Category: crucifixion

Like Son, Like Father: Jesus Reveals the True Nature of God

Disclaimer

This post is written for those who struggle with conflicting images of God. My entire web site, “Faith in Jesus,” offers sanctuary to those who struggle to iron out contradictions that Christianity has unfortunately maintained. Some of these contradictions are unavoidable, unfolding in history as a result of the necessary development of the Jewish people. Others arise as a result of institutionalized disbelief. These should be dismissed whenever possible. By keeping Jesus at the center of our thinking and our hearts, we can sail safely toward a life of grace that may irritate religious people but will continue to give faith, hope, and love to those who persevere.

Invisible Father and Visible Son

The conventional statement, like father, like son, is particularly true with Jesus. We could discover the Son by studying the Father. However, God exists outside of time and outside of our senses. The Old Testament prophets offered insights to God’s nature, but only incrementally. In order to know the Father well, we must know the Son. Once we do that, we discover that “God is love” (I John 4:8). The revelation is not that God has love, but that God is love. We are reminded that God desires mercy and not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13). We hear that God loves his enemies, causing his sun to rise on the evil and the good, sending rain to the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:44-45). May we never forget these unqualified attributes. When the apostle James writes, “Mercy triumphs over judgement,” he expresses the very heart of God.

The title, “Like Son, Like Father,” reminds us that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Put differently, it assumes that “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3). The perfect reliance of Jesus on his Father enables him to say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus does only what his Father does, and he says only what his Father tells him to say. To see Jesus is to have the clearest possible knowledge of what God is truly like.

A More Christlike God

In short, when we make Jesus our final authority on the nature of God, we discover a more Christlike God.[1] The advantage to giving the final say to the representation that Jesus provides is that we are forever set free from the illusory dichotomy between the judgmental Father and the merciful Son. On the contrary. We learn that the Son judges rightly and the Father pardons passionately—quite contrary to the common misunderstanding of the mission of the Son and the disposition of the Father.

Yes, Jesus came to judge—but not people. He says to his adversaries, the religious leaders of his day: “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set” (John 5:45). Jesus came to judge the true enemies of the Kingdom of heaven, not flesh and blood. He came to judge the “accuser of the brothers,” also known as Satan. In John he says, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out” (John 12:31). Later in John he says that he has judged and condemned the ruler of this world (again, referring to Satan, John 16:11).

Like Jesus, the Father has always been merciful and forgiving. The Psalms and Isaiah resound with examples. In one of David’s Psalms, written about 1,000 years before Jesus was born, we read,

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.(Psalm 103:11-13)

The distance between east and west expresses the complete forgiveness conferred on God’s people. In Isaiah, written about 500 years before Christ, we hear the glorious commitment that God forgives sins for his own sake:

“I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more(Isaiah 43:25).

Note that nothing in these scriptures suggests that the forgiveness must wait until the Messiah appears.

The love and kindness ascribed to God in the Old Testament are made even more clear through the appearance of Jesus. We hear in Hebrews that God spoke in the past through the prophets but now “has spoken to us by his Son.” And then the scripture emphasizes just how closely Jesus represents his Father: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus, here, is the gold standard of a true knowledge of God’s character. His life and his teachings are the standard by which we measure every assertion about him or his Father. It is the standard that provides a more Christlike theology for us, helping us respectfully but deliberately discount attitudes that have been attributed to God that are truly not Christlike.

And what does that standard—that exact representation of the Father—express? Whatever was offered by the Father on a case-by-case basis in the Old Testament is now offered for all, unambiguously and undeniably through the Son: “But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6). The irony being that, whereas the Jewish leaders associated forgiveness with the Father but not with the Son, many Christians associate forgiveness with Jesus and not with the Father. Both groups underestimate both the will and the ability of the Godhead to offer forgiveness to all who would accept it.

