Who went to the tomb, and what did they find? The four resurrection accounts

The passages

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Matthew 28:1

And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

Mark 16:2

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

John 20:1

And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

Mark 16:8

The problem

All four accounts name Mary Magdalene. After that they part. Matthew has two women and an earthquake, with an angel who rolls the stone away while they watch. Mark has three women who find the stone already moved and a young man inside. Luke has a group of women and two men in dazzling clothes. John has Mary alone, in the dark, who runs to tell Peter and the beloved disciple before she sees anyone.

The accounts also disagree about timing (dawn, sunrise, still dark), the number and form of the messengers, and what the women did next. Mark says they told no one. Matthew says they ran with joy to tell the disciples. The instructions about where to meet Jesus differ too: Galilee in Matthew and Mark, but in Luke the disciples are told to stay in Jerusalem.

What believers and scholars say

Complementary testimony. John Wenham and others have built detailed harmonies in which several groups of women visit in sequence, and each Gospel records part of the picture. Supporters point out that real eyewitness reports of one event often differ in detail while agreeing on the core.

Divergence as a mark of independence. Historians who accept the resurrection, such as Licona, argue that peripheral variation is normal in ancient biography and does not touch the central claim that the tomb was empty and that Jesus was reported alive.

Developing tradition. Other scholars, such as Raymond Brown in his careful treatment, see the differences as evidence that the stories grew and were shaped by each community's concerns. On that view the harmonies are ingenious but they ask the texts to say what none of them says.

Where this leaves it

Every harmonization is possible, and none is required by the text. What the four share is thin but consistent: women, an empty tomb, an announcement. What they do not share is almost everything else. A reader who already trusts the Gospels will find the harmonies reasonable. A reader who does not will find them strained. The accounts do not decide that question by themselves.