Matthew and Mark vs Luke and Acts: Jesus’ Instructions

Video: “13 More Bible Contradictions” by Holy Koolaid
The texts in question are Matthew 28:10, 16-20; Mark 16:7; Luke 24:31-36, 24:50-53; and John 20:19-21:25

Mr. Koolaid said,
“Immediately after Jesus’s resurrection, in Matthew and Mark’s Gospels, Jesus’ disciples are instructed by an angel to meet Him up north in Galilee and He first appears to them there where He blesses them and sends them out into the world. But in Luke and Acts, Jesus first appears to all His disciples in Jerusalem and He explicitly tells them to stay in Jerusalem until after they receive the Holy Spirit, which happens after He ascends into heaven. He never meets them in Galilee. In Luke and Acts His disciples follow that command to wait in Jerusalem and receive the Holy Spirit. After Jesus is gone about 50 days after His resurrection on Pentecost, they’re finally filled with the Holy Spirit while sitting alone in a house and they start speaking in tongues and preaching to strangers. But in John 20 verse 21, Jesus breathes directly on His disciples and gives them the Holy Spirit literally on the day of His resurrection.”

Here is a truncated chronology of events beginning with Jesus meeting two men on the road to Emmaus:

• Jesus is resurrected from the dead on the first day of the week (Sunday).
• Jesus appears to two men on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus the same day.
  The two disciples hustle back to Jerusalem, find the disciples, and tell them that they have seen the risen Jesus.
• Jesus appears to the disciples in Jerusalem but Thomas isn’t there. Jesus breathes on them and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit (this will be fulfilled on Pentecost).
• Jesus appears a second time in Jerusalem to the disciples, this time Thomas is present.
• The disciples leave for Galilee.
• Jesus appears to the disciples again, this time at the Sea of Tiberias, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Peter is restored back to his discipleship.
• Jesus appears to the disciples on the mountain in Galilee which Jesus had appointed for them. This is the approximate time when Jesus issues what is known as the Great Commission.
• The disciples head back to Jerusalem.
• The disciples ask Jesus if He is going to restore the nation of Israel immediately. Jesus tells them it’s not for them to know “the times and seasons” of eschatological events.
• Jesus leads the disciples out to Bethany, where Jesus ascends into heaven. Just prior to His ascension, Jesus tells the disciples to remain in Jerusalem where they will be baptized by the Holy Spirit “not many days from now.”
• The disciples return to Jerusalem.
• Roughly ten days after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the disciples receive the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem on Pentecost (also known as the Feast of Weeks that follows Passover).

Perhaps the above history can help you to see the errors Mr. Koolaid made. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Whenever there seems to be a contradiction in many of the sections of scripture on the same historic occasion, turn to a chronological New Testament (such as One Perfect Life) and that should help you to understand the differing details in each Gospel.

For further reading and understanding of John 20:21, see The Holy Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson on pp. 64-65.

Special note to Mr. Koolaid and his cronies: If you had thought to consider the field of textual criticism, you would know that the longer ending of Mark (verses 16:9-20) are not in the earliest and most reliable sources and therefore are not considered to be part of the original autograph of Mark’s Gospel. Therefore, consulting those verses for any reason is an error.