The End of Penal Substitutionary Atonement

Anyone can apply the gold standard of Christ to his or her Bible readings, Christian books, and sermons. I offer only one application: as a correction to what is sometimes called the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement—the teaching that God was either so angry or so just (or both) that he had to punish someone before fully forgiving sinners.

Before proceeding, it’s helpful to remember C S Lewis’s comment on theories of atonement: 

The central Christian belief is that Christ’s death has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start. Theories as to how it did this are another matter. A good many different theories have been held as to how it works; what all Christians are agreed on is that it does work. (Mere Christianity)

Not only does the comment place the most importance on the work of Christ instead of on the understanding of believers, but it also notes that there are other theories of atonement in addition to the one I’m compelled to hold up to the gold standard.

To many who are schooled in Evangelical settings, it may come as a surprise that the penal theory is not as self-evident as they may think. Such competing theories include seeing Jesus’ death as a ransom that purchased humanity back from Satanic enslavement.[2] Another theory sees Jesus’ death as a way of remaking (or recapitulating) the universe by re-experiencing the life of Adam but without sin.[3] Neither of these theories requires a Father who must punish someone. Both argue that it was important that Jesus die while his death had nothing to do with placating his Father’s anger and/or satisfying his Father’s justice.

What is called the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement or penal substitution is held by many Evangelicals and many other Protestants. I used to subscribe to it. I did so vigorously at times. For those trying to explain in a few sentences the importance of Jesus’ death, it is very convenient. It clinches the argument that people must believe in Jesus to be saved. After all, if he’s the one upon whom God poured all his wrath, it seems a foregone conclusion that he’s the only one who could save us. But there came a time when respecting God’s character struck me as far more important than convenience.

Later in life, I became convinced that primitive societies practiced human sacrifice under the delusion that they were pleasing a god while in reality they were creating a god that justified their scapegoating practice (Crucified: Who Sacrifices Jesus for Whom?). After several years of internal debates on the subject, the life and character Jesus won the day and became the way I understood the crucifixion.

The following definition of penal substitution is provided by a Protestant church but in no way is unique:

This is the belief that Christ paid the penalty (hence, penal) as a substitute (hence, substitutionary) for sinners.  He died in our place.  The penalty stems from God being angry with sin and sinners.  His moral character demands that His anger be quenched in the punishment of sin.  The substitutionary idea comes forward in the Old Testament sacrificial system where God’s people present animals as sacrifices to appease His wrath.  The sacrifices finally find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29).  Jesus was offered up to appease God.  The result is that God’s wrath is fully satisfied in Jesus and turned away from those who believe.[4]

While this definition focuses on God’s anger, other definitions focus on God’s justice. Of course, we trust that God is both angry with those who deliberately injure others and is concerned with justice. The problem is not with such generalizations but with the dark turn they take. Anger becomes bloodthirsty and justice no longer justifies and rescues but instead accuses and punishes. Whether angry or extremely just, such a divinity requires some sort of sacrifice prior to extending forgiveness.

What concerns me is perhaps not with academics who might make many fine distinctions on the meaning of “God the Father’s wrath.”[5] Rather it is with how the character of God emerges in church sermons, Christian discussions about salvation, and, worse, attempts at evangelizing.I can (and do) say Jesus is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world without suggesting that God has found the perfect victim to punish. Others, though, quote the same verse and explain that God is so holy that he cannot be in the presence of sin. His justice, they argue, requires a death. That sacrificial interpretation means he cannot be in the presence of sinners. In order to save them, he must punish his perfect Son to expiate his holy wrath, making God able afterwards to be at peace with and forgiving toward sinners.

