Editing Mary Magdalene (section)

===Resurrection of Jesus===
[[File:Annibale Carracci - Holy Women at Christ' s Tomb - WGA4454.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Holy Women at Christ's Tomb'' ({{circa|1590}}) by [[Annibale Carracci]]. In {{bibleverse|Matthew|28:1–10|9}}, Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" encounter an angel at the tomb, who tells them that Christ has risen.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}]]

The earliest description of [[Resurrection of Jesus#Biblical accounts|Jesus's post-resurrection appearances]] is a quotation of a [[Pre-Pauline Christianity|pre-Pauline]] creed preserved by Paul the Apostle in {{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|15:3–8|9}}, which was written roughly 20 years before any of the gospels.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pages=137–143}} This passage made no mention of Mary Magdalene, the other women, or the story of the empty tomb,{{sfn|Casey|2010|pages=456–457}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pages=142–143}} but rather credits Simon Peter with having been the first to see the risen Jesus.{{sfn|Casey|2010|pages=456–457}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|page=277}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pages=137–140}} Despite this, all four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, agreed that Mary Magdalene, either alone or as a member of a group, was the first person to discover that Jesus's tomb was empty.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=226}}{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}} Nonetheless, the details of the accounts differ drastically.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}

According to {{bibleverse|Mark|16:1–8|9}}, the earliest account of the discovery of the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb just after sunrise, a day and half after Jesus's burial and found that the stone had already been rolled away.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|pages=461–462}} They went inside and saw a young man dressed in white, who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead and instructed them to tell the  disciples that he would meet them in Galilee.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}} Instead, the women ran away and told no one, because they were too afraid.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}} The original text of the gospel ends here, without the resurrected Jesus making an appearance to anyone.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=228}} Casey argues that the reason for this abrupt ending may be because the Gospel of Mark is an unfinished first draft.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}}

According to {{bibleverse|Matthew|28:1–10|9}}, Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" went to the tomb.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}} An earthquake occurred and an angel dressed in white descended from Heaven and rolled aside the stone as the women were watching.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}} The angel told them that Jesus had risen from the dead.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}} Then the risen Jesus himself appeared to the women as they were leaving the tomb and told them to tell the other disciples that he would meet them in Galilee.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=462}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}

According to {{bibleverse|Luke|24:1–12|9}} Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James went to the tomb and found the stone already rolled away, as in Mark.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=463}} They went inside and saw two young men dressed in white who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=463}} Then they went and told the eleven remaining apostles, who dismissed their story as nonsense.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=463}} In Luke's account, Jesus never appears to the women,{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|pages=463–464}} but instead [[Road to Emmaus appearance|makes his first appearance]] to [[Cleopas]] and an unnamed "disciple" on the road to [[Emmaus]].{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227–229}}{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pages=276–280}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|pages=463–464}} Luke's narrative also removes the injunction for the women to tell the disciples to return to Galilee and instead has Jesus tell the disciples ''not'' to return to Galilee, but rather to stay in the precincts of Jerusalem.{{sfn|Casey|2010|pages=463–464}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=226–227}}

[[File:Alexander Ivanov - Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|''[[Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection]]'' (1835) by [[Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov]]. In {{bibleverse|John|20:1–13|9}}, Mary Magdalene sees the risen Jesus alone{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=464}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=228}} and he tells her "Don't touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my father."{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=228}}]]
Mary Magdalene's role in the resurrection narrative is greatly increased in the account from the Gospel of John.{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=253}} According to {{bibleverse|John|20:1–10|9}}, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb when it was still dark and saw that the stone had already been rolled away.{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=464}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227, 253}} She did not see anyone, but immediately ran to tell Peter and the "[[Disciple whom Jesus loved|beloved disciple]]",{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=227, 253}} who came with her to the tomb and confirmed that it was empty,{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=253}} but returned home without seeing the risen Jesus.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=253}}{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}} According to {{bibleverse|John|20:11–18|9}}, Mary, now alone in the garden outside the tomb, saw two angels sitting where Jesus's body had been.{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}} Then the risen Jesus approached her.{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=253, 228}} She at first mistook him for the gardener,{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=253}}{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}} but, after she heard him say her name, she recognized him and cried out "''Rabbouni!''" (which is Aramaic for 'teacher').{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=253}} His next words may be translated as "[[Noli me tangere|Don't touch me]], for I have not yet ascended to my Father" or "Stop clinging to me, [etc.]", the latter more probable in view of the grammar (negated present imperative: stop doing something already in progress) as well as Jesus's challenge to Thomas a week later (see {{bibleverse|John|20:24–29|9}}{{sfn|Carson|1991|p= 642}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=228}}). Jesus then sent her to tell the other apostles the good news of his resurrection.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=253}}{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}} The Gospel of John therefore portrays Mary Magdalene as the first apostle, the apostle sent ''to'' the apostles.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=253}}{{sfn|Hinkle|2003|page=446}}

