Luke 24:9-11

24:9 and when they returned from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven ¹  and to all the rest. 24:10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, ²  Joanna, ³  Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. 24:11 But these words seemed like pure nonsense ⁴  to them, and they did not believe them.

Luke 24:22-24

24:22 Furthermore, some women of our group amazed us. ⁵  They ⁶  were at the tomb early this morning, 24:23 and when they did not find his body, they came back and said they had seen a vision of angels, ⁷  who said he was alive. 24:24 Then ⁸  some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him.” ⁹ 

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¹ sn Judas is now absent and “the twelve” have now become “the eleven.” Other disciples are also gathered with the remaining eleven.

² sn Mary Magdalene is always noted first in the appearance lists in the gospels. It is unusual that the first appearance would involve women as in this culture their role as witnesses would not be well accepted. It is a sign of the veracity of the account, because if an ancient were to create such a story he would never have it start with women.

³ sn On Joanna see Luke 8:1-3.

⁴ sn The term pure nonsense can describe idle talk or a tale. The point is important, since the disciples reacted with disbelief that a resurrection was possible. Sometimes it is thought the ancients were gullible enough to believe anything. But these disciples needed convincing about the resurrection.

⁵ sn The account in 24:1-12 is repeated here, and it is clear that the other disciples were not convinced by the women, but could not explain the events either.

⁶ tn In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but because of the length and complexity of the construction a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁷ sn The men in dazzling attire mentioned in v. 4 are identified as angels here.

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁹ tn Here the pronoun αὐτόν (auton), referring to Jesus, is in an emphatic position. The one thing they lacked was solid evidence that he was alive.