In the midst of the tragic news about the Navy Yard shooting this past Monday, one short line that I read caught my attention for a totally different reason. An NPR article said, "As happens when news such as this is breaking, there will be conflicting accounts."
Why did this catch my eye? Well, people often note that the Gospels don't always agree on every detail. How many women came to Jesus' tomb? Did one of the men crucified with Jesus repent or not? How many blind men did Jesus heal went departing from Jericho?
The Gospels record the breaking good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. If it's reasonable to expect that the genre of breaking news will have conflicting accounts on some details, then we shouldn't discount the Gospels because of some of the differences in detail. In fact, the differences actually confirm the credibility of the Gospels as early reports. If all the Gospels were exactly identical in all details, it would be reasonable to expect some sort of collusion among witnesses, thereby undermining the credibility of the Gospels as genuine witnesses. Furthermore, differences in detail don't undermine the central focus of the Gospels but reinforce it: the number of women coming to Jesus' tomb differs from Gospel to Gospel; the fact that the tomb was empty does not.
Why did this catch my eye? Well, people often note that the Gospels don't always agree on every detail. How many women came to Jesus' tomb? Did one of the men crucified with Jesus repent or not? How many blind men did Jesus heal went departing from Jericho?
The Gospels record the breaking good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. If it's reasonable to expect that the genre of breaking news will have conflicting accounts on some details, then we shouldn't discount the Gospels because of some of the differences in detail. In fact, the differences actually confirm the credibility of the Gospels as early reports. If all the Gospels were exactly identical in all details, it would be reasonable to expect some sort of collusion among witnesses, thereby undermining the credibility of the Gospels as genuine witnesses. Furthermore, differences in detail don't undermine the central focus of the Gospels but reinforce it: the number of women coming to Jesus' tomb differs from Gospel to Gospel; the fact that the tomb was empty does not.
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