Because scribes were unsatisfied with the abrupt ending of the Gospel of Mark, they wrote several different alternative endings for it.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=477}} In the "[[Shorter ending of Mark|shorter ending]]", which is found in very few manuscripts, the women go to "those around Peter" and tell them what they had seen at the tomb, followed by a brief declaration of the gospel being preached from east to west.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=477}} This "very forced" ending contradicts the last verse of the original gospel, stating that the women "told no one".{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=477}} The "[[Longer ending of Mark|longer ending]]", which is found in most surviving manuscripts, is an "amalgam of traditions" containing episodes derived from the other gospels.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=477}} First, it describes an appearance by Jesus to Mary Magdalene alone (as in the Gospel of John),{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=477}} followed by brief descriptions of him appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (as in the Gospel of Luke) and to the eleven remaining disciples (as in the Gospel of Matthew).{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=477}}

In his book published in 2006, Ehrman states that "it appears virtually certain" that the stories of the empty tomb, regardless of whether or not they are accurate, can definitely be traced back to the historical Mary Magdalene,{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=229}} saying that, in Jewish society, women were regarded as unreliable witnesses and were forbidden from giving testimony in court,{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=255}} so early Christians would have had no motive to make up a story about a woman being the first to discover the empty tomb.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=255}} In fact, if they had made the story up, they would have had strong motivation to make Peter, Jesus's closest disciple while he was alive, the discoverer of the tomb instead.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|page=255}} He also says that the story of Mary Magdalene discovering the empty tomb is independently attested in the Synoptics, the Gospel of John, and in the Gospel of Peter.{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=226–227, 255–256}} [[N. T. Wright]] states that, "it is, frankly, impossible to imagine that [the women at the tomb] were inserted into the tradition after Paul's day."{{sfn|Wright|2003|page=607}}{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=475}}

Casey challenges this argument, contending that the women at the tomb are not legal witnesses, but rather heroines in line with a long Jewish tradition.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=475}} He contends that the story of the empty tomb was invented by either the author of the Gospel of Mark or by one of his sources, based on the historically genuine fact that the women really had been present at Jesus's crucifixion and burial.{{sfn|Casey|2010|page=475}} In his book published in 2014, Ehrman rejects his own previous argument,{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pages=164–169}} stating that the story of the empty tomb can only be a later invention because there is virtually no possibility that Jesus's body could have been placed in any kind of tomb{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pages=164–169}} and, if Jesus was never buried, then no one alive at the time could have said that his non-existent tomb had been found empty.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pages=164–169}} He concludes that the idea that early Christians would have had "no motive" to make up the story simply "suffers from a poverty of imagination"{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|page=166}} and that they would have had all kinds of possible motives,{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pages=166–169}} especially since women were overrepresented in early Christian communities and women themselves would have had strong motivation to make up a story about other women being the first to find the tomb.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pages=166–167}} He does conclude later, however, that Mary Magdalene must have been one of the people who had an experience in which she thought she saw the risen Jesus,{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|page=192}} citing her prominence in the gospel resurrection narratives and her absence everywhere else in the gospels as evidence.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|page=192}}