Who found the empty tomb?

In the gospel of Mark, Mary of Magdala along with Mary, the mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb and find it empty. (Mk. 16:1) In the gospel of Matthew, Mary of Magdala "and the other Mary" are present when an angel rolls the stone away from the door of the tomb. (Mt.28:1) In the gospel of Luke, Mary of Magdala is accompanied by Mary, the mother of James, and Joanna. (Lk. 24:10) In the gospel of John, Mary of Magdala comes alone and finds the empty tomb. (Jn. 20:1)

The woman named as "the mother of James" appears to be the mother of Jesus, as in the gospel of Matthew she is not the mother of the sons of Zebedee, James and John, but is the mother of James and Joseph. (Mt. 27:56) The only Mary we hear about in the New Testament who has sons named James and Joseph is the mother of Jesus. (Mt. 13:55) The gospel of Mark mentions that "the other Mary" is "the mother of Joses," (Mk. 15:40) and in this gospel Joses (rather than Joseph) is the brother of Jesus. (Mk. 6:3) Acts relates that Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the brothers of Jesus are with the former disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem immediately after his death and resurrection. (Acts 1:14)

The first three gospels seem to agree that Mary of Magdala and Mary, the mother of Jesus (and James and Joseph, also apparently known as Joses), came to the tomb. The fourth gospel says that Mary of Magdala came alone. There is no way to say more than this.

Who killed Jesus?

Pilate, the Roman official with authority over Jerusalem, ordered the death of Jesus, and Roman soldiers carried out that order.

Jesus was not killed by "the Jews." Jesus and all his followers were Jews. He was not killed by all the leaders of the Jews. The gospels relate that Jewish leaders wanted Jesus killed because he was stirring up the people, but they indicate that the Jewish leaders were divided in their opinions about Jesus. Yet, there is no way to say that this is an accurate historical account. There is no official record in Roman history of the death of Jesus, but Pilate was known for his cruelty and crucified thousands of Jews during his term of office. It seems very likely that Jesus was one of these.

The gospels were written after the insurrection of the Jews in Judea and Galilee against the Roman Empire (66-70 CE). The roots of the church were undeniably in Judea and Galilee, but Christian leaders wanted to avoid any identification with the Jewish insurrection. Thus, they did not want to blame Pilate for the death of Jesus, because this would imply that Jesus had been a threat to Roman rule like the Jews that later revolted. That implication might lead to the persecution of Christians by the Romans.

Therefore, gospels were written, at least in part, to shift the blame for the death of Jesus from Pilate and the Roman authorities to the Jewish leaders in Judea in order to protect Christians throughout the Roman Empire. The gospel accounts of the death of Jesus are not historical reports. The passion stories may contain some facts, but they are proclamations of faith written to secure the future of the church under Roman rule.

In which gospel does Jesus ask God to forgive those crucifying him?

Only the gospel of Luke reports that on the cross, Jesus said: "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing." (Lk. 23:34) It seems unlikely that this is simply a different memory of the last hours of Jesus. The author of the gospel of Luke puts these words on the lips of the dying Jesus to express the theme of his gospel account. The person and parables of Jesus in the gospel of Luke all point to the forgiving God. Each of the other three gospels has a different theme or emphasis, so each of them has a different ending and attributes to Jesus different words. In the gospels of Mark and Matthew, Jesus cries out with a loud voice the first verse of Psalm 22, a psalm of lament but also of faith. In the gospel of John, Jesus speaks to his mother and says he thirsts before he utters his last words, "It is finished."

The words of the gospel of Luke are remembered in the life of the church as the last words of Jesus because we long to hear them. Who is being forgiven? Not only the Romans who have crucified Jesus, and not only the leaders of Jerusalem who collaborated with them, but we too are forgiven. We do not know what we are doing. We turn away from God, we do not live in faith, we are selfish and find excuses to avoid securing God's justice for the poor and oppressed peoples of the earth. May God forgive us for our sin, and may we forgive the sin of others. 

Which gospel tells the story of doubting Thomas?

The story appears only in the gospel of John. (Jn. 20:24-29) As it is a vivid and powerful story, it is hard to believe that the other gospel writers would have omitted it. Most likely, it was unknown to them. We can assume, therefore, that the story is a literary device used by the author of the gospel of John to make the point for a later Christian community that faith is largely a matter of trusting in what cannot be proven.

In that sense, even though this story about Thomas does not represent a factual account of an actual event, it is nonetheless true. Faith in God requires trust in what cannot be proven by empirical facts. But faith has its own "proofs" in the life that results. This is what Jesus meant by "entering the kingdom of God." There is no empirical proof that such a life exists, but those who have faith will find it. That is the gospel truth.

Is the book of Baruch in the Bible?

Baruch takes its name from the secretary of Jeremiah, who is said to be the author. It is part of the Apocrypha, a term used to designate books that were not included in the Hebrew Bible when it was formed by the rabbis after the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 CE, but had been included in the Septuagint, the earlier Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that was used by Paul and the early Greek-speaking churches until the canon of the Christian Bible was determined under the reign of Constantine in the fourth century CE.

The Latin Vulgate prepared in the fourth century did exclude the Apocrypha from the canon, but included the Apocrypha in the Bible with a note about its use in the early church as part of the Septuagint. In the Middle Ages, however, this distinction was lost. In 1546 the Council of Trent decreed that the Old Testament included all the books of the Apocrypha, except the Prayer of Manasseh and 1 and 2 Esdras. Thereafter, the Latin Vulgate included the books of the Apocrypha among the other books of the Old Testament. When Protestants prepared Bibles in the languages of their communities, they included in the Old Testament only those books that were in the Hebrew Bible. Thus, Protestant Bibles do not include the Apocrypha.

