The Concept and Meaning of Resurrection according to Luke and Matthew

The Resurrection according to Luke and Matthew
Matthew has not even half of the number of verses Luke has about the resurrection of Jesus and so, a couple of occasions, namely the walk to Emmaus and the appearance of Jesus among his disciples, were not mentioned in Matthew. But certainly Matthew have presented some other details that were on the other hand not mentioned in Luke, like the accounts regarding the guards who were then stationed at Jesus’ tomb and some other details. It is as if their correspondence separated ways until the occasion of the Ascension of Christ where they saw action again together.
The four Evangelists had specific audiences in mind to relate a specific topic. With that purpose, each one chose and ordered the truthful historical information about Jesus's life in the most appropriate way to suit their chosen goal. The chronology of events and the exhaustive coverage of the happenings was only secondary. However, this does not repudiate the fact that the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit was the one sculpting and leading the way of the thoughts of the Gospel writers through divine inspiration (Padfield, 2016).
All four Gospels have encountered criticisms particularly on the claims of the “contradictions” between them. But it should be noted that each of the Gospel intended to emphasize the character of Christ in their different perspectives and all can be reconciled. Pink (n.d.) explains why there are four Gospels; In Matthew, Jesus is the Son of David or He is from a royal lineage and therefor a rightful heir to the Messianic throne. In Mark, He is the Servant of God who submitted himself fully to the will of the Father. Luke see Jesus as the Son of Man, such that he is fully human but able to completely submit to the will of God. In John, Jesus is the Son of God, and so, He is totally divine. They present four different pictures of Jesus that complement each other to bring to the reader a whole picture of Jesus comprehensible to the human mind.
Focusing only on the two narratives, by Matthew and Luke, regarding the resurrection, we may be able to reflect on how each of the evangelist’s theme affects the portrayals of the same resurrection story. Laying them down piece by piece, we will be able to compare and contrast the two narratives.
Day and Time
The beginning verses of both narratives establish the day and time for the readers to picture out the scene. Matthew uses “After the Sabbath” while Luke says, “On the first day of the Week”. It is said that Matthew, intended the Gospel written for the Jews, and so made it in the Hebrew language, though later, it was translated into Greek. And so, he did not care explaining what a Sabbath is. Luke on the other hand is said to be the only gentile evangelist; particularly a Greek and a physician (Col. 4:14) and probably wrote the day stated narrative by clearly explaining that it was the first day of the week without bothering the mind to think about any particular or exclusive term. About the time, Matthew was a bit more precise in saying that it was at dawn, while Luke merely says that it was “very early in the morning”.
Who were the women?
The day that the women who prepared the spices and the ointment for the body of Jesus came to the tomb coincidentally on the third day after His death, though they have already prepared, because the second day was the Sabbath and they had to rest as the Law required (Lk 23:56). It could be noted that Matthew mentioned the names of the women right on the first verse while Luke didn’t but mentioned them on verse 10. Though if you have read the previous chapter in Luke, you would definitely get the picture who the women were. However, in Matthew, only two names of women were given significance and they were both named Mary, who came to the tomb (Mt. 28:1) while three of them were named in Luke who came with the other women (Lk 24:10-11).
Rolling Stones and Angels
The narrative of Matthew was a bit more epic with the description of a violent earthquake and the angel of the Lord rolling the stone away from the tomb (Mt 28:2). This may cause some consternation to the reader but it gives valuable information about what happened before the women arrived. This event is not mentioned in Luke. The number of angels may have also encouraged a debate. At a glimpse, one may find only one angel in Matthew’s account like in Mark. If we look at Luke, there are two angels like in John. It may be explained, however, that the complete number was just not mentioned in Matthew, as also in Mark (Chaffey, 2015). Further, Luke calls the angels, “men” as we are made in the image and likeness of God, and so are the angels. The two angels were the only two described by Luke who...