Bible Contradiction? Was Mary Magdalene happy or sad when she saw the risen Jesus?

 

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Was Mary Magdalene happy or sad when she saw the risen Jesus?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

She was filled with joy.

“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” (Matthew 28:1-9)

She was grief-stricken.

“But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 and she *saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 And they *said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She *said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and *saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus *said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”” (John 20:11-15)

“And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.” (Matthew 28:2)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

 

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptics cited Matthew 28:1-9 as recording the fact that Mary Magdalene was happy when she saw the risen Jesus.  This is pitted against John 20:11-15 which the skeptics cited as recording the fact that Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus.
4. I have written in an earlier response to another similar alleged Bible contradiction of how the event of the Resurrection of Christ can result in various conflicting emotions here: Were the disciples frightened or glad when they saw Jesus?
5. Let us examine more closer to see if the skeptics did correctly cite John 20:11-15 as stating Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus.
   1. Note verse 11 Mary was crying: “But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; “
   2. This weeping was also acknowledged by the angels who saw her because in verse 12 they asked her: ““Woman, why are you weeping?“
   3. But these tears of sadness was before she saw Jesus because in the second half of verse 12 she said to the angels “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”  Here she has the mistaken assumption that Jesus’ body was still dead and taken away and that was before she saw Jesus in verse 13.
   4. The skeptic misinterpreted John 20:11-15 and the skeptic has no basis from that verse to say Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus.
6. Since the skeptic has no basis from John 20:11-15 to say Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus this means there’s not a Bible contradiction with Matthew 28:1-9.  Thus we can conclude there is not a contradiction here.  The skeptic needs to learn How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
7. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”