The Resurrection of Jesus Christ while being the central claim of Christianity, also presents certain difficulties in the narrative account of it between the four Gospels. We address the question here of whether these are reconcilable and if a harmonization is possible or not.

In Matthew the disciples are told to go to Galilee and they do

In the last chapter of Matthew (28) the angels command the women at the tomb to tell the disciples to go to Galilee where they will see Jesus. Jesus then himself appears to those same women and reiterates the angel’s instructions after greeting them first: “…go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me” (v.10). The disciples indeed to go to Galilee as instructed (v.11) and Jesus meeting them there, gives them their final instructions “all authority has been given to me…Go therefore…baptizing…”. The account ends with those instructions and does not record Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven.

Mark makes a similar implication:

In the last chapter of Mark 16 the angel, similar to the narrative in Matthew, instructs the women to tell “his disciples and Peter” (16:7) to go to Galilee where they will see Jesus, also reinforcing this instruction through referring to a previous promise of Jesus that he would go ahead of them into Galilee “just as he told you” (v.7). Following this, there is some uncertainty over the ending of Mark due to certain variants in the manuscript traditions. Some of the most ancient manuscripts end abruptly here with no further decsription. One manuscript has a so-called “shorter ending” similar to Matthew in with Jesus giving his disciples the commission to go and spread the Gospel in the whole world, but no Ascension account. And a third version of the account, which the larger part of the academic community is leaning away from in terms of authenticity also has an appearance to Mary Magdalene and the disciples on the road to Emmaus (as in John), to the eleven with the commission (as in Matthew), and with an Ascension (as in Luke), albeit all in briefer form. Overall in the last variant the timeline is similar to Luke, although nothing is stated quite as explicitly in these longer endings, in that there is no real reference to a trip to Galilee.

Luke’s is seemingly solely in Jerusalem upto the Ascension?

In Luke (Ch.24) it seems that (v.13) “on that same day (the Day of the Resurrection when the women go to the tomb)..two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem” , when Jesus meets them there. After Jesus leaves them, “that same hour…(v.33)” the two go to meet the apostles in Jerusalem.  ^“While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (v.36) He then shows them his hands and feet, allows them to touch him, all of which is parallel to the account in John though the “doubting Thomas” incident is not mentioned. Subsequently Jesus instructs his disciples: “…remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high”(v.49). It seems that these two events, the Road to Emmaus and meeting with the eleven are in sequence. At their conclusion he blesses them and seemingly ascends into Heaven the same day, (see the full timeline sequence, Jerome 1361), as it is also given in the (disputed) Markan longer ending.

Acts is in Jerusalem too, but with Time Dilation

In Acts 1, which is also authored by Luke, the narrative seemingly confirms the general structure of his Gospel account. That is to say, in it too, Jesus “appears to the apostles”, orders them not to leave Jerusalem, commissions them (as in Matthew), and “when he had said this as they were watching (v.9), he ascends that very day to Heaven. However there is also a 40 day window (v.3) in between Jesus appearing to the disciples and his command not to leave Jerusalem, during which he spends time “showing them “convincing proofs” (v.3) of his Resurrection (persumably referring in part to eating broiled fish and allowing them to touch his wounds as in both Luke and John) and also “speaking to them about the Kingdom of God (v.3)”. Thus Jesus is said to have been “appearing to them during 40 days” before the part where he finally “ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father…the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (v.4,5). Again at the end of this passage, Jesus ascends into the clouds (v.9)

So if we permit ourselves the conclusion that somewhere in between those conversations in Luke, a period of 40 days elapses that would seem reasonable. This could not be between v. 35 and 36, because John says that this appearance occurs on Easter Sunday (“when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week” (20:19) and again he meets them “a week later” (v.26) when the disciples are “again in the house and Thomas with them”. Further this account would have to have been in the initial days, prior to any trip to Galilee, because in it (both Luke and John) the disciples are depicted as still being in a state of shock and stunned amazement “in their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering” (v.41). Rather between 43 and 44 is more likely (the necessity of drawing the line is felt due to the upcoming instruction (v.49) to “remain in the city”). It seems obvious that there must be some time between the appearance to the disciples (vv.36 onward) and the Ascension in verse 50, else the 40 days Luke describes in Acts have nowhere to fit into (the initial appearance being on Easter Sunday itself, Day1)

Other events in Galilee

13) Appearance to Five Hundred Brethren (1 Cor. 15:6)

St. Paul depicts the appearance to five hundred as occurring after the appearance to the twelve and before the appearance to James. We do not know precisely when it occurred, but this is a reasonable place to locate it.

14) Appearance to James (1 Cor. 15:7a)

St. Paul indicates that the appearance to St. James the Just occurred after Jesus appeared to the five hundred brethren and before his appearance to “all the apostles.”

