Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§18.2 Et Resurrexit
8 So they left the tomb quickly
with fear
and great joy, and ran to tell his
disciples.
8 So they went
out and fled from the tomb, for
terror and amazement had
seized them; and they said
nothing to anyone, for they were
afraid.
Mk 16.2; Lk 24.12 John 20.1-10
Mk 16.2 And very
early on the first
day of the week.
when the sun had
risen, they went to
the tomb.
Luke 24.12
But Peter got up
and ran to the
tomb; stooping
and looking in, he
saw the linen
wrappings by
themselves; then
he returned home,
amazed at what
had happened.
rise again'. 8 Then they
remembered his words, 9 and
returning from the tomb,
they told all this to
the eleven and to all the rest.
10 Now it was Mary
Magdalene. Joanna, Mary the
mother of James, and the other
women with them who told this
to the apostles. 11 But these
words seemed to them an idle
tale, and they did not believe
them.
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 tomb. 2 So she
ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved,
and said to them, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know
where they have laid him'.
3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two
were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb
first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he
did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.
He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus'
head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then
the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and
believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise
from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
Here we have quite a good example of the traditioning processes. A stable
core is clear, as also in Gos. Pet. 12.50-57: Mary Magdalene and others(?) n went
to the tomb early on the first day of the week; they found the stone rolled away;
according to the Synoptic versions, they saw (an) angel(s), 12 who informed them,
'He is not here; he has been raised'; 13 at some point they (in John's Gospel, ini-
11. Does John use the device of 'silent companions' (cf. John with Peter and Silas with
Paul in Acts 3-4, 16-18)? This may well be indicated by the 'we' of 20.2.
12. Mark almost certainly intended the 'young man' (neaniskos) to be understood as an
angel (Mark 16.5). The appearance of an angel is quite typically described as a neaniskos,
neanias (Tob. 5.5, 7 [LXX S]; 2 Mace. 3.26, 33; Josephus, Ant. 5.213, 277; Hermas, Vis. 2.4.1;
3.1.6; 3.2.5; 3.4.1; 3.10.1, 7; Lucian, Philops. 25). It was equally typical to describe heavenly
beings as clothed in white (Dan. 7.9 — God as well; 2 Mace. 11.8; 77 Levi 8.2; Acts 1.10; Rev.
4.4; 7.9, 13-14; 19.14; cf. 1 En. 87.2; 90.21; Mark 9.3). The other Evangelists were in no doubt
that the tradition referred to angels (Matt. 28.3-5; Luke 24.4, 23; John 20.12). Cf., e.g., Taylor,
Mark 606-607.
13. Should we include 16.7 in the core? The omission of such a note by both Luke and
John is understandable since they go on to tell of appearances in Jerusalem. But even if the
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