Scripture Reflections

There aren’t many things that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all felt compelled to include in their Gospels. They all include his death and resurrection, but only Matthew and Luke mention his birth! All four mention the feeding of the 5000, but the temptation of Jesus doesn’t make the cut in all four. The reality is that there were too many moments worth mentioning, and each of the four chose according to what he was trying to communicate about Jesus to a particular audience. Each Gospel presents Jesus from a different angle, and together, we receive a rich and multi-faceted portrayal. It is actually a good thing that the four Gospels are different!
 
That is why it is so surprising that all four Gospels mention the fact that the women who followed Jesus were the first witnesses to the resurrection. We rightly should ask, “Why did this fact matter so much to the four evangelists that they all decided to mention it?”
 
There are a variety of answers to this question. First, it confirms something that is already present in the Gospel accounts—Jesus receives women as disciples. We take this for granted, but other rabbis didn’t do this at the time. Second, it demonstrates something Jesus said a number of times using the example of children and servants, something that his male disciples struggled to grasp—Jesus is committed to working through the humble and meek. Women simply didn’t have the social status of men, and it is like Jesus is proving a point at the resurrection. Those with low social status (whether men or women, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, child or adult) are often used by Jesus to confound the expectations and pride of the world. (Paul develops this theologically in I Cor. 1:18-31.)
 
But there is another answer that is remarkable: This simple fact provides phenomenal evidence for the fact that the resurrection of Jesus truly happened. Women weren’t considered credible witnesses, and their testimony was rarely admissible in court. If the Gospel writers were manufacturing a story, the last people they would choose as “witnesses” to their fabrication would be women, because the average person would immediately dismiss the evidence. The only reason to include women as the first witnesses is because that is actually what occurred.
 
The modern world might still view this with skepticism, but the ancient world wouldn’t have missed it. Having women be the first to hear the news—in all four Gospels—is either the biggest blunder the co-conspirators could make, or it is actually the truth.
 
Steven+