As I said, there are many nuances one could add to this penal theory. One stubborn element that cannot be nuanced away is that God must punish someone by death. Another element is that the truly horrible suffering caused by sin (think of the holocaust or other genocides) makes God so angry that the anger must destroy the sin. Unfortunately, it cannot destroy the sin without also destroying the sinner, unless it destroys the sin in God’s Son. In addition, it is not only the Hitlers, Stalins and other extremists who must be destroyed but the entire human race because everyone is to some extent soiled by sin. Finally, in one of its worse forms, penal substitution runs something like this: God loves us so much that he gets so angry when we hurt ourselves that he must do something drastic to separate us from our sin, leading to killing his Son. This is tantamount to me being so alarmed that my six-year old son has picked up a rattle snake that I inadvertently kill his brother while destroying the snake. As distorted as this sounds, the logic leaks through various statements Christians make, even while they may (and often do) add, “But of course, God is love.”[6]

When we look at Jesus—the exact representation of his Father—we find he had no problem whatsoever enjoying the company of sinners (outside of the ones who wanted to kill him). He freely forgave those who sought his mercy. He didn’t have to sacrifice anyone or anything to express this forgiveness. It was in his nature to forgive. He even forgave those who were killing him, even before they admitted they were wrong.

By allowing Jesus to define his Father for us, we know the too-holy-and-too-angry-to-forgive theory is wrong. If the Son of God, bound up in human flesh, never hesitated to seek out sinners, how much more does the purely spiritual and impervious Father seek them? From the beginning of scriptures, God has been close to the humble and the broken-hearted. He is just like his Son. He resists the proud and welcomes the humble, including the children. He says, with Jesus, “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” How do we know he says it? Because Jesus explained to his disciples, “whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say” (John 12:50).

Why then did Jesus die and what did that death accomplish? Of course none of us knows the answer in full. We certainly are invited to speculate as long as we don’t demonize the Father. Instead of thinking that God is so holy he cannot be in the presence of sinners, it’s more likely that sinners cannot be at peace in the presence of God. It’s our fear, not his impatience or wrath, that separates us. This is what we see in Peter, writ small, when he encounters Jesus. No sooner than Jesus provides a miraculous catch of fish than Peter exclaims, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). So much more would a sinner shun the presence of the Father in all his power and glory. While Jesus is the lamb slain before the beginning of the world, he had to perform that sacrifice in space and time to make clear to all peoples, powers, and principalities the depth of the love and forgiveness of our Father.

We read in Isaiah 53 that the sufferings of Jesus addressed our sicknesses and our sins. One can read these passages in quite contrary ways. On one hand, as penal atonement would have it, the Father needed humans to suffer sickness and sin unless he could find another being to do the suffering. On the other hand, as non-punitive redemption would have it, Jesus took not God’s punishment but Satan’s punishment off the shoulders of the human race, bore sickness and sin to the point of death and thereby liberated from their grip all who believe in him. We read in Romans 6 and 2 Corinthians 5 that when Jesus died, we died with him. The problem was never with God’s ability to love us or to forgive us. The problem was that humanity was a poisoned race—ill by an instinctive absence of faith in God—and that race needed to be ended. Jesus was the only vehicle through which humanity could both be put to death and raised in him as a new race. He was the last Adam and a new man (1 Corinthians 15:45-48).

We don’t worship a God who designs a punishment that is worse than the crime, nor do we bow down to an angry being who needs to vent anger before showing us kindness. We worship the Lord Jesus who did the truly tough work that only he could do. A human, a divinely begotten Son, who followed his Father from the crib to the grave. He took Adam’s race to the cross in order to bequeath upon humanity a new identity. We do well to appreciate that achievement.

§ Footnotes §

[1] The title is taken from Bradley Jersak’s book, A More Christlike God: a More Beautiful Gospel (2015, Plain Truth Ministries). I’ve only bought the book, not read it, but it’s a testimony to the title that I can anticipate and appreciate its central thesis. In the future, I’ll report on contributions from Jersak, perhaps in a review.

[2] See these two scriptures for starters: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) and “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). “Ransom theory of atonement” in Wikipedia provides a good summary of the theory and some objections lodged against it.

[3] “Recapitulation theory of atonement” in Wikipedia, again, provides a good summary of the theory, along with copious citations. Interestingly, both the ransom and the recapitulation theories came long before the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement.

