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Welcome back father, here is my question for you. Luke writes of two angels at Jesus' tomb after the Resurrection (24:1-9). Matthew mentions "an angel" (28:1-8). Is this a contradiction?
Answer to Question 474 Many Bible critics reject the resurrection because they say the narratives in the four Gospels contain hopeless contradictions. If the four accounts were placed in parallel columns, a number of apparent differences would be highlighted. Matthew says that “As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.” Here Matthew tells us that there were two women and an earthquake caused by the angel that rolled away the stone from the door.
Mark says that there were three women Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, who brought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. Here there is no earthquake as the stone is already rolled away. But further down Mark says that “when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,”
Luke mentions women who came with Jesus from Galilee and that “upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them”. He then mentions that “It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.”
John says that “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”.
In one account there is one angel and in another there are two, in one account there is only one woman at the sepulchre, in another two, in another three and in another many women. In one account Christ appeared to the two Maries and that they held him by the feet and in another that Christ appeared only to Mary Magdalene and there he told her not to touch him.
Critics of the Bible delight in these discrepancies and say that they prove the resurrection is a lie. On the other hand Western Bible scholars and apologetics claim that these apparent differences ultimately confirm the truthfulness of these accounts, rather than refute them. If all four Gospels gave exactly the same story, in exactly the same order, with exactly the same details, we would immediately become suspicious. We could also wonder why all four writers did not simply attach their names as co-authors of one account. In support of the resurrection they claim that the differences do not concern the main points of the story which are agreed upon by every witness. If fact the differences add to, rather than subtract from the validity. As long as the main points are agreed upon the variations in detail of the four different writers are insignificant. One such insignificant detail is the time the women came to the tomb. Mark has the women coming to the tomb at the rising of the sun while John states that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb when it was dark. This difficulty, they claim is easily solved when it is realized that the women had to walk quite some distance to reach the tomb. It was dark when they left the place in which they were staying, but when they arrived at the tomb, the sun was beginning to shine. Therefore, Mark is speaking of their arrival, while John refers to their departure.
Another discrepancy which has generated a lot of discussion concerns the angels who were at the tomb. Matthew and Mark relate that one angel addressed the women, while Luke and John say that two angels were at the tomb. This they say is again easily solved because Matthew and Mark do not say that there was only one angel at the tomb, but that one angel spoke to the women. This does not contradict Luke and John, for Matthew and Mark specify that one angel spoke, but they do not say there was only one angel present, but only one angel spoke. Quite possibly, one of the angels served as the spokesman for the two, thus he was emphasized. There is no need to assume a discrepancy.
The arguments put forth by western scholars are not very convincing and are only proof that they do not have the spiritual enlightenment to read between the lines. They try to explain everything with human logical reasoning but forget that the Scriptures are God-inspired. True the Gospel writers are only men and four accounts of the same story written by four men would certainly bring about some variations, but when these men have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to put in writing the things concerning God, then no discrepancies are acceptable. The Holy Spirit does not allow for any mistakes or discrepancies. Another reason why western scholars do not fully understand the scriptures is that they do not have the tradition of the Church to guild them, but rely solely on their own rational understanding and explain things at face value without looking deeper to see why these differences should exist in writings they accept as God-inspired.
For the Church there is no confusion and these seemingly discrepancies are non existent, because she has always understood that there was not just one visit to the sepulchre, but probably two, three or even four and each evangelist is giving different details of these visits. Another thing that escapes the understanding of western scholars is that all four Apostles are trying to conceal the identity of one of the Maries - not to the faithful who knew who she was, but to the unbelievers who would have used her testimony of the Resurrection to discredit that it actually happened. This Mary is none other than the Mother of God who instead of calling her the Mary the Mother of Jesus is disguised as Mary the Mother of James or the Mother of Joses or the other Mary and sometimes intentionally not mentioned at all. James and Joses were Joseph’s children from a previous marriage and although they were older than Mary, legally they were considered her children and Jesus’ stepbrothers. The woman mentioned as Salome is also Joseph’s daughter and is the mother of James and John the sons of Zebedee. Thus Salome is Jesus’ stepsister.
If you want to know more on these differences of the Resurrection account click on the link
http://www.christopherklitou.com/talk_on_the_four_gospel_accounts_of_the_resurrection_1-5-2014.htm
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