seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
I don't recall reading two men while reading all this before. I do know I read about a young man in Mark. Matthew said there was an Angel who spoke with the women. Now Luke says there were two glowing men. I did a little research, I'm not generally that wrong. I'm wrong because to those who heard the women, "their words seemed to them like nonsense". Maybe that's why the preachers in my church left me without a clear understanding of Verse 11. Please remember, Luke was not one of the original twelve. He was a doctor. He would notice medical conditions. He might have been there when the girls ran back from the tomb. He might have been one of those listed in Verse 9 as "to all the others". He reported two men glowing. He would have diagnosed the "idle babble".
Matthew was one of the eleven. He was there when the girls came back. He's not one of the girls so he was not an eyewitness at the tomb. In chapter 28, Matthew said, according to what he heard, there was a terrible earthquake and an Angel rolled back the stone. Matthew as a tax collector before following Jesus. He had to explain the stone being rolled away.
Mark was not one of the eleven. He might have been one of "all the others" in Verse 9. He reported the there was a young man dressed in a white robe. Of course Mark, himself was a young man. Maybe that's why he figured "a young man" was more believable that the story the women told.
Look at Verse 11. It says "they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense" Neither Matthew, Mark, nor Luke was at the Mount during the transfiguration. Their brains must have shut down when the women started going on about gleaming men, and the stone being rolled away, and Jesus being gone!
I found this at the enduringword site.
Their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them: Despite their excitement, the testimony of the women was not believed. In fact, to the apostles, it seemed as if the women told idle tales, a medical word used to describe the babbling of a fevered and insane man (according to Barclay).
i. “In the first century the testimony of women was not deemed authoritative. Luke’s inclusion of the incident serves to emphasize his high regard for women.” (Pate)
ii. “The disciples were not men poised on the brink of belief and needing only the shadow of an excuse before launching forth into a proclamation of resurrection. They were utterly skeptical.” (Morris)
It didn't matter what the women reported. Either no one listened because they were "just women" or no one listened to them because they could not fathom the rock rolling away and the body being missing. Jesus was dead and entombed in solid rock.
I bet the Apostles and the "others" who were there, were plotting what to do next. Jesus was their leader and Rome put Him on the Cross. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Teachers of the Law, and the Elders would be looking for the followers too. They would want to mop up the remaining inner circle. The Apostles knew they were in grave danger. They were probably either making their "get out of town" plans or some might have been planning to join up with Barrabus and his gang of anti-government warriors. When the women came in, they disregarded what the women reported.
Stupid men! Even though their ignorant response to the women would cause an issue with the truthfulness of the Gospels, it proved the Gospels to be truthful because, as Luke reports, "they didn't believe the women".
Dr. Luke reported it seemed the women were talking like they were insane or suffering from fever!
Stupid men!
