864.html
BLTHOMAS@ualr.edu BLTHOMAS@ualr.edu
Thu, 04 Sep 1997 01:47:12 -0500 (CDT) (00873377232, 970904014712.21801490@ualr.edu)
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Re: Attention Christians - $4,000.00 reward!
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Posted by Mark Mastrorilli on September 03, 1997 at 14:27:56:
In Reply to: Attention Christians - $4,000.00 reward! posted by Tod
Billings on September 03, 1997 at 00:49:16:
This is what St. Augustine said in his work "The harmony of the
Gospels", Book 3, Chapter 24:
This being the case, therefore, let us, so far as the Lord may help
us, take all these incidents, which took
place about the time of the Lord's resurrection, as they are brought
before us in the statements of all the
evangelists together, and let us arrange them in one connected
narrative, which will exhibit them, precisely
as they may have actually occurred. It was in the early morning of the
first day of the week, as all the
evangelists are at one in attesting, that the women came to the
sepulchre. By that time, all that is recorded
by Matthew alone had already taken place; that is to say, in regard to
the quaking of the earth, and the
rolling away of the stone, and the terror of the guards, with which
they were so stricken, that in some part
they lay like dead men. Then, as John informs us, came Mary Magdalene,
who unquestionably was
surpassingly more ardent in her love than these other women who had
ministered to the Lord; so that it
was not unreasonable in John to make mention of her alone, leaving
those others unnamed, who, however,
were along with her, as we gather from the reports given by others of
the evangelists. She came
accordingly; and when she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre,
without pausing to make any
more minute investigation, and never doubting but that the body of
Jesus had been removed from the
tomb, she ran, as the same John states, and told the state of matters
to Peter and to John himself. For John
is himself that disciple whom Jesus loved. They then set out running
to the sepulchre; and John, reaching
the spot first, stooped down and saw the linen clothes lying, but he
did not go within. But Peter followed
up, and went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen clothes lie, and
the napkin, which had been about His
head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a
place by itself. Then John entered also,
and saw in like manner, and believed what Mary had told him, namely,
that the Lord had been taken away
from the sepulchre. "For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He
must rise again from the dead. Then
the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood
without at the sepulchre weeping,"--
that is to say, before the place in the rock in which the sepulchre
was constructed, but at the same time
within that space into which they had now entered; for there was a
garden there, as the same John
mentions. Then they saw the angel sitting on the right side, upon the
stone which was rolled away from the
sepulchre; of which angel both Matthew and Mark discourse. "Then he
said unto them, Fear not ye; for I
know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here; for He
is risen, as He said. Come, see the
place where the Lord lay: and go quickly, and tell His disciples that
He is risen from the dead; and, behold,
He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: lo, I have
told you." In Mark we also find a
passage similar in tenor to the above. At these words, Mary, still
weeping, bent down and looked forwards
into the sepulchre, and beheld the two angels, who are introduced to
us in John's narrative, sitting in white
raiment, one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of
Jesus had been deposited. "They say
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they
have taken away my Lord, and I
know not where they have laid Him." Here we are to suppose the angels
to have risen up, so that they
could be seen standing, as Luke states that they were seen, and then,
according to the narrative of the same
Luke, to have addressed the women, as they were afraid and bowed down
their faces to the earth. The
terms were these: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not
here, but is risen: remember how He
spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must
be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise. And they
remembered His words." It was after this
that, as we learn from John, "Mary turned herself back, and saw Jesus
standing, and knew not that it was
Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest
thou? She, supposing Him to be the
gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me
where thou hast laid Him, and I will
take Him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and
saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to
say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended to my Father: but go to my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;
and to my God, and your God."
Then she departed from the sepulchre, that is to say, from the ground
where there was space for the garden
in front of the stone which had been dug out.
Along with her there were also those other women, who, as Mark tells
us, were surprised with fear and
trembling. And they told nothing to any one. At this point we next
take up what Matthew has recorded in
the following passage: "Behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail! And
they came and held Him by the
feet, and worshipped Him." For thus we gather that, on coming to the
sepulchre, they were twice addressed
by the angels; and, again, that they were also twice addressed by the
Lord Himself, namely, at the point at
which Mary took Him to be the gardener, and a second time at present,
when He meets them on the way,
with a view to strengthen them by such a repetition, and to bring them
out of their state of fear. "Then,
accordingly, said He unto them, Be not afraid: go, tell my brethren
that they go into Galilee, and there shall
they see me." "Then came Mary Magdalene, and told the disciples that
she had seen the Lord, and that He
had spoken these things unto her;"-not herself alone, however, but
with her also those other women to
whom Luke alludes when he says, "Which told these things unto the
eleven disciples, and all the rest.
And their words seemed to them like madness, and they believed them
not." Mark also attests these facts;
for, after telling us how the women went out from the sepulchre,
trembling and amazed, and said nothing
to any man, he subjoins the statement, that the Lord rose early the
first day of the week, and appeared first
to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils, and that she
went and told them who had been
with Him, as they mourned and wept, and that they, when they heard
that He was alive, and had been seen
of her, believed not. It is further to be observed, that Matthew has
also introduced a notice to the effect
that, as the women who had seen and heard all these things were going
away, there came likewise into the
city some of the guards who had been lying like dead men, and that
these persons reported to the chief
priests all the things that were done, that is to say, those of them
which they were themselves also in a
position to observe. He tells us, moreover, that when they were
assembled with the elders and had taken
counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, and bade them say
that His disciples came and stole Him
away while they slept, promising at the same time to secure them
against the governor, who had given
those guards. Finally, he adds that they took the money, and did as
they had been taught, and that this
saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
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* A complete and utter failure Mark Tod Billings 00:41:12 9/04/97
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