Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 27
Chapter Two—The Judgment 27 which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted (28:16–17). Mark says: First he appeared to Mary (16:9), then he appeared in another form unto two of them (16:12), and then he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen (16:14). Luke (24:33–36) clearly contradicts Matthew, for he says that Jesus met his eleven disciples in Jerusalem during the evening of the very day he rose. John corroborates Luke, saying that Jesus unexpectedly came to the place where his disciples were assembled ‘for fear of the Jews’. 1 From the aforesaid examples taken from the statements of the four witnesses for the plaintiff, we conclude the following: 1. These statements cannot be described as the word of God, nor can they have been inspired by God. 2. None of the four accounts seems to us to be an eyewitness account or even an account based on reliable sources. For instance, one says that at the time of Jesus’ arrest the chief priests and the elders were present, the other denies it. One says that Jesus appointed a mountain in Galilee at which to meet them, and there he met them. The other says that the 1. John 20:19