April 5, 2026 - "Alleluia Christ Has Risen"

I am recounting this story today because it has helped me with the conflicting Gospel details regarding the number of women visitors to the empty tomb and the number of angels encountered.  Some have argued that the inconsistencies and contradictions we find there render reasonable doubt regarding these Gospel traditions.  Let’s look at the women visitors as the Evangelists record them:

 

Matthew 28:1-10:  Mary Magdalene and the “other Mary” (mother of James and Joseph)

Mark 16:1-10: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome

Luke 24:1-10: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and “the other women with them”

John 20:1-2: Mary Magdalene

 

Now let’s look at the angels as the Evangelists describe them:

 

Matthew: An angel of the Lord with clothes that gleamed like lightning

Mark: A young man wearing a white robe

Luke: Two men in dazzling clothing

John: Two angels in white

 

Around the year 400 Saint Augustine wrote a work entitled “The Harmony of the Gospels” to address claims that the Gospels contradict one another and to show that the Evangelists had a coherent understanding of Christ’s life and teachings. Augustine emphasized that while the Gospels present different perspectives, they ultimately convey the same message about Jesus Christ. For him differences in the accounts were not contradictions but reflections of the distinct purposes and audiences of each Gospel writer.

 

From my own experience of seeing my grandmother and her sisters argue and disagree about but eventually come to a resolution about a traumatic event they had witnessed helped me see the plausibility of these Gospel traditions when someone tried to make me doubt them because of the inconsistencies.

 

Until next week,

Fr. John