what that means.