Appearance (ἐφάνη, Mark 16:9; ἐφανερώθη, Mark 16:12, 14; ὤφθη, Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5; ἐφανέρωσεν ἑαυτόν, John 21:1; παρέστησεν ἑαυτόν), a term usually applied to the discussions and interactions that Jesus Christ had with his disciples after his resurrection. The circumstances of these instances indicate that his body, although not yet glorified, had already undergone such a change as to give it extraordinary powers of locomotion, even through closed doors, and of becoming visible or invisible at pleasure, while it yet retained the palpable characteristics of matter, and was even capable of taking food in the ordinary way; traits that ally it strongly to the “spiritual body” of the angels.

Appearance to Mary Magdalen. There is a difficulty connected with the first of these appearances. The gospel narratives (Matt. 28:1–15; Mark 16:2–11; Luke 24:1–12; John 20:1–18), when carefully adjusted in their several incidents to each other, distinctly indicate that Mary the Magdalene was not among the Galilean women at the time they were favored with the first sight of their risen Master, she having just then left them to call Peter and John; and that Christ afterward revealed himself to her separately. Mark, however, uses one expression that seems directly to contradict this arrangement: “Jesus … appeared first (πρῶτον) to Mary Magdalene” (16:9).[1] Several methods of reconciling this discordance have been devised, but they are all untenable, and the best of them (that of Dr. Robinson) is not at all satisfactory, which consists in considering the “first” as put by Mark relatively (πρότερον), to denote the first of the three appearances related by him simply, the “after that” of verse 12 introducing a second appearance, and the “afterward” of verse 14 serving to mark the last of Mark’s series. Any reader, taking the words in their natural construction, would certainly understand Mark as meaning to say absolutely that Christ’s first public appearance was made to Mary, and two of his subsequent ones to other persons. Moreover, the question still remains, why does Mark single out this appearance to Mary, rather than the previous one to several women? A closer inspection of the facts will assist to clear up the difficulty. Independently of this “first” of Mark, the incidents may naturally be arranged as in the following scheme.

A. M.	Occurrences	Matt. 28	Mark 16	Luke 24	John 20
4:00	Earthquake and Resurrection	2–4	9
4:15	The women set out for the sepulcher	1	2, 3	1	1
4:30	They arrive, Mary the Magdalene returns		4	2	2
4:35	Their interview with two angels	5–7	5–7	3–8
4:45	Mary the Magdalene reaches Peter and John’s house				2
4:45	The other women flee from the tomb	8	8	9
4:50	Peter, John, and Mary the Magdalene set out for it			12	3
4:50	The other women meet Jesus	9, 10
4:55	The soldiers report their disaster	11–15
4:57	John arrives at the tomb			12	4, 5
5:00	Peter arrives there, their observations				6–9
5:05	They both return home			12	10
5:05	Mary the Magdalene arrives at the tomb				11
5:05	The other women report their interview with Christ to the other apostles			9–11
5:07	Mary the Magdalene sees the two angels				12, 13
5:10	She meets with Christ		9		14–17
5:30	She reports to the disciples		10, 11	11	18

By this, it is seen that Christ’s appearance to the other women could not well have preceded that to Mary by more than twenty minutes; and if the time for the other women’s return be so lengthened as to make the appearance to Mary precede that to them, the interval in this direction cannot be made to exceed fifteen minutes, as anyone may see by making the corresponding changes in the above table. Mark, in speaking in this general way of Christ’s visits, would not be likely to distinguish between two appearances so nearly coincident; the very parties who witnessed them, or heard them reported, would not themselves have noticed so slight a priority without instituting some such calculation as the above, which they were in no condition of mind at the time to make, nor likely to concern themselves about afterward. In the verse under consideration, therefore, Mark designs to refer to both these appearances as one, and he mentions Mary’s name particularly because of her prominence in the whole matter, just as he places her first in the list in verse 1 (comp. Matt. 27:56, 61; 28:1; and see on John 20:17). This identification is confirmed by the fact that none of the evangelists mention both of these appearances, Matthew and Luke narrating the events just as if Mary had been with the other women at the time of their meeting with Christ, while Mark and John speak of the appearance to her only; yet they all obviously embrace in their accounts the twofold appearance. Luke also explicitly includes Mary among the women who brought the tidings to the apostles (verse 10), evidently not distinguishing her subsequent report from that of the others with whom she at first went out. This idea is, in fact, the key to the whole plan of the gospel accounts of this matter, the design of the writers being, not to furnish each a complete narrative of all the incidents in their exact order, but to show that these Galilean women were, as a company, the first witnesses of Christ’s resurrection.

