Week 42 four gospels
Today I was still thinking about the four gospels being similar but different. I was thinking about a difference that sounds like a contradiction:
Matthew says that on resurrection Sunday an angel moved the stone and: then spoke to the women.
Luke’s version of the story says the women came to the tomb and: suddenly two men appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes and spoke to them.
So Matthew says one…Luke says two. Is that a contradiction?
Let’s say a guy’s fishing during the salmon run. He catches 10 small salmon but 1 big one. So afterwards a guy asks him “how did it go?’ and he says “I caught a 32-inch Coho!” Only the one – the big one – was the story. He highlighted his highlight.
The question about one angel or two seems like this kind of Explainable Difference to me. Maybe Matthew was highlighting his highlight.
An example of an Unexplainable Difference would be something like this:
Matthew says the disciples were out in their boat on a stormy night and the Lord came to them…walking on the water.
But what if Mark says the Lord swam out to them. Or took a rowboat. Or the Sea of Galilee had frozen and he skated out. Or that he didn’t go out at all. That’s not explainable.
A guy once told me the bible was full of contradictions. He seemed pretty certain about it but I’m not exactly sure why.
Note: quotes from Matthew 28:5 Luke 24:4 (NLT)