Which gospels discuss's the resurrection the most?

Answer 1

No gospel actually 'discusses' the resurrection, but all four gospels set out the account of the resurrection in their own way, depending upon their author's situation and background. Mark's gospel is the most scant with just 8 verses describing the empty tomb. The most likely reason for this is that the ending of Mark's gospel has been lost, and there are a few possible 'endings', some of which were possibly written much later and less verifiable. This was perfectly possible when the gospel was originally written - as they all once were - on a scroll, the last section (on the outside of the scroll) having been worn away or damaged. Luke gives his last chapter over to the Resurrection - all 53 verses of it. Also only in Luke do we read of the appearance of Jesus to two travellers on the Road to Emmaus. This is quite apt as Luke's gospel was systematically put together by him from other eyewitness accounts rather than his own (as he never met Jesus) and so it would be more likely in Luke's gospel that other accounts would be included which would be omitted if the account was written, as in the case of Matthew and John, from a personal perspective. Matthew also gives the whole of his last chapter over to the resurrection, but in this case there are only 20 verses. Here we learn more about the guards who guarded the tomb - set there by the Roman governor in cahoots with the Jewish authorities. Again, this would have interested Matthew, being a tax collector before he was a disciple - and who had had close dealings with both the Romans and the Jewish authorities. Matthew also gives a very brief account of the ascension - just a verse or so - but this is elaborated on in Luke's second book -The Acts of the Apostles - which comes in the New Testament immediately after the gospels. The most detailed account of the resurrection comes in John's gospel where he dedicates the last two chapters 20 and 21 (30 and 25 verses respectively) to the resurrection. This is what one might expect as John, along with Peter was the first disciple who saw the empty tomb for himself on the day of resurrection and as a young eyewitness would have had the best recollection of what had happpened. Mary Magdalene, of course, was the first person to see the risen Christ but did not write an account of the events as in those days most women were illiterate as formal female education was not in the culture of Jewish society of those times. The so-called 'Gospel of Mary Magdalene' is almost certainly a fictional account written many hundreds of years later simply because the greatest event in Mary's life - seeing her resurrected Lord - is never mentioned - something that would be unthinkable if one was writing the events down. In the gospel of John we also have appearances of Jesus after the resurrectiion including the appearance to Thomas with the other disciples, and the appearance at Lake Tiberias where John, his brother James and some other disciples were fishing. We also hear of Jesus' commissioning of Peter to be the disciples' leader in John's presence, and Jesus's hint that John would be one of the few disciples who would not die as a martyr - a prophesy that came true. In John's Gospel, then, we have the account of an eyewitness, the only disciple who stood by Jesus throughout his trial and execution, all the others having fled, and who was so convinced by the events that had happened that he wrote them in detail, so that, as he put it, 'you too may believe'.