Camille Taylor

Prof. Reis

Intro to the Bible II

April 11, 2015

When comparing Mark’s Gospel about the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus with Matthew’s Gospel, it’s easy to see that Matthew follows the classic ‘template’ for ancient biographies of heroes while Mark does not. In Matthew 27:50-55 Jesus’ crucifixion is not narrated as a death, but rather an amazing, divine event where Jesus “yielded up his spirit.”(Mt27:50). These passages are longer and more poetic than Mark’s story, emphasizing Jesus’ divine importance and ability to awe. People in both stories believe that “Truly this was the Son of God!”(Mt27:55, Mk15:40) as they witness his death, but Matthew’s narration is indeed more powerful and intent on showing more than just ‘the end’ of the physical vessel of a great king–he shows that his spirit rises and joins the heavens and that his legacy continues.

I believe that Matthew added 28:11-15 to exemplify how controversial the aftermath of Jesus’ death was–did he really rise from the dead or was his body merely taken by his disciples? If Jews were told the latter by the bribed soldiers then it is no wonder there is such a split in agreement surrounding Jesus’ resurrection; Jews were probably more likely to listen to the great authority of the Roman Empire rather than to believe in a divine resurrection of a man they did not trust was special to begin with.

It would have been important for early followers of Jesus to include stories that show his disciples awareness of his resurrection and to have received instructions from him so that he can be a persuasive leader to follow. For example, these two inclusions help Christianity go on: future readers and potential Christian followers will feel more secure in believing Jesus to be the Messiah if he and his holy Father had a sophisticated plan.