The accounts of the Resurrection which the four evangelists give us were written in the second part of the first century, that is, between the years 50 and 100 A.D.  Thus they are the work of the same generation which had witnessed the event, the generation of the apostles and their immediate followers.  They bear witness to the beliefs held by the Christian community at Jerusalem from the very beginning of its existence.
   
     The spirit in which the Gospels were written is well illustrated by Luke himself, who in his prologue write, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you” (Lk 1:1-3).
   
     Like all sincere and authentic witnesses, the evangelists and St. Paul give us accounts of the Resurrection which confirm each other but still differ in a number of details.  Each one has a personal point of view.  Each one, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wants to emphasize this or that aspect, some particular point which impressed him the most.  Furthermore, it is very difficult to reconstruct events in strictly chronological order because this event by its very nature takes place outside the normal - temporal and spatial - framework within which events ordinarily occur.  Nevertheless, the main points stand our clearly.

The Empty Tomb

    Commemorating the Myrrhbearing women, on May 11, we have the opportunity to examine their reasons for going to Jesus’ tomb.
   
     At dawn on the day after the Sabbath, that is, the day of rest, some of the women who followed Christ - Mary Magdalene, Mary, “the mother of James,” Salome, Joanna, and “the other women” - came to Jesus’ tomb to bring aromatic spices, that is, perfumes, for the body of the deceased, as was the custom of the Jews.
   
     They saw that the big rock which had blocked the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away and that the tomb was empty.  None of them had seen Jesus coming out of the tomb.  Only later accounts, not of apostolic origin and therefore not recognized by the Church - they are called apocryphal gospels - describe Jesus coming out of the tomb.  The true Gospels, the “canonical Gospels,” respect the mystery of the Lord’s Resurrection, just as they respect the mystery of His birth.  No one knows how the Lord came out of the tomb, just as no one knows how Jesus could have been born of a virgin.  We only know that when the women came to the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.  Only several hours later would Jesus show Himself to His disciples.
   
     Mary Magdalene, one of the women who came to the tomb, immediately went to tell Peter and John, who came running to the tomb.  John, the author of this Gospel account, arrived first, for he was the younger, but he did not dare enter into the tomb without Peter.  Peter “went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on His head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself” (Jn 20:6-7). Then John entered.  The disciples returned home very pensive, but John had already guessed the truth, as he himself tells us.
   
     Jesus’ enemies will not dispute the fact that the tomb was empty; Matthew tells us that they bribed the guards, who were also witnesses of the event but who could not understand its significance, to say that Jesus’ body had been stolen by His disciples.  This legend would become widespread among the Jews, thus paradoxically confirming the reality of the empty tomb.  It would actually have been much easier to contest the fact of the Resurrection by showing a closed tomb than by trying to find an explanation for an empty one.