If you try to harmonize all the biblical accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, you’ll get frustrated pretty quickly. Some of the details supplied by the four gospels are mutually contradictory. Does that make them untrustworthy? I don’t think so. If all four versions of the story were exactly alike, that would strongly suggest that they were all copying from a single source with no independent verification. But the New Testament has preserved multiple sources witnessing to the same event. Some of the differences are too basic to be dismissed as embellishments of one original account. And yet, they all verify that on the Sunday after Jesus’ crucifixion, some disciples of Jesus (Mary Magdalene being the only one specifically mentioned in all four gospels) found that the stone sealing the entrance of the tomb had been rolled away, and the tomb was empty because Jesus had been raised.
In all four gospels, at least one woman meets some sort of messenger. In Mark, the earliest gospel (written about A.D. 65), “a young man dressed in a white robe” was sitting on the right side of the tomb. In Luke (written about A.D. 75), “two men in dazzling clothes” appeared beside the weeping women disciples. In Matthew (written around A.D. 80), “an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone” while the women were watching. “His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow.” Then, in John (probably not completed until sometime in the 90’s) Mary Magdalene found “two angels in white” sitting on the slab where the body of Jesus had been laid.
It’s no use trying to harmonize these differences. They cannot be reconciled, and they have no bearing on the basic proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection. It’s better to let each account have its own integrity and try to understand how the details function in each particular gospel.
I’m intrigued by the “young man dressed in a white robe” in Mark. There is no indication from Mark that he is an angel; only a “young man.” Earlier in the gospel, we read that when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, all of his disciples ran away in fear, and that “a certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. [The temple guard] caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked” (14:51-52). This young man is never named. In fact, the mention of him seems odd, because it does not seem to add anything to the story – unless Mark intends for us to recognize that the young man reappeared fully clothed at the empty tomb. Could he be referring to the same person in both places?
At the time of Mark’s gospel, the ceremony of baptism began with converts removing their clothes. They then walked naked into a pool of water. As each one knelt down, a community leader admonished the convert to follow in the way of Christ’s teachings and baptized him “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Then, the newly baptized Christian walked out of the pool on the opposite side and was given a white robe to represent being “clothed with Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
The first readers of Mark’s gospel had all received baptism in this way. Would they recognize the young man as one who had been stripped of his own clothes and clothed with Christ? It seems quite plausible to me. Perhaps Mark is reminding his community that baptism is not for the faint of heart. To walk away from one’s old life can be frightening, even perilous. But to clothe oneself with Christ is put away all fear and live boldly in the power of the resurrection. Mark’s readers were suffering persecution for confessing Christ as Lord. They had been forced underground, literally. They were meeting secretly in catacombs, hoping to escape being thrown into prison, burned to death on crucifixes, or fed to lions in the Coliseum while spectators cheered. The purpose of Mark’s gospel was to encourage these believers not to lose faith. His account of the resurrection reports that three women visited the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. When the young man seated on the right side of tomb told them Jesus had been raised, they fled in fear. That is certainly one way to respond to the gospel, especially when following Christ puts your life in danger. But evidently, those women overcame their fear and told others. Otherwise, there would be no community of believers in Rome and Mark would not have written his gospel. Mark is encouraging his readers to demonstrate the same boldness as that first generation of believers.
The empty tomb confronts people of every generation with the same choice: we can either run away from the empty tomb in fear or go looking for evidence of the risen Christ at work in our world. We can either remain silent about what we have heard or bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection. We can be naked and afraid, as the young man was at Jesus’ arrest, or we can be fully clothed with Christ, no longer afraid of anything – not even death. We in 21st century America do not face prison or execution for confessing Christ, and for this we should be grateful. But freedom of religion doesn’t make the gospel any less demanding. Having put on Christ, what are we being called to do? How might Christ expect us to exercise courage, confront injustice, or show compassion where others have turned away? What fears do we need to overcome by claiming the power of Christ’s resurrection?
Copyright 2012 by J. Mark Lawson
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