7 - The Reunion

Summary

All four evangelists have in their several ways marked the close of the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus. Mark and Matthew, having recorded his death, add certain accompanying ‘signs’, leading up to the pagan centurion's acclamation of the Crucified as υἱὸς θεοῦ. Luke has a corresponding passage, in briefer and less emphatic terms; his version of the centurion's confession, ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος δίκαιος ἦν, lacks the climactic force of the Marcan and Matthaean form, but he has compensated by adding a conclusion in which (as in a Greek tragedy) a chorus of bystanders comments upon the action of the drama: ‘All the crowds who had gathered at the place for the spectacle, when they had seen all that happened, went home beating their breasts.’ The intention is clear; as in Mark and Matthew, the story of the sufferings and death of Jesus is complete, and the tension is relaxed. With the introduction of the women and then of Joseph of Arimathaea begins the fresh chapter of the story which will culminate in the testimony to his resurrection.

In the Fourth Gospel the same general pattern is to be observed, although almost every detail is different. After recording the death of Jesus, the evangelist, like Mark, adds two ‘signs’ which accompanied it.