[4] The quotation is from a Canadian Trinity Bible Church.

For comparison, here’s a paragraph from the current Wikipedia article on the topic:

The penal substitution theory teaches that Jesus suffered the penalty due, according to God the Father's wrath for humanity's sins. The St Andrews Encyclopedia of Theology states the definition as, “Jesus satisfies the righteousness of God by suffering the penalty for sin in our place, that we might participate in his righteousness”, while recognising that there is a wide range of views within that definition. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_substitution)

[5] For example, N.T. Wright’s version. It states that the problem is not with the penal-substitutionary aspect but with the narrative that assigns erroneous motivation to the Father. The link to the video is cued up to the beginning of his response:

It's not that the idea of penal substitution is wrong, it's that if you put it in the wrong narrative, you actually mess it up. You falsify it and the way I say it is that we have Platonized our eschatology—that is we've thought in terms of our souls going to heaven. Therefore, we have moralized our anthropology—instead of thinking in terms of the human vocation to be God's image bearers in his world, we've simply seen being human as God setting us a moral examination which we all fail. And therefore, we have paganized our soteriology, because it's in the ancient pagan world that you find gods who are cross with somebody and so demand that somebody else gets killed. . . . 

So what you've got in the New Testament instead is not about how does my soul get to heaven even though I'm sinful. It's about how will God come and dwell with us even though we are sinful. And that's the question to which the tabernacle in the wilderness and its whole attendant Levitical ceremonies in the book of Leviticus . . . they are the initial answer to that that God wants to come and dwell in the midst of his people even though they're sinful. And that the blood of the sacrifices is nothing to do with those animals being killed as a punishment in place of the worshippers. But it's the release of the blood which then acts as the cleansing agent because the blood is the life and God has given this life because what's keeping God and humans apart is death. (~21 in the talk, "Is Penal Substitution Biblical? NT Wright Responds")

One may have to read Wright’s book to follow all the lines of his argument, but it’s clear that, in stating, “we have paganized our soteriology,” he eschews the pagan imagination of a god who is so angry or so just that he demands that somebody get killed.

[6] Those interested in the debate may appreciate “Monster God Debate” between Brian Zahnd and Michael Brown. Zahnd rejects the penal substitutionary atonement theory, as do I. Brown celebrates the theory, leaning more heavily on Old Testament scriptures and a more fundamentalist hermeneutic.

The comments below the video exhibit the variety of attitudes and values that attend the support and renunciation of the penal theory. One popular comment states, “I grew up in a Christian home, went to Christian schools my whole life, I have a degree in Biblical Studies, and yet watching this I feel like I have only just heard the Gospel. What Brian Zahnd is saying about God is breaking my heart in the most awesome way.” A contrasting comment states, “God is Amazing in his vast ability to love us although he is also a God of wrath and justice (the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah). We have all wronged him by breaking his laws and Justly deserve his wrath. And yet he is merciful through the payment of Jesus on the cross to give us a way back to him. (If we receive it) And we show him love in return by our gratitude and obedience. God is Good! Amazing Grace! Amazing love!” Those two comments alone show the significant divide in atonement theories, suggesting once again the wisdom of Lewis’ statement that the one point of agreement is that the death of Jesus “does work”—something to always keep in mind.

Accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus

Audio by GSpeech

When I was in high school, I began believing in Jesus, thanks to the Jesus Movement. I also delivered flowers, thanks to Carol, who owned a flower shop. Another high school student, Lonnie, had recently died in a vehicular accident. My assignment was to deliver several flower arrangements to the funeral home, about twenty miles away in Espanola.

Entering the funeral home, I found myself in a large room. It was empty, except for Lonnie’s body in an open casket. Sad that he had died so young, and eager to put my faith to work, I thought for a minute and then approached the casket. In a clear voice, I said, “Lonnie, rise up in the name of Jesus.” He didn’t budge. I said it again, louder. He still did not move. Feeling uneasy, thinking I had gone out of my depth, I set up the flowers and left, pondering what had just not happened.

