First. The fact that Peter was first into the empty tomb doesn't begin to answer the question. What did Peter find in the tomb? Cloth, nothing but cloth. Jesus did not appear to him.
Second. Peter was not the first person Jesus appeared to after the resurrection. To make this claim is to deny Scripture.
Third. Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene. My question was, and still is, why?
Do you think you can answer the question I asked in the first place?
First. The fact that Peter was first into the empty tomb doesn't begin to answer the question. What did Peter find in the tomb? Cloth, nothing but cloth. Jesus did not appear to him.
Second. Peter was not the first person Jesus appeared to after the resurrection. To make this claim is to deny Scripture.
Third. Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene. My question was, and still is, why?
Do you think you can answer the question I asked in the first place?
Resurrection in the New Testament, Phatmass
Sorry, Reggie but this gets complicated as you can see below. You explain the three other Gospels first because you want me to stick with John. My fingers are getting tired of typing but the entire answer is in the The Navarre Bible RSV, Gospel & Acts. pp 676-677, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 1999.
By the way, the empty cloths and the way they lay is evidence that Jesus was resurrected as the commentaries say. Sorry, it is two pages of typing.
| Gospel | Messengers | Recipients | Message |
| Mark 16:1-8 | a young man dressed in a white robe | "Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, Salome" | "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." |
| Matt 28:1-8 | an angel of the Lord; his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes white as snow | "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary" | "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you." |
| Matt 28:9-10 | Jesus himself | (the same two women) | "Greetings!" ... "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will se me." |
| Luke 24:1-12 | two men in dazzling clothes | "Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them" | "Why do you look for the living among dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." |
| John 20:11-13 | two angels in white | Mary Magdalene alone | "Woman, why are you weeping?" |
| John 20:14-18 | Jesus himself | Mary Magdalene, again alone | "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" "Mary!" "Do not hold onto me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." |