Who said we "live and move and have our being" in God?

The author of the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles reports that Paul preached in Athens in the middle of the Areopagus. In his sermon the apostle points to the Athenian tradition of acknowledging an unknown god and proclaims that the God he knows in Jesus the Christ, who has been raised from the dead, is the Creator of heaven and earth and the one God. Then Paul quotes the words of a Greek poet to affirm that our very life is dependent upon the God who, though unknown to them, is the source of all life. (Acts 17:22-28)

In his letters Paul does not confirm this address, so he may not have quoted from the Greek poet known to the author of Acts and the gospel of Luke. Yet, in Paul's writings, the image of living "in God" or "in Christ" and "in faith" is central to his proclamation of the gospel. God is not apart from us, but we have our being in God. The church is the body of Christ. Christians are part of the mysterious presence of God in the world.

Why do Christians worship on Sunday rather than on Saturday?

In Romans 14: 5-6 Paul notes that in the church some set aside the sabbath day and others do not, whereas some observe fast days and others do not. He says that these differences are not important, because "none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself." (v. 8) In the life of the church, each member belongs to the Lord, and so each lives and dies in the Lord. The teaching is sublime, but the reasons for the teaching are mundane. There is quarreling in the church about keeping the sabbath on Saturday (the Jewish custom) and about observing Jewish feast and fast days. In the cities of the Roman Empire, the churches are observing Sunday as a day of rest and worship (because they do not have to work that day, as they do on Saturday), and they are generally not observing the festivals of the Jewish calendar, as these do not make sense to the Gentile members of the church. In churches largely made up of Jews, however, there is controversy over these changes, so Paul writes to remind the Christians in Galatia of their high calling to live and die in the Lord.

Why is the kingdom of God like a mustard seed?

In Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus affirms: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which someone took and sowed in their field. Of all seeds it is the smallest, yet once it has grown it is the biggest of plants."  This is presented as a parable of the kingdom of heaven ("kingdom of God" in the gospel of Luke, where this teaching is also found). It is a good example of material used only in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. If it comes from the ministry of Jesus, it may be ironic, because Jesus was teaching farmers and they would generally not want mustard growing in their fields where birds (who will eat the seeds) can roost. If this is what the kingdom is like, then it is subversive. It undermines the plans and actions of others. But the gospels of Matthew and Luke were written for urban congregations, and the meaning derived from this teaching might have been different there. On the face of it, the parable of the mustard seed seems to suggest that the kingdom of heaven (God) will flourish on its own. It need not be understood as subversive, but might simply be an image of the abundant life that will come with the growth of the kingdom.

What does this mean for us? We are far removed from the time of Jesus, when the expectation of the end of the world was very real for most of those who joined the church. Shall we think of the kingdom of God as subverting the present order of the world? Or, will we see in this parable simply an image promising that the church will flourish?

Where does the phrase "swords into plowshares" come from?

The phrase, "they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks," is in both Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3.  The oracle which concludes with this phrase is quoted by both prophets to suggest a coming time when the nations will gather before house of the LORD in Jerusalem to be judged so that a new era of peace might begin.  Micah was a younger contemporary of Isaiah. He was writing at the end of the eighth century BCE, when the northern kingdom (Israel) had been conquered by Assyria and the southern kingdom (Judah) was under threat. Unlike Isaiah, Micah lived outside Jerusalem in a small village.  Of the two prophets only Micah predicts the fall of Jerusalem , which may reflect the critical attitude of the rural population toward the corruption that was rampant in the capital city.

Who in the Bible says, "perfect love drives out fear"?

The author of 1 John.  We read in 4:18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear." This letter is really a sermon, and the point of the sermon is that the love of God has been passed on to the church through the Spirit of God that was manifested in Jesus. The "perfect love" that can drive out fear is the love that comes from God and abides within faithful Christians through the indwelling of the Spirit of God. This letter, however, makes it clear that not all those following Jesus have embraced the truth about him, and thus this message of love follows a warning about obeying the teachings of those who are the guardians of the truth. "We are of God," the writer says of his community, and thus: "Whoever knows God listens to us." (v. 6) Clearly, there must be others preaching about Christ who have a different message and, therefore, pose a threat to the authority of the author and his community of faith.

Conflicts among Christians are evident in the New Testament to any careful reader. These should not be understood as the will of God, but they also should not be covered up. The church is and was a very human institution, and thus it is marked by differences of opinion among its members. The books of the New Testament were written by leaders of early churches, so these, too, reflect human understanding and differences of interpretation. We can admit this, for it is obvious, and also proclaim that the scriptures of the New Testament convey the will of God to the discerning reader. It is the will of God that we know the love manifested in Christ and available to us through the Spirit of God, if we have faith and live in trust. It is true, that perfect love drives out fear. This is the witness of the church and scripture.

In which gospel does Jesus say he came to bear witness to the truth?

In the gospel of John, Jesus says to Pilate: "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." (Jn. 18:37)  This conversation between Jesus and Pilate is not recorded in the other three New Testament gospels and is unique to the gospel of John. Surely it presents dramatically the Christ on earth as the author of the gospel understands him and is not a report of a conversation that Pilate and Jesus actually had. The account does not mention any witnesses, but the fourth gospel ends with an affirmation that the disciple of Jesus, who is relating the story, is witnessing to what is true. Furthermore, this particular passage is certainly about what is true. The response of Pilate, after all, to this affirmation of Jesus is the question, "What is truth?"