More consequentially, Jesus did rise from the dead after being entombed for three days. It was necessary to fulfill the prophesies of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms. His bodily resurrection was what declared Jesus “to be the Son of God with power”(Romans 1:4 KJV). His resurrection was necessarily confusing. We can see fear, confusion, disbelief, and wonder in the four accounts that struggle to put into words the series of events on that glorious day. The following attempts to settle a few questions and to point out a few extraordinary moments.

Put briefly, the four accounts differ in these ways:

  • Matthew focuses on Jesus’ promise that he will meet the disciples in Galilee after he rises from the dead
  • Mark reveals the sheer confusion of discovering that Jesus has risen from the dead
  • Luke focuses on validations of Jesus’ resurrection as they occurred in and around Jerusalem
  • John beautifully combines some of the Jerusalem appearances with the wonderful encounter at the Sea of Galilee

Matthew records this on the night of Jesus’ betrayal:

Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
“‘I will strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’[1]
But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee” (Matthew 26:31-32).

On Sunday morning (the day after the Sabbath day), “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” go “to look at the tomb” (Matthew 28). First they see an angel. It looks like lightning, its clothes are so bright. It says “go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’” So “the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid” (which is where Mark’s gospel ends) “yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” However, these women first encounter Jesus, who greets them. They “clasped his feet and worshiped him” (a scene we revisit in John, but with only Mary Magdalen named). As did the angel, Jesus tells the women, “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” The next and last time we see Jesus in Matthew, “the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.” He appears, giving them what is called the Great Commission.

Mark, as mentioned above, simply depicts the women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome) visiting the grave, seeing the angel and being told, “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you’” (Mark 16). They run away, “Trembling and bewildered . . . They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” The ending is an acquired taste. The ending casts doubt, not on the resurrection, but on the women’s capacity to absorb it. The ending is superbly human. It opens the door for the other gospels to fill in more details, to soften the shock of the turn of events. Love for Jesus, not belief in his resurrection, brought the women to the tomb. The resurrection caught them by surprise. It changed everything, rendering them momentarily helpless.

Luke provides collaborative details from several sources that report the resurrected Christ. Like Matthew and Mark, Luke begins with the women who visit the tomb. In this account, they observe two angels, and hear the unforgettable question, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:1-12). They run and tell the “eleven” (the core group, minus Judas, who has died) and are met with disbelief, if not mockery. Peter, however, runs to the tomb and sees it is empty except for the burial clothes, leaving him confused.

Then comes the account of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They are not the “eleven” but they are aware of the crucifixion and of the amazing accounts of the women. After meeting Jesus, listening to him, and, when he breaks bread, finally recognizing him, they hurry back to Jerusalem to tell the eleven (Luke 24:13-35). By the time they tell the eleven, Peter, too, has seen Jesus, but we are not told the circumstance.

When it is explained that Peter, too, has seen the Lord, Jesus himself appears in the locked room (Luke 24:36-53). He allows them to see the scars and he eats some fish to prove that he is not a ghost. He explains the prophecies that depict his death and resurrection, stressing that repentance for forgiveness will be preached to all nations. They will be witnesses, but must wait in the city until they receive “power from on high”—the fulness of the Holy Spirit revealed in Acts 2.

Without warning, Luke skips ahead 40 days to the ascension. The passage is short and beautiful, as it concludes the gospel of Luke:

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God."

John brings together both Jerusalem and, about 80 miles away, Galilee. Mary Magdalene, again, is the first one to discover the empty tomb. In John’s account, both Peter and John run to the tomb. John wins the race to the tomb, but Peter has the courage to enter it first. Peter studies the strips of linen. John, then, enters the tomb, and when he sees, he believes. The text makes clear that even though he believes, their understanding is murky: “They still did not understand….”

