Do Matthew, Mark and Luke contradict one another in describing the womens reaction to the angels message?
The critics also claim that the responses of the women in these accounts are contradictory. Matthew says the women “ran to tell his disciples” about the empty tomb (Matthew 28:8); but Mark records, “And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8). Critics claim that Luke contradicts Matthew and Mark when he says, “…they told all this to the Eleven and to all the rest” (Luke 24:9). Mark records that after hearing the angels message the women “said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Does Luke contradict Mark by recording that, “returning from the tomb they [the women] told all this to the Eleven and to all the rest” (Mark 16:8; Luke 24:9)? Did the women tell or not tell? Once again, when the accounts are combined and time is factored in, the “problem” disappears. It is true that at first, before they reached the apostles, the women said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. Each of us would have been as well. Since we are dealing with a specific period o
