Mythology

and the grave empty. They saw a young man in a white robe sitting by the grave; he told them that Jesus was not there but was risen, and gave them a message to deliver to the disciples to the effect that Jesus would meet them in Galilee as he had told them at the Last Supper. There is no account of any appearances of Jesus, and the mythical element is entirely absent. In Luke the young man seen by the women has become two men clothed in shining garments whom the women take to be angels. The message given by the young man is considerably modified and the instruction to meet Jesus in. Galilee is omitted. The disciples, who are still in Jerusalem, refuse to believe the women’s account of what they have seen. Jesus, unrecognized, accompanies two disciples on their way to Emmaus, and reveals himself to them in the breaking of bread. They at once return to Jerusalem to bring the news to the disciples, and find them gathered together debating the report that Jesus was risen and had appeared to Peter, though no account of this appearance is given in any of the gospels. At this point Jesus himself appears in the midst of the assembled disciples and with difficulty persuades them of his reality by partaking of food. Then, according to Luke, on the same evening, Jesus leads the disciples out to Bethany, lifts up his hands to bless them, and in the act of blessing them is parted from them and is carried up into heaven. The words ‘and was carried up into heaven’ are omitted by some MSS, but the best authorities retain them. Luke has, however, a variant form of the tradition in his second book, the Acts of the Apostles; according to this, Jesus was ’seen’ (Gk. optanomenos) by the disciples for forty days after his resurrection; at the end of this period, we are told, ‘he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight’ (Acts I:9), and the context shows that this took place on the Mount of Olives. Ten days then elapse till ‘the day of Pentecost was fully come’ (Acts 2:1), and we have the account of the descent of the Spirit. The time-table has clearly been adjusted to make the resurrection, ascension, and the descent of the Spirit coincide with the Jewish calendar period of fifty days from Passover to Pentecost. At the moment of the Ascension Luke introduces two men in white garments who tell the disciples that Jesus will return in the same way that they had seen him go into heaven. Here he is evidently offering a parallel to the two men in shining garments whom the women had seen at the grave. This is the extent to which Luke, or the source, oral or written, which he was using, has invested the resurrection narrative with the element of myth. Matthew’s mythicization has gone much further. According to his account the women do not come to the grave to anoint the body of Jesus, as they do in the other Synoptists, but to watch. They see, descending from heaven, an angel whose appearance is described as like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow; at the sight of him the keepers shake and become like dead men; he removes the stone from the mouth of the grave and sits upon it. He then gives the frightened women a message which is a modified version of the young man’s message in Mark. Mark had said that the women fled from the grave in fear, and told nothing to anyone; but Matthew says that they ran from the grave with fear and great joy to bring the news to the disciples. As they went Jesus met them and greeted them. They held him by the feet and worshipped him. He told them not to be afraid, but to tell the disciples to go to Galilee, where they will see him. Matthew ends his account with the statement that the eleven disciples went away to a mountain in Galilee, ‘which Jesus had appointed them’. There he came to them; some were doubtful when they saw him; but the rest worshipped him. He told them that all power had been given to him in heaven and on earth, and commissioned them to preach the gospel to all the Gentiles, and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Note: If you are looking for good and high quality web space to host and run your java application check Lunarwebhost java web hosting services