As you grow older, an interesting exercise is to hear about how the same event “happened” in different people’s mind. My family discovered the oddity of this truth not too long ago; my parents were talking with us, mostly individually, about things in our childhood, from family vacations to how they raised us. My parents made a most astonishing discovery. My mom told me recently, “Honestly, you would think you four were raised in four different houses! I swear I did almost the same thing with each of you!” or, “My, I would think you guys talking about Disney Land that time was four different years.” This is something we don’t think about very frequently; every person can watch or interact with the same event and come away with wildly different perspectives. As people read the four Gospels, we tend to think that they should be identical, that any difference in accounts means that one of them must be lying, they weren’t there and trying to recount something from hearsay, or even that it’s merely a legend. This just isn’t reality.

One more example I found in a book, Cold-Case Christianity. Written by J. Warner Wallace, he is a detective who has taken hundreds of witness statements over the years. There was a case he worked where a man robbed a grocery store. He took two witness statements in particular. One was from a 38 year old woman who was married with kids, an interior designer, and picking up milk on her way home from work. She described a young boy in his teens who was very polite with a sweet voice. He did not have a gun and bought something at the store. He wore a Izod Polo shirt and had no vehicle. The other witness was a young 23 year old man who was single with no kids, an apprentice plumber, and visiting the cashier on his day off. He described a man 24 to 25 years old, a threatening scowl, had a Ruger P95 9mm handgun, bought nothing at the store, might have worn a T-Shirt, and ran to a ‘90s Tan Nissan. These two people seem to have witnessed different events! But they didn’t. Their perspective and information to the police were both vital to catching the criminal. Their experiences, age in life, and perspective on the crime heavily impacted what they remembered, reported, and how they interpreted the event. If you wish to hear more about the specifics on this example, I would encourage reading the chapter on it in Mr. Wallace’s book, chapter 4: Test Your Witnesses. (This example comes from p. 77-79). Incidentally, if witnesses do sound identical in their account like many tend to think, that can lead many detectives to suspect collusion between the witnesses, whether by accident or on purpose.

The differences between the Gospels can be jarring for a first time reader who expects witnesses to be nearly identical. Each account highlights different things, sometimes in a way that can make skeptics question it’s veracity, and they in turn can sow doubt in our children. First, let’s look at what exactly the Gospels “disagree” on:

Matthew highlights:

• two women in particular go to the tomb on the first day of the week (Mary Magdalene and the other Mary)
• there was an earthquake
• an angel with the appearance of lightning came and rolled back the stone
• the guards trembled and fainted, the angel delivered a message to the women that Jesus had risen
• Jesus met them and told the women that the other disciples will see Him in Galilee,
• the guards told the Jewish priests what happened
• the priests bribed the guards to lie and say the disciples stole the body.

Mark highlights:

• On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome came to the tomb
• They questioned amongst themselves as they walked there how to roll away the stone blocking the entrance
• When they arrived the stone had been rolled back and a young man dressed in white stood inside the tomb
• He told them Jesus had risen
• The women fled from the tomb trembling and said nothing
• Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden*
• Mary Magdalene reported this to the disciples who didn’t believe her*
• Jesus appeared to two other disciples*
• These two told the others and were still not believed*
• Jesus appeared to the rest and rebuked them for not believing the others*

*some early manuscripts do not contain this portion of the account

Luke highlights:

• Women came to the tomb to anoint Jesus on the first day of the week
• They found the stone rolled away and no body of Jesus in the tomb
• Suddenly two men stood before them in dazzling apparel
• The women were frightened
• The men told them Jesus had risen
• The women remembered Jesus’ words on how He would rise and went and told the others
• Most of the disciples did not believe the women
• Peter decided to check and went himself to find the linen that wrapped Jesus but no body
• Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus
• The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus, and Jesus explained the Old Testament Messianic prophecies to them
• They insisted He eat supper with them, and as Jesus broke bread with them, they recognized them, and Jesus suddenly vanishes from their sight
• The two disciples marveled that what happened and believed He had risen and told the others what happened
• As these two disciples were with the others, Jesus suddenly appeared with them
• He told them to touch him because He was flesh and blood and not a spirit, and He ate a broiled fish with them to prove further than he was alive
• He blessed His Disciples before being carried up to Heaven.

John highlights:

• Mary Magdalene went to the tomb on the first day of the week
• She saw that the stone was taken away and fled to the disciples
• Simon Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved (John’s pet name for himself) went to check the tomb themselves because they worried the authorities had taken Jesus’ body
• John ran faster than Peter and they both saw the linen that wrapped Jesus’ body but no body
• Jesus appeared to Magdalene personally in the garden and spoke to her privately for a bit
• Jesus appeared among the disciples when the doors were locked (literally ‘the doors being lock…Jesus came and stood among them” John 20:19)
• Jesus showed them the wounds on His hands and side to prove it was Him
• He commissioned them to go and sent the Holy Spirit to them
• Thomas wasn’t among the disciples when Jesus appeared and did not believe the others than Jesus had risen
• Jesus came back specially when Thomas was there and had Thomas touch His wounds to prove to Thomas that He was alive.
• Jesus appeared to many others, including the seven disciples who were fishing and also to Peter privately, and to John privately
• John also highlights that Jesus did many other things than that are written down, but all these were written to help those believe.

In conclusion, while you can see there are definitely different accounts (for instance, each account records the angels differently), many things are the same: Jesus rose leaving behind the linen wrappings, the women came to the tomb first, Jesus appeared to many others but first the close disciples, many of the disciples did not believe Jesus was risen at first, and two account include specifications that Jesus rose physically, in flesh and blood, and not merely as a Spirit. If you take the time to step back and not hone in on the differences, you can see they are very alike, and many of the “differences” are more or less adding something. For instance, simple because Mark and Matthew didn’t give special notice to specific people Jesus appeared to doesn’t mean that He didn’t appear to them. We also know that the other writers were aware of what had been written. For example, Luke was written as an official account by a qualified doctor to a Roman governing official, and John was written last to fill in the gaps that other accounts didn’t answer.

It’s important to understand these for ourselves, and even more important as educators and parents to be sure our children know these things too. The devil wants believers to abandon Jesus; sometimes he doesn’t this by using skeptics to make something a problem when it isn’t. This would be an example of that. Let us prepare our minds and those around us to withstand any attacks against our faith.

Resources:
Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Warner Wallace