ALLEGED CONTRADICTION NUMBER THREE: Do the message of
the angels to the women at the tomb and the women’s response conflict in
the Gospel accounts?
Do
Matthew, Mark and Luke contradict one another in describing the women’s
reaction to the angels’ message?
The critics also claim that the responses of the women
in these accounts are contradictory. Matthew says the women "ran to tell
his disciples" about the empty tomb (Matthew 28:8); but Mark
records, "And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid"
(Mark 16:8). Critics claim that Luke contradicts Matthew and Mark when
he says, "...they told all this to the Eleven and to all
the rest" (Luke 24:9).
Mark records that after hearing the angels’ message
the women "said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." Does Luke
contradict Mark by recording that, "returning from the tomb they [the
women] told all this to the Eleven and to all the rest" (Mark 16:8; Luke
24:9)? Did the women tell or not tell?
Once again, when the accounts are combined and time is
factored in, the "problem" disappears. It is true that at first, before
they reached the apostles, the women said nothing to anyone because they
were afraid. Each of us would have been as well.
Since we are dealing with a specific period of time
(the time it took the women to go from the tomb to find the apostles)
there is no reason why the women could not have first responded with
fear, and then after their fear "subsided," told the disciples what had
happened. This is why they were silent and told no one until they
reached the safety and security of the apostles. Then they delivered
their message.
By implication, this was also the instruction of the
angels’ message. "Go tell the apostles" implies that the apostles should
be the first to hear the message. If an angel gives one party specific
instruction to give a vital message to another party, the first party
does not stop and gossip along the way.
But it would be incredible to think that, having
received the instruction of the angels specifically to go tell the
disciples about the Resurrection, the women would never tell
anyone throughout the rest of their entire lives. Mark is simply
emphasizing that they were scared, and it took them a while to "collect
themselves" before they would obey the specific instruction of the
angels to tell the apostles. That they did tell the apostles is obvious,
for the Gospels record the apostles’ reaction to the women’s message.
Mark is simply emphasizing the women were scared and they said nothing
until they reached the disciples.
In conclusion, there is no contradiction in the basic
content as given by all the Gospel writers. Each writer has recorded the
"basics" of the angels’ message. Neither is there a contradiction in the
women’s response to the message.
Now we will consider the claims made by a contemporary
critic concerning the angels’ message.