We do not know precisely when it occurred, but this is a reasonable place to locate it, particularly in view of the fact that the scene has shifted to Galilee, where Jesus’ brothers presumably lived at this time (not yet having become believers; cf. John 7:5; and not yet having come to live in Jerusalem; cf. Acts 15:13).

Jesus’ Ascension

In any case, Jesus ascends from Jerusalem (Acts 1:9, Luke 24:50). Matthew’s final instructions (or final sounding instructions) are given in Galilee (28:16), however these instruction might not have been final, since they are unique to Matthew (the baptismal formula).

Where lies the Tension and can we Resolve it?

Matthew (and Mark too) completely omits the appearances to the apostles in Jerusalem that are in Luke and John. While Jesus and the angel issue instruction through the women that the apostles should go to Galilee to see him, we can only presume that there were these two “surprise appearances” in Jerusalem as well that were “not on the agenda”. So although the disciples were expecting to see Jesus in Galilee, he appears to them twice in Jerusalem itself in two brief encounters appearances a week apart, mysteriously appearing and vanishing. You could say there is nothing preventing Jesus from doing this, in spite of what he said. God always gives bonuses! What’s more, Luke actually makes no mention of the ministry in Galilee at all. However he does provide a 40 day period in Acts which could provide the time in which it occurs.

Further, 40 days is extremely symbolic in the Bible and it is possible that this is an approximation and there could have been more days from the Resurrection, which gives time for the two trips which is about a 100 mile each way. The period is stated in Acts (v.3) as “appearing to them during 40 days”. This means that the appearances to the disciples where “during 40 days, but there might have been more time lapsed between the Resurrection and the first appearance to the disciples (excluding the initial appearance to the women).

We can presume here that it was upon the return to Jerusalem that they were instructed to “remain in the city (Luke 24) and “not to leave Jerusalem” (Acts 1:4). So in Acts 3, it is said that Jesus appeared to the disciples during 40 days, but it does not specify that these appearances were in Jerusalem necessarily or exclusively or at all. Only upon the return to Jerusalem in v.4 where it is stated that Jesus “while staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem”.

Why Do we have the differences? – Author Perspectives

Why is it that we do not find the events in Jerusalem in the Gospel of Matthew at all, that is, the two appearances to the disciples (these were possibly both in the Upper Room) and then the command to stay in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit, followed by the Ascension of Jesus.

It is certainly strange that Matthew, being one of the 11 himself would not record the appearance of Jesus to the 11, not the Ascension. I would propose that a closer look at the Gospel Matthew leads one to believe that it was not finished. A biography of the life of the person must include the end of the earthly life of that person, whereas Mathew’s Gospel which has such sumptuous detail of the teaching of Jesus ends with teaching as well. Matthew is known to pool writings related to particular topics together, as we see him do in the case of Jesus’ teachings which he pools under the same narrative of the Sermon on the Mount, as in the case of the incident with the Fig Tree, when we compare it with Mark’s Gospel. Perhaps he had intended to do the same with the post- Resurrection appearances, collating the Jerusalem appearances culminating with the Ascension after the Galilean appearances.

Why does Luke say nothing of the Galilean ministry? One could say that all the most significant events occur in Jerusalem, and so he is focused on these as well as the continuation of the tremendous events in Jerusalem in Acts with Pentecost and the initial spread of the Gospel.

Why do we have these Differences? – Ancient Biography

We know from various other passages (which figure in other “hard question” and harmonisation attempts, that the authors of the Gospels used compression, literary arrangement for events which might be topical and so on, and there is no reason to believe that this is not what is being done here. Further because the events are being recalled a few decades later, it is evidence that there is not attempt being made to make an accurate chronology, in fact that is not the intent of the text. It could be that the authors do not remember the exact chronology, nor were they required to do so by God. The reader that does require such a chronology would need to read into the text in the manner that we have done, which at the same time does not add anything to the text and so preserves the textual integrity.

Jimmy Akin’s Proposed Chronology

Jimmy Akin presents this chronology on his website http://www.jimmyakin.com/bart, which lines up with all that we have been saying here:

• The women tell the disciples what has happened (Mark 16:10-11, Luke 24:9b-11, John 20:18)
• Jesus appears to Peter (Luke 24:34, 1 Cor. 15:5a)
• Jesus appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Mark 16:12-13, Luke 24:13-35)
• (Easter Sunday night) Jesus appears to the core disciples but without Thomas (Mark 16:14, Luke 24:36-43, John 20:19-23, 1 Cor. 15:5b)
• (The next Sunday) Jesus appears to the disciples with Thomas present (John 20:24-31)
• (Also between Easter and Ascension Thursday) The encounter at the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-25)
• The appearance to five hundred brethren (1 Cor. 15:6)
• The appearance to James (1 Cor. 5:17a)
• Jesus gives evangelistic instructions to the disciples (Matt. 28:16-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:44-49, Acts 1:3-5, 1 Cor. 15:7b)
• (Ascension Thursday) Jesus ascends into heaven (Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:6-11)