Yesterday my Bible study took some interesting paths. The four Gospels record the event in Matthew 28/Mark16/Luke24/John 20. I read John's account first of Easter Sunday's tomb scene and was impressed that "But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beheld two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, 'Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.'" I noticed that they did not have to say, "Fear not" to remove her scared reaction to their presence as always happens when angels show up. So I checked the other three accounts and came up with this scenario.All four accounts agree that it was right around dawn...slightly before dawn as the women arrived, about sunrise when the angel rolled away the covering stone and sat on it, scaring the guards senseless and saying, "Do not be afraid" to the women. Matt shortens things with the angel's orders to go tell the disciples about Jesus' resurrection, the women grabbing Jesus when He revealed Himself to them, inserting the guards/Pharisees/Jews to this day parenthesis, and then reporting the eleven's meeting with Him in Galilee. (Matt's a Jew writing to Jews, so the parenthesis makes sense.)
Mark records the stone had been rolled away when the girls found it, they went into the tomb, found out from an angel (young man/white robe) sitting on the right side about the Resurrection, then fled the tomb in fear but said nothing to anybody. He remarks that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene out of whom He cast seven demons. (This makes sense since a lot of Mark's Gospel points to Jesus' power through miracles.)
Doctor Luke relates the women brought anointing spices (his medical/mortuary interest, I suppose), found the stone rolled, entered the tomb, meet two angels, got scared, heard of the Resurrection, and returned with a report to the eleven and all the rest. Luke says Pete ran to the tomb and found the empty wrappings. John reports a bit more detail, since he was there.
Mary Magdalene showed up at dark, found the stone removed, and ran to tell Peter and John. John won the foot race but lost his nerve, Pete goes in and John follows, they find the empty wrappings and go away. Meanwhile, Mary's outside crying, looks in and sees two angels sitting at opposite ends of the slab...I figure much like the two angels on the Ark of the Covenant for symbolic reasons...talks with them, turns around, and sees Jesus but thinks He's the gardener. (I figure this is another interesting providential coincidence since He's the Second Adam and Adam was the First Gardener before the Fall prior to becoming the First Maintenance Man after It.) Jesus wakes up Mary, she grabs Him, He tells her to go tell the disciples and she does.
Now, Synchronizing Grampa Bob figures it like this: The Women's Auxiliary of 33AD bought spices late Saturday night at Inara's Incense Imporium in the Jewish Quarter, were just over the hill from the tomb at the dark before sunrise, saw the angel descend in a flash and earthquake, came up on the rolled away stone, like-dead guards, and the angel sitting on the rock eating salted pork and smoking...ooops, that was Merry and Pippin at Orthanc...My Bad! This angel won in a three-way version of "rock/paper/scissors" with his two brothers who got to be inside as the symbolic covering angels of the slab.
The women get the usual "Fear Not" greeting, go inside, talk with the angel on the right...reminiscent of Zacharias' talking with Gabriel at the incense altar in Luke 1:11...and they spot both angels standing. They ran to get The Men, they get to see Jesus and grab his feet, they make their report, John won the footrace/Pete went in first/Mary followed them back but stood outside, the guys leave after not seeing the two angels sitting down that Mary saw when she peeked in, and Mary gets a one on one with Jesus who she mistakes as the gardener until He speaks to her...I'm of the opinion that she gave Him a Big Ole Hug (like my granddaughters do on occasion) in her excitement that elicited His "Don't cling to Me"...and then she "came" (John would have been back at the Meeting Place by then) and reported she had seen the Lord. Maybe when the other girls spotted him and clung to His feet, she had lagged behind or run ahead...can't say for sure on this one...or maybe she got a double dose of personal worship!
So, what's my point? Even if I can't successfully synchronize these stories any better than this, DER HERR AUFSTANDEN!! THE LORD IS RISEN!! Give Him a hug in your excitement!!
Got outraised arms?!!
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