The Resurrection synthesised into a single narrative
Fr Coleridge sets out exactly how it happened, and resolves the difficulties we may face in reading the Gospels. Here is a single text based on his harmonisation.
Fr Coleridge sets out exactly how it happened, and resolves the difficulties we may face in reading the Gospels. Here is a single text based on his harmonisation.
Editor’s Notes
The Gospel accounts of the Resurrection can appear, to a superficial glance, difficult to order or harmonise. One result of this is that sceptical or “critical” scholars have adopted explanations which are incompatible with Catholic doctrine – such as accepting that the accounts contradict each other, or worse. Others have attempted to harmonise the accounts, but in ways that do not seem wholly satisfactory.
As we have been seeing over at Father Coleridge Reader, Fr Henry James Coleridge SJ’s work was not simply a commentary on the life of Our Lord, but also a harmonisation. His account of the Resurrection narratives resolves the difficulties with ingenuity and clarity.
After spending two chapters explaining his method, he presents – as he does throughout his two Life of Our Life volumes – the texts from the four Gospels in parallel columns. However, someone reading these four columns without the preceding chapters might not be able to make sense of his ordering; and even with those chapters, four columns do not lend themselves to a single clear narrative.
For these reasons, we are publishing the following single narrative based on his harmonisation, up until the Ascension. We have supplemented it with a few passages from Acts and St Paul. Where some of his choices are surprising or might need commentary, we have included the relevant parts of his text in the footnotes (which therefore include a lot of interesting detail).
Some may disagree with Fr Coleridge’s ordering, or with the judgement we have had to make when his ordering left open a few questions (i.e., particularly around the final appearances of Our Lord). Those who wish to disagree are, of course, entitled to do so. But we hope that this single, clear account of what the Gospels tell us is an aid to the faith of our readers in this joyous time. He is risen indeed!
The Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord
Based on the Harmony of Fr Henry James Coleridge SJ
The Life of our Life, Vol. II, Chapter XII
Burns and Oates, London, 1876
The Burying of Our Lord
Behold, a certain rich man by name Joseph, who was a senator, a noble councillor, a good and just man, this man had not consented to their counsel and doings; he was of Arimathæa, a city of Judæa, who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. This man, (because he was a disciple of Jesus, but in private, for fear of the Jews), besought that he might take away the body of Jesus.
And when evening was now come (because it was the Parasceve, that is, the day before the Sabbath), [he] came, and went in boldly to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. But Pilate wondered that he should be already dead. And sending for the centurion, he asked him if He were already dead. And when he had understood it by the centurion, Pilate permitted him, [and] he gave the body to Joseph. He came, therefore, and took away the body of Jesus.
And Nicodemus also came, he who at first came to Jesus by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound. And Joseph, buying fine linen, and taking Him down and taking the body, he wrapped Him up in the fine linen with the spices, as it is the custom with the Jews to bury.
And there was in the place where He was crucified a garden, and in the garden his own new sepulchre, which he had hewed out in a rock, wherein never yet any man has been laid. There, therefore, by reason of the Parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
And the Sabbath drew near. And the women that were come with Him from Galilee, following after, saw the sepulchre, and, how His body was laid. And, returning, they prepared spices and ointments, and on the Sabbath day they rested, according to the commandment.
And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, the mother of Joseph, sitting over against the sepulchre, [and] beheld where he was laid.
The Sepulchre Guarded
And the next day, which followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees came together to Pilate, saying, Sir, we have remembered that that seducer said, while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, the sepulchre to be guarded until the third day, lest His disciples come, and steal Him away, and say to the people, He is risen from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the first.
Pilate said to them, You have a guard, go, guard it as you know. And they, departing, made the sepulchre sure, with guards, sealing the stone.
And in the end of the Sabbath, when it began to [draw on towards1] the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre.
And when the Sabbath was past,2 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus.
Continues below:
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