According to the astronomical formula, the duration of distinct twilight at that time of the year in the latitude of Jerusalem (supposing there were no unusual refracting influences in the atmosphere) is 1 hour 40 minutes, which would make extreme daybreak occur about four o’clock, as it was near the time of the vernal equinox. The light of the full moon would enable the women to see their way even before dawn. Mark says “early” (πρωΐ, 16:9), and in the visit of the women he says, “very early” (λίαν πρωΐ, 16:2); but the descent of the angel must have occurred first, because the women found the stone rolled away on their arrival. The guard had probably just before been relieved (i.e., at the “dawn-watch,” which began at this time of the year about three o’clock A.M. and corresponds in its Greek title to the term here used by Mark), so that they had time to recover from their fright sufficiently to report their disaster without being surprised in their plight by the arrival of a relay. The distance the women had to go was not great.

Above By John M’Clintock and James Strong

The Appearances. Unlike the tomb stories, there is little commonality of material in the appearances. Yet the appearances are the basis for faith that the unbelievable happened. An enemy like Paul was converted into a zealous apostle (Acts 9:1–22; 1 Cor 15:18). A fearful fisherman like Peter abandoned his nets (Jn 21). A doubter like Thomas uttered early Christianity’s greatest confession (Jn 20:24–28). And two weary travelers to Emmaus found new zeal to return quickly to Jerusalem and share about their encounter with the risen Jesus (Lk 24:13–35).

Scholars have debated the nature of these appearances. Starting from Paul’s list of appearances (1 Cor 15:5–8), some have argued that all appearances are of the same nature, and since the Damascus road appearance to Paul recorded in Acts seems to have been of a spiritual nature (9:1–9; cf. 22:6–11; 26:12–19), then all the appearances must have been similar. Statements that the risen Jesus was touchable (Mt 28:9; Lk 24:39; Jn 20:27) and that he ate food (Lk 24:41–43) are rejected as later accretions to an earlier vision-type tradition. This type of argument is based on presuppositions of consistency and noncorporeality, and minimizes the self-confessed irregularity by Paul of his own experience (1 Cor 15:8).

Another theory was based on the division between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. The resurrection according to this view was not to be regarded as a fact of history but as an experience of the faith of the disciples. The issue, however, is that the NT witnesses are not testifying to what God accomplished in them but how God acted in Jesus. While these two may be related, Paul defined the encounter with Christ in terms of salvation, transformation, and being “in Christ.” He would hardly have agreed to call the experiences of encountering Christ the resurrection.

By Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel

For forty days after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples on different occasions in various fleshly bodies, just as angels had appeared to men in the Old Testament. Similar to those angels, he had the power to produce and break down fleshly bodies whenever he desired, to prove visibly that he had been resurrected. (Matt. 28:8-10, 16-20; Luke 24:13-32, 36-43; John 20:14-29; Gen. 18:1-2; 19:1; Josh. 5:13-15; Judges. 6:11, 12; 13:3, 13) His many appearances, and particularly, his manifesting himself to more than five hundred persons at one time, provide strong testimony to the truth of his resurrection. (1 Cor. 15:3-8) His resurrection was so well verified, that it furnishes an “assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”—Acts 17:31.

SOURCES

• John M’Clintock and James Strong, “Appearance to Mary Magdalen,” Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1880), 323–324.
• Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Resurrection,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1842.

SCROLL THROUGH DIFFERENT CATEGORIES BELOW

BIBLE TRANSLATION AND TEXTUAL CRITICISM

BIBLICAL STUDIES / INTERPRETATION

EARLY CHRISTIANITY

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETIC EVANGELISM

TECHNOLOGY

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

CHRISTIAN FICTION

[1] The Longer Ending of Mark

⁹ [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. ¹¹ But they, when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe it.

¹² And after these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. ¹³ And they came back and reported to the rest, but they did not believe them.

The Great Commission

¹⁴ Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. ¹⁶ He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs shall accompany those who believe: in my name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they shall pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

¹⁹ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message through the accompanying signs.]]

Mark ends at 16:8, which is supported by א B 304 syr^s cop^sa (l MS) arm geo (2 MSS) ^{Hesychius Eusebian canons} MSS^{according to Eusebius} MSS^{according to Jerome} MSS^{according to Severus}. In short, the traditional longer ending Mark 16:9-20 is not supported by the earliest and best manuscripts: (1) The early church fathers had no knowledge of anything beyond verse eight. (2) Such ancient scholars as Eusebius and Jerome marked them spurious. (3) The style of these verses is utterly different from that of Mark. (4) The vocabulary used in these verses is different from that of Mark. (5) Verse 8 does not transition well with verse 9, jumping from the women disciples to Jesus’ resurrection appearance. Jesus does not need to appear because Mark ended with the announcement that he had. We only want that because the other Gospels give us an appearance. So we expect it. (6) The very content of these verses contradicts the facts and the rest of the Greek New Testament. With textual scholarship, being very well aware of Mark’s abrupt style of writing, and abrupt ending to his Gospel does not seem out of place. Eusebius and Jerome, as well as this writer, agree.

gg