How many times did Jesus shows himself to his disciples?

Answer 1

A:Mark's Gospel, the first gospel to be written, originally ended at verse 16:8 with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled in terror, telling no one. There were no appearances of Jesus to the disciples. The 'Long Ending' (verses 16:9-20) was added after the other gospels had been written, and most closely follows Luke,in having Jesus appear to the disciples once at a meal.

In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus showed himself to the disciples once, at a mountain in Galilee, where he sent them forth to preach to all nations.

In Luke's Gospel, Jesus appear to the eleven disciples once at a meal in an upper room on the evening of his resurrection, then took them out on the road to Bethany where he ascended bodily to heaven.

John's Gospel was loosely based on Lukebut changes the account of the risen Jesus. He appeared once to ten of the disciples at a meal on the evening of his resurrection, then eight days later to all eleven in the same room, and finally to the disciples by the Sea of Galilee.

Including Mark's Long Ending, there are six appearances of the risen Jesus in the gospels, but some of them exclude the others, while at least two are the same appearance: Matthew's appearance at the mountain in Galilee can not be totalled with the others, as it excludes the possibility of these appearances (and vice-versa); Mark's (Long Ending) appearance is the same as Luke's appearance; strictly speaking, the two appearances John describes in the upper room are not the same as Luke's appearance in the same room, but most readers would see either one of them as matching Luke's account. Nevertheless, the ascension to heaven in Lukeexcludes John's account. Each gospel should therefore be treated separately , so that Jesus was seen by the disciples once in each of Matthew, Mark's Long Endingand Luke, but three times in John.

Paul's epistles, which were written before the gospels, say (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)that Jesus was seen by Cephas (Peter), then the twelve, then by more than 500, then by James and all the apostles. For Paul, the 'twelve' seem to be a different group than the apostles, and the appearances seem to have been spiritual, in the same way as the later appearance to Paul himself. If we do treat the 'twelve' as the same as the apostles, then Jesus showed himself twice to them.

Acts of the Apostles, written around the end of the first century by the same author as Luke's Gospel, says that Jesus was on earth 40 days and was seen by many before he ascended bodily to heaven near Jerusalem. In this account we can expect that he appeared to the disciples many times.

Answer 2

The first time Jesus appeared to his disciples there were only ten of them, as Judas had commited suicide and Thomas was not there.