Then, the “chief priests and elders took counsel and bought with the sum the Potter’s field where strangers would be buried.” This important incident was omitted in the other three Gospels. However, in the Acts of Apostles supposedly written by St. Luke, Peter, citing David’s prophecy in the Old Testament, reports that Judas himself bought the field with the reward of iniquity, and falling headlong he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out (Acts 1: 16-18). Concerning the narrative about who carried the cross on which Jesus was allegedly crucified, Matthew 27: 32, Mark 15: 21, and Luke 23: 26 assert that one Simon, a native of Cyrene, was compelled to carry the cross to Golgotha. But in John 19: 17, Jesus himself carried the cross to the crucifixion spot.
Aside from discrepancies in the actual inscription put on the cross during the crucifixion, the Gospels disagree on what happened when Jesus was crucified alongside two thieves. Thus, Matthew and Mark, in chapters 27: 44 and 15: 31-32 respectively, report that the thieves also participated in mocking Jesus, whereas in Luke 23: 39-42, we read that one of them reviled Jesus but was rebuked by the other thief who begged Jesus saying “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Meanwhile, St. John’s Gospel omitted this important conversation.
Accurate report of the time a special or an extraordinary event actually happened is extremely important because, among other things, it provides a crucial clue for determining whether the event really occurred. If there is conflict in the accounts of the actual time such an incident allegedly took place long ago, especially if there is no incontrovertible material evidence to back any of those accounts, the rational response is to suspend judgement about the event in question because it is logically possible that the stories are false.
In Mark’s Gospel (15: 25), Jesus was crucified on the third hour, but in John, it was about the sixth hour when Pilate delivered Jesus to the Jews for crucifixion. Matthew and Luke were not specific on this issue: both merely noted that from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour (Matt. 27: 45; Luke 23: 44). Who laid the corpse of Jesus on the tomb? Matthew, Mark and Luke affirm that a rich man called Joseph of Arimathea, who had earlier been permitted by Pilate to take Jesus’ body away, wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid it in his new tomb (Matt, 27: 58-60; Mark, 15: 43-46 and Luke, 23: 51-53).
But in John 19: 38-42, Joseph did not do it alone; he was assisted by Nicodemus. There are also discrepancies in the stories connected to the resurrection of Jesus. In Matthew 28: 1, Mary Magdalene and the “other Mary” were the first to visit Jesus’ tomb, while Mark 16: 1 names Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. Luke was not explicit. He states, in chapter 24: 1, that the women who came with Jesus from Galilee visited the sepulchre early in the morning on the first day of the week. John reports that Mary Magdalene went alone. Now, unlike the story in the other Gospels, John claims that Mary Magdalene, on seeing that the stone covering the entrance to the burial tomb of Jesus had been rolled away, ran to Simon Peter and other disciples and informed them of what happened (Ch. 20: 1-2). According to Matthew 28: 1-6, on the first day of the week after Sabbath, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightening, and his raiment white like snow.
The angel addressed Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who came to see the sepulchre: “Fear not, for I know you came to see Jesus who was crucified. He is not here.” The remaining three Gospels said nothing about an earthquake. Mark says that when Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices to anoint Jesus’ body, they saw a young man, not an angel, sitting on the right side of the tomb (Ch. 16: 1-5). In Luke chapter 24: 3-4, when the women entered the sepulchre, two men in shining garments stood by them. John’s Gospel describes how the distraught and lachrymal Mary Magdalene saw two angels sitting in the sepulchre, one at the head and the other at the feet where Jesus was laid (Ch. 20: 11-12). Presenting more contradictions in Gospels’ account of the arrest, trial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth would elongate our discourse considerably. Still, we must examine the final moments when Jesus parted from his disciples for good. In Matthew 28: 16-20, Jesus met with his disciples for the last time at a mountain located in Galilee, and instructed them on what to do after his departure. Mark informs us that after Jesus had charged the disciples to go and preach the gospel to every creature, he was “received up in heaven, and sat on the right hand of God” (Ch. 16:15-19).
Luke narrates how Jesus appeared in the midst of his disciples in Jerusalem, not in Galilee as Matthew claims. He then led them out as far as Bethany and blessed them. Now, as he blessed them, he departed and was carried up into heaven (Ch. 24: 33-51). In the Gospel of St. John, the story of Jesus’ final encounter with his disciples contains an interesting twist not found in the other three Gospels, concerning a possible second betrayal (Ch. 21:21-22).
However, there was no mention of Jesus ascending into heaven. From the foregoing, and other conflicting narratives in the Gospels pertaining to Jesus, from his arrest through his trial and crucifixion to his resurrection and final departure not presented here, it is evident that the historical basis of Easter rests on a very shaky foundation. The varied accounts of the same events in the New Testament, if examined critically without the blinkers and obscurantism of faith, lead to profound scepticism about the most significant belief in Christianity, namely, the redeeming mission of Jesus through his alleged agonising death and resurrection.
Actually, an overwhelming majority of New Testament scholars are aware that there is hardly any evidence corroborating the stories concerning the life and activities of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels. More significantly, there is no iota of good reason to believe in the weird and outlandish notion of Original Sin, which necessitates the painful death of Jesus (if indeed such a person existed) or anyone else for the salvation of humanity. Now, most Christians do not realise that the earliest Gospel, that of St. Mark, was written about fifty years after the events it purports to report took place.
The remaining were compiled from seventy to a hundred years after. None of the Gospel writers was an eyewitness to the events he wrote about: in fact, it is virtually impossible to ascertain the actual authors of the texts. Kurt Eichenwald remarks that in the last hundred years or so, tens of thousands of manuscripts related to the New Testament have been discovered, dating back centuries. From these findings, there is no doubt that later versions of the books differ significantly from earlier ones, and copies made in the same period differ from one another in important details.
To be concluded.
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