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What happened to Jesus after his death? Perhaps the best (short) answer is —
On the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.[1]
“According to the Scriptures” (κατὰ τὰς γραφὰς) means both what the Gospels describe and what other Scriptures prophesy (Hebrew and deuterocanonical books) or proclaim (the Epistles).
But the four gospels differ. Reginald Fuller outlined the discrepancies in the narratives:
There are hosts of minor discrepancies and two major ones… The major ones are: first, Mark implies, while Matthew and John 21, state that the appearances [viz., of the Risen Christ] are located in Galilee, but, in Luke and John 20, the appearances take place in Jerusalem. Second, in Matthew and John 21 (and perhaps also by implication in Mark), the appearances already seem to be manifestations of an already risen and ascended One and of a more “spiritual” kind, whereas the appearance to the woman on the way from the tomb in Matthew, the Lucan Emmaus story, and the Christophany to the eleven in Luke and in John 20 are of a risen but not yet ascended Lord whose corporeal manifestation is emphasized (he is touched and he eats).
It is no wonder that many have found these discrepancies a major obstacle to belief in the resurrection… Perhaps, however, it is the…
