I have had a number of people ask me to provide a simple narrative of what happened during the morning of Christ’s resurrection based on the Bible. Although it seems unnecessary since I wrote three Blogs in February 2018 explaining what transpired that morning (and they can still be read on this website), for sake of brevity I am providing the story. This is an inductive reasoning narrative which explains and incorporates everything presented in the four Gospels, but should be read as highly probable, but not necessarily precise.
Remember, the premise held by most people is that each of the Four Gospels is a different account of the same event. In actuality, the Bible presents the four accounts as each being a single, and separate event, at different specific times on the Resurrection morning.
This narrative has no Biblical references and no explanation why parts of the story are as I provide. All such information can be found in my February 2018 Blogs.
The large number of women who had followed Jesus and His disciples and provided for their needs gathered around His cross as He died. They remained there until Joseph of Arimathea came and took the body down just before dark; the beginning of the Sabbath. He wrapped Jesus’ body in a fine linen, but had no spices. Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of James sat across from the tomb watching until Joseph rolled a stone across the entrance and left.
Mary Magdalene was upset that Jesus had not been given a proper burial, so she organized the women to meet at a particular place at sunrise the day after the Sabbath. She informed them that she, Mary mother of James, and Salome would get the spices to give Jesus a proper burial.
After they had left, Nicodemus and Joseph went back to the tomb. Nicodemus had all the necessary spices so they correctly prepared the Body for entombment.
The Sabbath started at dark that evening, which meant no one could no anything during the entire next day. At dark the ensuing day when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, and Salome bought spices but it was too dark for them to go to the tomb. The plan, anyway, was to meet the other women at dawn, go to the tomb, and properly prepare Jesus’ body.
Mary Magdalene told Mary mother of James she would likely need to use her former profession (prostitute) to occupy the guards so the women would be able to get into the tomb. The plan was if Mary Magdalene was not at the meeting place, Mary mother of James, and Salome would take the spices to the tomb with the other women.
The morning of the day after the Sabbath, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb alone to see what she could do about distracting the guards. However, upon arrival, she found the tomb was open. Without even looking in, she ran back to the Upper Room, woke Peter and John and told them someone had stolen Jesus’ body.
They both sprinted to the tomb greatly outdistancing Mary, who followed them. John arrived first but just looked in. Peter quickly joined him and both disciples entered. They saw the linen which had covered Jesus still folded, with no Body between the sheets. The linen strips which had enfolded Jesus’ head were in a different place, but still were wrapped around and around the same as they had been when placed on Jesus’ head; clearly the Head left the linens with them not being unwrapped.
John and Peter left the tomb deciding to tell Mary mother of Jesus the tomb was empty. They headed towards Bethany to the house of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Peter decided to return to the Upper Room to tell the rest of the disciples about the empty tomb when they woke up, while John continued to Bethany.
By then, Mary had again arrived at the tomb. She looked into it and saw two angels with the appearance of men. They asked her why she was sobbing. As she answered, she saw another man in the area. She didn’t know Him for he had made Himself temporarily unable to be perceived. She asked if he knew where the body had been taken so she could retrieve it, thinking he was a gardener.
Jesus then made Himself recognizable to Mary, but told her to not touch Him as He had not yet ascended to the Father. He instructed her to tell the disciples He was immediately going to the Father; then He disappeared.
Mary went back to Upper Room to give the disciples Jesus’ information; immersed in thought about what she had just witnessed, she merely strolled.
By now, it was right before the sun had risen. Mary mother of James, Joanna, and a number of the women Mary had organized arrived at the meeting place with the spices to prepare Jesus’ body for a proper burial. Since Mary Magdalene was not there, Mary mother of James led the women to the tomb according to the plan.
Upon arriving, a few went into the tomb and saw there was no body. While trying to decide what to do (they had gone to put spices on the Body, but it was not there), two angels appeared as men. They told the women Jesus had risen and they should tell the disciples to go to Galilee to see Him.
The women hurried to the Upper Room and arrived at about the same time as Mary Magdalene. They all told the disciples the tomb was empty and that a couple of men had directed them to tell the disciples Jesus would meet them in Galilee; Mary even related she had seen Jesus and that He was ascending to the Father.
Although the disciples didn’t believe the women, Peter went back to the tomb a second time; probably hoping to see Jesus. He looked into the tomb and saw the linens as they were the first time. He collected them and went back to the Upper Room.
Then after the sun had risen, a subset of the women who were supposed to be at the meeting site before the sun was up, arrived late. They assumed their original party had gone to the tomb already, so, they proceeded alone. Since the numbers of the subset of women were small, they wondered how they would open the tomb if the main body of women had not yet arrived.
When they came on the scene, the tomb was open. They went inside and encountered a young man. He told them Jesus had risen and offered to show them were He had been laid since the linens were gone. The women were terrified and bolted from the tomb. The young man yelled to them as they rushed away to tell the disciples to go to Galilee. The women were so frightened they said nothing about the encounter to anyone.
The dawn was just over and as the day began, Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of James decided to take another look at the tomb in daylight. They both had seen the empty tomb individually, but now they wanted to take another look together.
Upon arrival, they saw a single angel sitting on the tombstone. He told them Jesus had risen, offered them to look in the tomb, then directed they tell the disciples to go to Galilee. They left hastily without looking into the tomb (both had already seen it empty) with great joy. They were finally beginning to realize the meaning of the resurrection.
The two had not gone far before they encountered Jesus. Since He had already ascended to the Father and now had come back in His glorified body, He allowed them to clasp His feet. This time He told them to tell the brethren to go to Galilee so they could see Him there.
The disciples did go to Galilee and they did see Him. The conclusion:
HE IS RISEN!!!!