Empty Tomb - The Visitors

The Visitors

The four canonical gospels all agree that "Mary" visited Jesus' tomb, though they differ on which Mary and whether she was on her own.

According to most ancient versions of the gospel of John (and most modern translations) Mary was Mary Magdalene, though the Codex Sinaiticus' version only calls her Mary. No other woman is mentioned explicitly, though when Mary says that she doesn't know where Jesus' body is, she uses the plural, which may indicate that there were other women with her.

In the Gospel of Mark both Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James are mentioned, joined by Salome.

The gospel according to Luke relates that the women from Galilee visited the tomb and that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna and the other women from Galilee later told the disciples about the visit to the tomb.

In Matthew, Mary Magdalene is with another Mary, presumably the mother of James.

When the women came back from the cemetery on Passover morning, they brought with them word of an empty tomb and the report that "He is not here but has risen!" The apostles were dismissive. Some have suggested a lack of enthusiasm because the messengers were women. Josephus (Ant. iv.:8:15) writes that Jewish tradition stated: "From women let not evidence be accepted because of the levity and temerity of their sex." Theologian Thomas G. Long has offered two other possibilities besides their sex;

• Perhaps the news of the empty tomb, the resurrection, of Jesus' victory over death was simply too overwhelming for them to believe, too difficult to assimilate all at once.
• Perhaps any anticipation of the resulting challenge was too great at the moment. Luke's account shifts from calling them "the Eleven" to "the Apostles" ("those who are sent.") Long writes they knew that they would be sent to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. There would be arrests and shipwrecks, outpourings of the Spirit, persecutions and Gentiles, stonings and miles of weary travel. If the women were right—that Jesus was risen from the dead, then the story was just beginning for the Apostles.