Mary, then, has her beautiful encounter with Jesus. She doesn’t recognize him until she hears him speak her name, at which she replies “Rabboni,” which one scholar paraphrased as “My main man!” As with Matthew (where the women clasped Jesus’ feet), Mary must be told by Jesus to stop holding onto him, for he knew he would ascend to the father and she would need to hold onto him by faith alone (John 20:1-18).

Jesus appears twice in the locked room, the first time as narrated by Luke. The second time Thomas Didymus is there, and his skepticism is met by Jesus’ invitation to touch the scars in his hands and side. Thomas is overwhelmed and cries out, “My Lord and my God!” to which Jesus replies, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The gospel seems to come to an end at this point, with the conclusive, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:19-31).

However, John has left the best wine for the last. His final chapter brings us to the Sea of Galilee (also called Tiberias). There Jesus meets seven of the eleven, first preparing breakfast while helping them catch 153 fish and then reinstating Peter as a leader.

The reinstatement of Peter involves a poetic dialogue by which Jesus both holds Peter accountable to his human condition and affirms him as the leader of the early church. In this dialogue, two different words for “love” are used. The first is agape, a word consistently implying unconditional love in the New Testament. The second word, phileo), most commonly refers to friendship or affection for both Aristotle and the New Testament.[2] Jesus initiates the conversation, using agape. Peter, truly humbled by his denial of Jesus, responds by claiming to have phileo love. By then end, Jesus meets Peter where he honestly is (a friend—phileo):

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me with perfect commitment (ἀγαπᾷς), more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you with fondness (φιλῶ).”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me with perfect commitment (ἀγαπᾷς)?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you with fondness (φιλῶ).”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me with fondness (φιλεῖς)?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me with fondness?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you with fondness (φιλῶ).”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:1-17)

And that appears to be all it took for Peter to be reinstated. By owning that he loves Jesus deeply but not unconditionally, he is admitting the truth. As a result, he no longer trusts in his commitment to Jesus, but in the Lord’s commitment to him. He is prepared to preach the forgiveness of sins on the upcoming Day of Pentecost.

I close with a fifth account—the words Paul the Apostle wrote about the resurrection of Jesus. He came after the “eleven” but wrote his letter before the earliest gospel, Mark, was recorded. So in that respect, his account comes closest to the eye witnesses, and it is stunning:

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

§ Footnotes §

[1] The prophecy is from Zechariah 13:7

[2] Some scholars make light of the play on words in the dialogue between Jesus and Peter. They do this, it appears, more on linguistic grounds than literary ones. They point out that on occasions in the New Testament, phileo also refers to divine love, such as when Jesus says “No, the Father himself loves (φιλεῖ) you because you have loved (πεφιλήκατε) me and have believed that I came from God” (John 16:27). The controversy strikes me as straining for gnats and turning down a free ride on a powerful camel. To both the literary ear and to the reader who has felt both Peter’s love and shame, the dialogue between Jesus and Peter clearly plays with those words in order to allow past hurts and promises to be healed by humility.

Listen to the Crucifixion and Resurrection from all Four Gospels

Listen to the entire post (45 minutes):

Listen to the crucifixion (27 minutes):

Listen to the resurrection (18 minutes):

First, I’ll reproduce the Crucifixion of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19. Each one provides information left out from the others.

Second, I’ll do the same with the Resurrection stories, with the exception of beginning with John for the sake of continuity. I’ve chosen to keep the shorter version of the story from Mark, although the longer version, which was added later, is consistent with the rest of the gospels.

Matthew – Crucifixion

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Mark – Crucifixion

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

Luke – Crucifixion

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”

So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”

But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”

But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then

“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’

For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

John – Crucifixion

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John – Resurrection

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, , but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Matthew – Resurrection

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Mark – Resurrection

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Luke – Resurrection

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Credits

I’m using the New International Version for the English translation. The text is provided by Bible Gateway.