If the Apostles had fabricated the Easter account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, they wouldn’t have done this: the Gospels say that women were the first to discover the empty tomb of Christ, and to encounter him in his now glorified body. In fact, each of the four Gospels presents Mary Magdalene as the first person to inform the disciples that Jesus was alive (the reason she is often called the “Apostle to the Apostles”). Why are we sure things actually happened this way? Women, unfortunately, were not considered reliable witnesses in first-century Judaism at the time of Jesus. Consider these quotes:
Sooner let the words of the Law be burnt than delivered to women (Talmud, Sotah 19a).
But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex…since it is probable that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain, or fear of punishment (Josephus, Antiquities 4.8.15).
Any evidence which a woman (gives) is not valid (to offer)…This is equivalent to saying that one who is Rabbinically accounted a robber is qualified to give the same evidence as a woman (Talmud, Rosh Hashannah 1.8).
(All references quoted in Habermas and Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, p. 72)
This sheds light on the Gospel passages that inform us that the Apostles initially thought the message of Jesus’ resurrection was a “tall tale”:
Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it (Mark 16:9-11).
Thankfully, the Catholic Church has done much to promote the dignity of women since then! It’s safe to say that, if he Apostles wanted to convince their fellow Jews that Jesus is the Messiah, they likely would have said that Peter, or even Joseph of Arimathea, had discovered the empty tomb. The fact that all of the Gospels list the potentially embarrassing detail that women were the primary witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection greatly adds to the credibility of their accounts.
Maybe I’m missing something here which has left me a little confused. Did the Apostles not believe that Christ was risen because the testimony came from a women (an unreliable source), or did they not believe because they didn’t understand what Christ taught and lacked faith?
Very informative. Yet another way to prove that Jesus was really raised from the dead.
@ Steve , very nice observation. The apostles believe that Jesus rose from the because while he was with them because they believed that Jesus would be the Messiah. Remember that, to the Jews, the Messiah would be the chosen one who would lead them into victory to restore their kingdom just as during the Reign of King David. They believed Jesus fully but when they saw what happened to him, Just as Jesus said ” you will all lose faith, the shepherd shall be strucked and sheep shall be scattered” Their faith was shaken to it’s very core and they starting to doubt all what Jesus was telling them.
Now, when Easter sunday came and Marie Magdaleine gave them the good news, that was also another reason more to doubt because as it is explained in the text, women were not considered as anything so their testimonies were useless.
It would seem that the major point of this writing is that women’s testimony was not to be considered valid and reliable by the Jews of that time. Since then, we seem to have become more enlightened- Mother Mary, pray for us!
Two of the biggest assumptions that many Christians make regarding the truth claims of Christianity is that, one, eyewitnesses wrote the four gospels. The problem is, however, that the majority of scholars today do not believe this is true. The second big assumption many Christians make is that it would have been impossible for whoever wrote these four books to have invented details in their books, especially in regards to the Empty Tomb and the Resurrection appearances, due to the fact that eyewitnesses to these events would have still been alive when the gospels were written and distributed.
But consider this, dear Reader: Most scholars date the writing of the first gospel, Mark, as circa 70 AD. Who of the eyewitnesses to the death of Jesus and the alleged events after his death were still alive in 70 AD? That is four decades after Jesus’ death. During that time period, tens of thousands of people living in Palestine were killed in the Jewish-Roman wars of the mid and late 60’s, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem.
How do we know that any eyewitness to the death of Jesus in circa 30 AD was still alive when the first gospel was written and distributed in circa 70 AD? How do we know that any eyewitness to the death of Jesus ever had the opportunity to read the Gospel of Mark and proof read it for accuracy?
I challenge Christians to list the name of even ONE eyewitness to the death of Jesus who was still alive in 70 AD along with the evidence to support your claim.
If you can’t list any names, dear Christian, how can you be sure that details such as the Empty Tomb, the detailed resurrection appearances, and the Ascension ever really occurred? How can you be sure that these details were not simply theological hyperbole…or…the exaggerations and embellishments of superstitious, first century, mostly uneducated people, who had retold these stories thousands of times, between thousands of people, from one language to another, from one country to another, over a period of many decades?