Resurrection Contradiction: Luke's Timewarps

Sometimes it seems like things would be simpler if there was only one Gospel.  But the Holy Spirit saw fit to inspire four of them, and Christians have been puzzling over how they fit together ever since.  Particularly in the resurrection narratives.

Today I want to highlight a feature of Luke’s Gospel which explains one of the major apparent discrepancies in the resurrection accounts.  I call it… the LUKAN TIME WARP!!!

Here’s how the Lukan Time Warp works.

• Luke takes a couple related events which have a large gap between them.  
• Wanting to save space, Luke omits everything between those two events.  
• He presents the events as if they occur immediately in sequence.  

In the end, the reader has no idea he did this.  Now let’s look at some examples…

Was Jesus Crucified on a Wednesday?

Dear Apologist, my friend claims Jesus was really crucified on a Wednesday and the commemoration of Good Friday is an evil Catholic conspiracy .  Where is that coming from?

The Secret Truth About Easter!

A student recently asked me a question about Easter.  She had encountered a friend who said Easter was of pagan origins.  Most of it was drawn from this website.

The site presents a lot of … ummm … “facts”.  It says the word “Easter” comes from the Mesopotamian goddess "Ishtar".  And the Catholic Church – those dastardly fiends - tricked everyone into worshiping the ancient pagan fertility goddess by popularizing Easter.  Zounds!!

Well, much can be said about crank webpages with no footnotes or citations.  But a couple thoughts come to mind.

The Communion of Saints and the Tapestry of Christian Faith

Back in the 400’s there was a heresy known as Nestorianism.  It proposed that Jesus was not really God incarnate, but was rather a normal man whom God had kinda-sorta possessed.  The Council of Ephesus condemned this idea.  The people of Ephesus – who had always been offended by the heresy - held a torchlit parade to celebrate the council’s decision. 

This is sometimes held out as an example of the “Sensus Fidelium” – or the “Sense of the Faithful”.  It refers to a particular way in which the Holy Spirit guides the Church.  Namely, the people of God are drawn like homing pigeons to the true expression of the faith.  Christians will, in a way, sense the tapestry of the faith and know when something is out of place.

Today I want to point out something which I regard as an instance of Sensus Fidelium.  Namely, the intuitive, magnetic draw which Christians have to the Communion of Saints.  While this is often regarded as a peculiarly Catholic idea, I think it is actually the natural conclusion of Christian thought. 

Short Answer: The Resurrection

Dear Apologist, How do I defend the historicity of Christ's resurrection?